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In 1982, when teenage brothers Moyses and Francis M. Howard moved from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to New Orleans, Louisiana with their parents, they could not know that they would soon be taken by the nascent metal underground in the US and become forerunners themselves – but that is just what happened when they formed Incubus (now known as Opprobrium) together with bass player/singer Scot W. Latour in 1986.
After the release of a four-song demo tape in 1987, the trio released their debut full-length Serpent Temptation in 1988, a pioneering milestone in several respects. With Moyses´ blastbeat drumming, which was still a rarity in those days apart from hardly more than a handful of other acts using it in the same uncompromising way, Francis´ fast-paced riffing an Latour´s furious snarl, Serpent Temptation existed on the verge between thrash and early death metal. Balancing chaos and control just perfectly, these tunes were meant to become timeless classics right from the start.
This first effort got them a record deal with the then-revolutionary label German Nuclear Blast, which also released both its successors Beyond the Unknown (1990) and Discerning Forces (2000, by then under the name Opprobrium) as well as, in 1996, a new recording of Serpent Temptation: With Latour out of the band, Francis also took over vocal duties and re-worked the lyrics in addition of also re-recording the bass for this alternate version.
Needless to say, the result was no less convincing, and if you want to compare, this might be the ideal time to do so thanks to the new, ultimate editions of both versions of the album. The 1988 and ´96 versions of Serpent Temptation were faithfully restored by mastering specialist Patrick W. Engel (Amon Amarth, Cannibal Corpse etc al.) at Temple of Disharmony studio, with vinyl cutting courtesy of SST Germany.
Both incarnations of the album are available as single CD, LP and picture disc. Furthermore, the 1988 version comes out on double vinyl, featuring the group´s sole 1987 demo Supernatural Death – for the first time ever in its entirety with six additional tracks (´Death´, ´Hell's Fire´, ´Cataleptic´, ´Rigor Mortis´, ´Blind Vengeance´, ´Assault´), which were recorded during the same sessions but never released until now.
Slipcase, double sided poster, Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel in February 2023.
