EP Review: Codex Sarafini – Serpents of Enceladus (Halfmeltedbrain Records/Ceremonial Laptop)

Hailing from Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn, comes Codex Serafini; the first Saturnian psych band to crash-land onto planet Earth (somehow landing in Brighton, UK). Codex Serafini’s mission is to hypnotise your minds with their strange intergalactic jam rock, starting with the release of their debut EP Serpents of Enceladus, which will be released on cassette and digital formats through Halfmeltedbrain Records in collaboration with Ceremonial Laptop on February 7th 2020.

Very rarely do I feel compelled to start off a review with something of a definite statement. Such is the power of Codex Sarafini, I feel I have to get this out of the way right at the start. This band…this EP…it’s all so bloody weird!

I don’t just mean it’s unusual or unique (which it is), I mean it’s hard to fathom just how anyone could have come up with these songs. The elements that make them, the structures, the beginnings, middles and ends. This is one time where the notion of a band being from another planet isn’t so unbelievable.

Right now Codex Sarafini are proudly sitting atop the mountain of wacky stuff I’ve heard in some time. I’m just not sure if it’s actually good as it’s such a mind-f**k of a listen.

We’re talking rock fused with jazz and filtered through psychedelic. Echoing and distant high-pitched vocals, squeals and yelps, flashes of a saxophone, a collection of effects that make little sense and moments of melodic levity heavily inflicted by low guitar tones.

What the hell did I just listen too?

Importantly though, the very moment it ended, I went right back to the start. It might be a state of shock but I think I love this band.

Codex Sarafini – Serpents of Enceladus Full Track Listing:

1. Liber
2. Cronus
3. Janus
4. Fountains of Enceladus
5. Speaking in Tongues
6. Serpents of Enceladus

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Halfmeltedbrain Records