Amongst the Serpent

Amongst the Serpent is the upcoming sixth studio effort by Canadian death metal band Ryuga, releasing through Century Media Records. The existence of the album was first revealed on the 15th of June, with the band in "writing mode" processes. Drummer Eric Waiison announced that Ryuga commenced the recording sessions around September of 2011 and finished in March of 2012 with producer Devin Townsend, engineer Fredrik Nordstrom, and mixer/masterer Doug White at the Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden. On August 20th, 2011, Century Media Records confirmed the official album title as Amongst the Serpent.

Musical style
Ryuga have been discussing about each and every one of their album's sounds, all of them having slight differences. Bassist Jennifer Masterson later concluded with the following statement: "Fuck all of our previous CDs! We need to stay underground and make the most harshiest, powerful, and brutal album as possible, or I'll kill Rebecca Black... That bitch." What she meant in general is that the band needed a change in pace and style, comparing the deathcore elements of the first two albums with the progressive feel of Coagulation and Kvarn, and the sheer metalcore/grind influences of The Gatekeeper and The Solifugid. Amongst the Serpent marks an incredible change in Ryuga's career: highly-reduced clean vocals, unorthodox time signatures, gruesom, more blast beats, and a lot less emphasis on keyboard elements.

As heard in "Down to the Sunless Sea", the band has highly promised listeners that since Night Spider, this will be the first album to feature death growls, absent in Coagulation, The Gatekeeper, Solifugid EP, and Kvarn (although by debate only) Overall, frontman Jude Lizowski stated that the album would be far more "mature and harsher than anything they ever fuckin' released in damn years!"

Lyrical themes
Most of To Sever God's lyrics will be written by rhythm guitarist Jonesy Garcia (Erik Engstrom), frontman Jude Lizowski (Brendon Small), and drummer Eric Waiison. It has been noted by the band's fanbase as "some of the sickest things in life you've ever heard". The official lyrical themes were confirmed by Devin Townsend and (mostly) Ryuga, and are as follows: rape fantasies, satanism, horror literature, the demented past of singer Jude Lizowski, and the events of the post-apocalyptic universe.

Track listing

 * Revealed in a press release on August 20th, 2011, Amongst the Serpent is a 19-track opus, composed of shrill death growls, weird time signatures, more guitar solos featured, blast beats, and a heavy amount of the "darkest side" of Ryuga one will ever see! As of October 29, 2011, all of the track names and information other than the official songs, themselves, for Amongst the Serpent have been showcased.

Track list: Standard
1. "Jesus Deserved to Die" (featuring Jonny Davy of Job for a Cowboy) - 4:28/written by Eric Waiison

2. "Souls in the Great Machine" - 10:50/written by Jonesy Garcia and Eric Waiison

3. "Beaten with a Rotting Animal" - 3:17/written by Jonesy Garcia

4. "Heaven Awaits For No One..." - 3:40/written by Eric Waiison

5. "Down to a Sunless Sea" (featuring Jens Kidman of Meshuggah) - 2:23/written by Jonesy Garcia

6. "The Saint's Integrity" - 8:28/written by Eric Waiison and Jonesy Garcia

7. "Vulva Feasting" - 3:15/written by Jude Lizowski; originally "Vulvectomy Feasting"

8. "Pisschrist" - 4:54/written by Jude Lizowski and Eric Waiison

9. "Stripped of Sanity (Fuck You)" - 0:11/written by Jonesy Garcia

10. "Necrophilic Freefall" - 6:32/written by Jude Lizowski and Jonesy Garcia

11. "Organ Harvest" (featuring Henri Sattler of God Dethroned) - 4:03/written by Eric Waiison

12. "Sadomasochistic Grudge" - 3:31/written by Jude Lizowski and Jonesy Garcia

13. "Tsukuyomi's Allegiance" - 8:10/written by Eric Waiison and Jonesy Garcia

14. "The Phantom of the Opera (Abstract Filth)" - 5:00/written by Jude Lizowski and Eric Waiison

15. "This Unholy Father" - 4:07/written by Jude Lizowski

16. "Doomsday, 2012: Amongst the Serpent" - 9:55/written by Eric Waiison

17. "Extinction is Forever" (featuring Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom)" - 4:06/written by Jude Lizowski and Alexi Laiho

18. "Nailed Through the Cross" - 3:55/written by Jude Lizowski and Jonesy Garcia

19. "I Got Athlete's Foot Showering at Mike's" (Anal Cunt cover; outro) - 0:49/written by Jude Lizowski, Eric Waiison, and A.C. Men's Chorus

Track list: Deluxe edition bonus tracks
1. "Venus and the Cat" - 5:22

2. "Massacre of a Family" - 4:40

3. "Corruption" (featuring Johan Liiva of Hearse) - 2:36

4. "Urinal Ballista" - 3:23

5. " Preying on Innocence" - 5:04

6. "Fucked by a Catholic Priest" (featuring John Gallagher of Dying Fetus) - 2:25

Release
Ryuga has confirmed To Sever God for a mid-May or early-June release through Century Media Records. Since Night Spider, this will be the first studio album to contain a Parental Advisory sticker (although, rhythm guitarist Jonesy Garcia has revealed on August 19, 2011, that there are a few versions containing no sticker). Century Media Records has also considered the possibility of having both standard and deluxe editions of the CD.

The final release for AtS has since been issued for May 15, 2012, as confirmed by Brendon Small in a new band interview discussing about the upcoming album.

Singles
The first single from Ryuga's new album, Amongst the Serpent, was confirmed on October 5th, 2011 to be "Heaven Awaits for No One...". It was released both online and physically on October 27th, twenty-two days after the confirmation date.

Genre

 * Melodic death metal
 * Progressive metal
 * Deathgrind
 * Ambient jazz

Band personnel: Ryuga [Fictional]
Jude Lizowski - lead vocals

Jonesy Garcia - rhythm guitar, programming, vocals ("Necrophilic Freefall")

Jennifer "Incubator Jen Inferno" Masterson - bass guitar

Band personnel: Ryuga [Actual]
Brendon Small - lead vocals (Note: Also voices Jude on A Farce of Ryuga)

Jade Simonetto - bass guitar

Erik Engstrom - rhythm guitar, programming, vocals ("Necrophilic Freefall"; performing for Jonesy)

Eric Waiison - drums, percussion

Mark Dreisch - lead guitar

Shoji Yashimoro - keytar

Studio personnel at Studio Fredman
Devin Townsend - production, assistant engineer

Fredrik Nordstrom - engineer

Doug White - mixer/mastering

Additional personnel
Dennis Sibejin - Illustrations and design

Martin Wittfooth - Photography

Jonny Davy - Additional vocals ("Jesus Deserved to Die")

Jens Kidman - Additional vocals ("Down to a Sunless Sea")

Henri Sattler - Additional vocals ("Organ Harvest")

Alexi Laiho - Additional vocals ("Extinction is Forever")

A.C. Men's Chorus - Additionals vocals and guitars ("I Got Athlete's Foot Showering at Mikes"; Anal Cunt cover)

Johan Liiva - Additional vocals ("Corruption"; deluxe-exclusive track)

John Gallagher - Additional vocals ("Fucked by a Catholic Priest"; deluxe-exclusive track)

Trivia

 * The standard and deluxe editions of Amongst the Serpent have been speculated to have different cover art, similar to The Gatekeeper, but same illustrations in the booklet.
 * Tracks #17 and #19 have an additional writer other than just Waiison, Lizowski, and Garcia.