Architekt + SUBSTANCE UK – ‘Serpents VIP’ Featuring Messinian | Impossible Records Release [Track Write-Up] – Monsoon Season

We Enter The Snake Pit Once Again With ‘Serpents VIP’ From Architekt, Substance UK, and Messinian.

Written by: Brandon Rafferty

“First off, I love all of those guys (Architekt and Substance UK); they are exceptional people and great producers” said Messinian when asked about working on the insanely massive track “Serpents”, released on Impossible Records back in 2019. He continued by saying “The remix was something Architekt and Substance did, my only input on the remix was that it was fucking dope and I approved. It’s pretty much that simple. I really wild out with the VIP, that shit is definitely hard as nails.” This write up will mainly focus on the VIP, but will reference thoughts and ideas that went into the original track.

‘Serpents’ was a track previously released a few years back and completely demolished music venues across the nation with its brutal basslines and sound design crafted by pure aggression to lead you into the apocalypse. Architekt is no stranger in the world of heavy bass music, and you can truly feel his mark left on this track. When approached about the track, he had this to say. “I wrote the song out of a demo Substance passed to me and immediately sourced Messinian for the vocal. James needs no direction regarding creativity. When I received the recorded vocal, the most vivid word that stood out was the word SNAKES. That ignited the spark of creativity required to sound design the intro and create the art and marketing for the single. I attempted to recreate the feeling of snake charmer music. The strange shrill melodies work surprisingly well with the dissonance of dubstep music. I chose the name serpents because I feel it has very sinister ring to it and conjures an almost biblical evil in one’s imagination”

When it came to the VIP, most of that was done by the guys of substance. So I got in touch with them as well and got a nice look into how both projects came to be from their end. “The original came to be after we remixed Architekt’s track ‘Drones’ back in 2016. We knew we wanted to make a track together so Micheal started putting together a draft. The draft was sent to us with some temporary vocals in place and we kind of built the track around that. Once a rough draft was completed, Messinian got involved with the vocals after hearing the instrumental, which was incredible. The theme and title of the track came about due the the lyrics James had come up with and we just went from there.

I think the vibe of the track definitely warranted Messinian’s distinct style of vocal. The heavy nature of the track, sound design and energy went hand in hand with what he brought to the table. It was our first time working with a vocalist so it was amazing to have such a household name on a track we had been involved in. I think the reason we wanted to VIP the track was that we felt we weren’t fully done with it yet. We had so many ideas that went with that vocal and theme that we really wanted to push the boundaries with what we could do.

We like adding variation in our tracks to keep the listener on their toes so we kind of went crazy with the different styles while keeping some of the original sound design and repurposing different elements to create something new. It’s been a great experience working with someone so experienced as Architekt. He really pushed the boundaries with his sound design and track arrangement. Messinian did what he does best and brought incredible energy, and shoutout to KJ Sawka of Impossible Records for letting us release two versions of this track!”

It has been fun getting an inside look from every person involved with this beast of a lineup! It’s always nice to hear what the artists themselves have to say about the entire process from start to finish. Both Versions of “Serpents” are out now on major music platforms, and both will leave you completely obliterated and wondering what to do next after the listening experience. Architekt, Substance, and Messinian have proved why dubstep is still alive and well, and they just continue to deliver amazing tunes at a relentless rate! Be sure to keep your eyes open for more tracks by all of these guys and go check out more of their work over on their pages.

[Stream Serpents VIP HERE]

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