Have you read my review of Jack Frost’s Out in the Cold? If so, you don’t really need to read any further. My opinion about this album is actually somehow the same as that one. However, this time our musician we’re talking about is called Derek Sherinian and again the guy in particular has been working with some of the greatest musicians in heavy metal history, only a little bigger than the guy before him and a little less in number.

What we have got in this package is somehow a combination of progressive rock and heavy metal. It is not that brutal but it’s also not with those big accents towards melodies as well. There aren’t that many vocal lines included but the ones that are there are actually pretty strong compared to prog. So, consider the music as a combination of those two big forms of heavy music.

 

This difference is clear to hear if you compare the first two songs of the album with each other, namely ‘Czar of Steel’ and ‘Man With no Name’. Whereas the first one is an absolute instrumental experience, the second one provides strong guitars and a sharp voice (by the way, do not forget to mention the electronics and orchestra sounds, they’re pretty interesting).

 

But if we continue to compare the other tracks, I must say that the experimental part has not been worked out that well. It takes ages for ‘Phantom Shuffle’ to finally get loose as well as the title track, which has some quite boring guitar riffs to ‘keep your attention’ for the, buy the way amazing, guitar solo. Oh, and did I forget to mention the incredible stupid cover of ‘In the Summertime’? Hopefully it was a lot of fun to work out, because such songs wouldn’t even fit in my grandparents wedding anniversary. On the other hand, ‘On the Moon’ shows a surprisingly nice combination of progressive rock and jazz due to the influence of a magnificent saxophone and a piano. It’s the absolute highlight of the album.

 

Blood of the Snake has got a lot of quality on it to be interesting for a while, especially with the cooperation of people like Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen and Slash and the great differentiation of spheres, but the album is more something of a personal gift than a gift for heavy music lovers. Therefore, the experimentation of the album is overdone and the style is too varying.