Serpent Rider have carved out a rare place in modern epic heavy metal, blending arcane atmosphere with sharp, instinctive songwriting. Born in Los Angeles and reborn in Seattle, the band have evolved from raw early visions into a fully realised force, culminating in their acclaimed debut “The Ichor of Chimaera.” We caught up with them to explore their origins, their creative path, and the mythic spirit that drives their work.

Interview

TheNwothm: Serpent Rider began life as Skyway Corsair before evolving into its current form. Can you walk us through the formation, that transformation, and what sparked the change in name and direction?

S.R: I’m a big Slough Feg fan, and have been since I was a teenager. When I started the band back in 2015, it seemed natural to me to name the band after a Slough Feg song, so I named it after lyrics from High Passage / Low Passage. I started the band playing music very inspired by Slough Feg, but within just a few weeks of coming up with the name, we’d shifted direction; I was listening to a lot of music in the vein of DoomSword, Dr. Doolittle, Trotyl, the more epic Scorpions songs a la Sails of Charon, and that was how my riffing was turning out, so we pivoted the band in that direction rather than try and force something. We kept the name for a while but once we had a lineup change and started to get serious about recording a demo, it became clear that the old band name didn’t really reflect the music, so we changed to one from a Manilla Road song (“ride the serpent and make your stand!”) and didn’t look back.

TheNwothm: You started in Los Angeles and later moved to Seattle. How did each city shape your sound and identity as a band?

S.R: Los Angeles has a very, very different scene than Seattle does. I always had a tough time things that are tweaked after repeated rehearsals don’t get tweaked, you may not like song idea as much when you hear it with your full band in the room, and things aren’t jammed out. I say “can be” because of course sometimes you write things and get it right on the first pass and bring a completed song to your band that doesn’t change at all across rehearsals, but across an entire release usually tweaks are made, at least with us.

When I moved to Seattle, we had to find a new lineup for the band. Seattle’s scene proved a lot more friendly to what Serpent Rider is doing than Los Angeles did and we found a local lineup made up of fantastic, dedicated musicians very easily by comparison. That meant a lot more tweaking things in the rehearsal room or via someone coming over to my house than could ever have happened before the move, which is reflected in the music.

The actual environments of each city had no real impact on the music, though- I have a vision for the band, and that persisted even as my home switched from a paved over suburb to beautiful woods. I certainly find it inspiring to live somewhere so beautiful now that I am in Washington but my influences are the same wherever I go!

TheNwothm: Your music is often described as arcane and mystical. How consciously do you lean into those dark undertones, and how much of it emerges naturally from your writing?

S.R: It’s just the natural result of my songwriting approach and my influences. I am not sitting down and thinking about writing “mystical” songs- but I am definitely thinking about writing songs that sound like Serpent Rider, which I guess is the same thing!

TheNwothm: When building songs, do you aim deliberately for that arcane grandeur, or does it arise instinctively from your interplay of melody, rhythm, and lyrical themes?

S.R: I suppose it depends on how you define it. I have a goal in mind when I write, and I want the guitar melodies and song buildups to come together a certain way. I have never sat down and tried to write towards the mood you’re describing, but I have very much sat down and gone hey, this lead guitar part doesn’t quite fit, why not do this instead, which I suppose ends up in the same place. Similarly the lyrics just come from me writing about what I am interested in. Instinctive is a good way to describe it! Like most people in metal I am not a trained songwriter and I have learned to write songs by writing a bunch of songs so everything just comes together based on feeling and the experience I’ve gained over years of writing music.

TheNwothm: How do you balance heaviness with melody when crafting your soundscapes?

S.R: I can’t say I’ve ever thought of it! I just write what comes to my mind and whatever happens, happens. Heavy metal fundamentally needs cool, heavy riffs but it also needs catchy melodies that stick in your head and I’m never writing with the perspective that the two are fighting. Conceptual “heaviness” has never been my jam either, I’m more concerned with if something riffs hard and is memorable.

TheNwothm: Mythology, fantasy, and history are central to your work. Which specific myths, tales, or historical eras have most directly influenced your songwriting?

S.R: Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages for sure. As a kid I was obsessed with knights, legends about dragons, and Greek mythology, and as an adult, those are what I write music about in Serpent Rider. Coincidence? I think not. I can’t say that they’re a huge influence in my songwriting though- the period most influential on that is 1970 through 1989!

TheNwothm: Are there particular authors, books, or films that serve as creative touchstones for Serpent Rider’s lyrical world?

S.R: I write about what calls to me, and that can mean a variety of things. We’ve written about history, mythology, taken inspiration from poets such as Keats, and from authors ranging from Moorcock to Abercrombie to McCrae and beyond. There are no real limits other than what my own sense of aesthetics tells me is appropriate, or my own sense of contrarianism!

TheNwothm: Your music feels like it channels ancient stories into modern heavy metal. Do you see yourselves as storytellers as much as musicians?

S.R: I will let our singer, R. Villar, handle this one- I think for a band like Serpent Rider where aside from the music, it is so lyrically heavy and focuses on a narrative, we have to be story tellers. I don’t think every musician necessarily has to be or that all songs call for it but for our music and our choice of themes, it’s especially important to be to bring life to the concepts and lyrics that’s been written for the songs.

TheNwothm: If you had to be a character, creature, god from a fantasy book etc what would you choose and why?

S.R: A hard answer to give! Most fantasy revolves around what you may call events of significance, and so the quality of life of the average person in those books can be rather low or fraught with peril, and as cool as it is to fantasize about being a godly swordmaster, who wants to alternate between 12 hour days of martial training and getting almost killed all the time? Maybe a hobbit, safe in the Shire, sometime well before the events of The Lord of The Rings?

TheNwothm: The title evokes mythological monstrosity and arcane imagery. What specific myths or tales fed into this record’s concept?