The Serpent is Rising (1973)
1.Witch Wolf
2.The Grove of Eglantine
3.Young Man
4.As Bad as This
5.Winner Take All
6.22 Years
7.Jonas Psalter
8.The Serpent is Rising
9.Krakatoa
10.Hallelujah Chorus
Following the commercial indifference to Styx II, Dennis DeYoung found himself at a crossroads. Rather than doubling down on the heartfelt, melodic material that would one day define the band’s biggest hits, he decided to steer the group into stranger territory—into songs that tried to meet imagined expectations rather than express anything remotely authentic. Of course, hindsight reveals this to be a misstep. But when a song like Lady—clearly one of the best things they’d done—initially flopped (initially, remember), one can forgive the reactionary course correction.
So came The Serpent Is Rising, the band’s third effort and arguably the most baffling of their Wooden Nickel period. Rather than building on the small successes of the previous record, they decided to explore themes ranging from Greek mythology to Roman Catholic liturgy. Unsurprisingly, the public remained largely indifferent. For the few fans willing to dig, there are some signs of growth—but you have to dig hard. Really hard.
The album opens with Witch Wolf, a James “JY” Young composition that stands as one of the better moments in the band’s early work. Driven by pounding guitars and a vaguely menacing tone, it channels a kind of Harley-riding, Steppenwolf aesthetic. It’s gritty and effective—everything this album could have used more of. Even John Curulewski, usually the weakest link, contributes something listenable in 22 Years, a bluesy stomp that even made its way into the band’s encores for a while. It’s the closest thing he came to writing a keeper. Also worth a mention is Young Man, another JY rocker that, interestingly enough, he would revisit and re-record over two decades later on a solo project. Not many people remember the track, but clearly it meant something to him.
After those minor victories, though, things go downhill. Fast.
Dennis DeYoung—typically the group’s strongest songwriter—offers little of substance here. He hands over lead vocal duties to JY on tracks like Winner Take All and Jonas Psalter, both of which sound like half-finished ideas at best. His one vocal turn on The Grove of Eglantine is passable, but far from memorable. Meanwhile, Curulewski, not to be outdone in the “what were they thinking?” category, delivers the utterly lifeless As Bad As This and the bizarre spoken-word horror piece Krakatoa. The latter is the kind of track that might work as a theater student’s audition monologue but has no place on a rock album—any rock album.
Just when you think the album has run out of ways to confuse, the band closes with a vocal rendition of Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. To their credit, it’s actually performed quite well, entirely by the band’s own voices. The problem, of course, is that it serves no discernible purpose and feels wildly out of place. But by this point, why not?
As an added oddity, side one closes with an unlisted novelty track, The Plexiglass Toilet. It’s juvenile, silly, and yet—somehow—one of the album’s highlights. That says quite a bit.
Like the rest of the Wooden Nickel era, The Serpent Is Rising was a product of a band still searching for its identity and a label with neither the means nor the vision to guide them. DeYoung would later call it the worst album Styx ever made. It’s hard to argue with that.
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