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A little too high pitched but still an intense Metalcore assault.-
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| Serianna: Inheritors |
Metalcore
Bullet Tooth Records
July 26th, 2011
- Fragments - 3:55
- Guilty Spark - 3:54
- The Rescue - 3:23
- Virtues -3:53
- Inheritors - 4:51
- Colors - 2:32
- Deep Sleeper - 3:54
- Cast Away - 3:44
- Redeemer - 2:52
- Revelations - 3:55
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| Review Information |
Release length: 36:58
Review posted on July 27th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Inheritors (2011)
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| Review |
Serianna is a newer United States bred Metalcore act. The group's material seems to take more after the Melodic approach of the style then the more traditional heavly "-core" sound that acts like Unearth are bringing back to the forefront. Inheritors marks the group's debut offering, which is being released through Bullet Tooth Records. Of course, the group tackles some of the traditional lyrical ideas common to the style today, but also manages to bring in some Christian-themed material as well, all without really going over the top with it, all the while having a not too unique approach, but a solid sound to their material none the less that shows why the group's debut album is one well worth keeping on the Metalcore fan's radar.
The production to Inheritors is not quite the most inspiring, having a bit of a hollow sound to it. The guitars have a decent heavier edge to them, and when the music picks up and has a little more melody to them, they sound great. Of course the more traditional Metalcore passages don't quite sound as rich, but allow the drums to really fill things in and shine through. The cymbols can become a little overkill at times thanks to the hollow quality, but other then that the snares and the bass kicks sound great. The bass, however, really is drowned out most of the time and is barely audible even with it being turned all the way up on your sound system. It's there, and it's just loud enough to be heard or felt when the music has more of a melodic sound outside some of the breakdowns and the more traditional "-core" passages. The vocals also suffer a little from it as the clean singing vocals end up having a bit of a whiny edge to them, more suiting to an Emo sounding band, but still having enough of an edge to feel at home with the Metalcore sound the band plays and the melodic touches they incorporate. When there's a little extra effort on holding notes however, the production's hollow and higher pitch makes them a little ear splitting. The screaming, however, is great and feels commanding for the most part, but well suited to the Metalcore sound despite what approach they to the music and really shines through as the more important and versatile vocal style of the recording. However, "Guilty Spark" has a moment where they do one word in guttural and hold it, which sounds great and leaves you wishing the deeper approach was done more often, though the higher pitch to the quality doesn't help that much and, had it been deeper, both screaming and that guttural would sound monstrous in the final mix.
As for the music, Serianna do a great job of having some heavier Melodic Metalcore elements, but also solid traditional Hardcore based Metalcore with hooks and even some gang chants that you would expect in a more brotherly-themed Hardcore act. "Fragments" displays this nicely by hopping in and out of each style with good transitions between them. The clean singing on this track, again, comes off a little more on the Emo side of things with a whiner sound, but it's still a solid performance that works well with the more melodic approach to the style. The combination of screams and singing that appear later, as well as the aforementioned gang chants with uplifting brotherly lyrics show that the group still understands the Metalcore sound they come from and assure the listeneing the material is not going to tread into unfamiliar waters, a guarantee the band does manage to nicely live up to through the album. Outside of random passages and the chorus for some songs, the clean singing actually is left behind in favor of the straight Metalcore intensity and screaming. "The Rescue", for example, focuses more on heavier Metalcore riffs and pure intensity, leaving behind a good deal of the melodic sound and clean singing, though there is a bit during the chorus coupled with layered screaming over it that works well to drown out that pitch that feels a little piercing to the ear drums, and just enhances the impact that song's more commanding approach has instead of the trying to having a more soothing chorus. This is also one of the tracks where the bass is heard well throughout the entire recording, and proves the more melodic elements through the sound of the guitars for those passages contribute to the bass being so heavily drowned out in the mix.
But, with that, a pattern does show. Serianna is one of those bands that takes the scream-verse-sing-chorus paint-by-number style of performance and heavily abuses it. While the band does a good job at varying things up as far as where these parts are placed. This is mostly thanks to heavy breakdowns and passages you wouldn't really even notice are breakdowns if you're not paying attention due to how intense and fast paced they can be, perfectly meshing with the already established material from the start of the song. But, even with that established, the group does seem to really stick to that concept, and only really changing things up by layering screaming vocals over the chorus singing, or just having a vocal duel go on and scream, then sing, then repeat, or vice versa. But, despite how bad they abuse it, it's hard to really put the album because of it. Serianna does a damn good job at making the songs sound fantastic, energetic, and powerful enough to really strike the listener that it doesn't matter and leave you looking past it. While the material isn't anything too unique or original, the band does a great job of keeping the intensity of the sound alive, even in the more soothing melodic elements, especially with the screaming is involved in one way or another, and the energy is just there all the time to show the band had a lot of fun doing this, and for a debut release really has a tight sound and knows what they're doing. "Virtues" stands out greatly for it's purely energetic and intense Metalcore sound, and when the bass drop at the end kicks in with the more gang-chant like "woo!" shout, you simply won't be able to restraight the urge to get up and start knocking teeth in while moshing or dancing along.
Of all the songs, only one really doesn't seem to work out. "Colors" is a brief melodic instrumental that feels more like something you would find on a modern Progressive Metalcore album then anything. You can't say it would sound better as an intro or outro to the album, as it just kind of hits and sits there. it really doesn't do much for the release in any way other then perhaps set up that the following track, "Deep Sleeper", has a more melodic vibe to it. Sadly, that doesn't really need to be introduced to the listener in any way, nor does there need to be any sort of interlude. It ends up just feeling awkward and breaking up the flow. "Deep Sleeper", however, does seem to be a bit too melodic in a simpler sense, and not really retaining a fluid sound like the melodic aspects from "Fragments" up to this point managed to capture. The traditional Metalcore sound is also a little lacking, but it's still there, just not as impressive or leave as strong an impact due to having a bit of a more generic sound to it at times. Luckily this only really affects this track as "Cast Away" immediately pulls you back into the more intense Metalcore sound once again, but at this point the flow feels a little ruined and just doesn't quite have the same impact as it does before "Colors" puts a brief halt on everything. "Revelations", however, does make a fantastic and crushing traditional Metalcore track that rounds out the album perfectly, and has a little more intensity to it then it starts off with on "Fragments", leaving the listener pleased with the overall experience, and a more brotherly lyrical send off that is both true and uplifting.
Overall, Inheritors does have it's faults, but the material itself is so strong and well done that you can easily look past them. The tracks often have a lot of intensity behind them, and there's no continuous song structure to them outside the scream-verse-sing-chorus concept. The breakdowns are intense and often can be looked over because of how close to the actual song it comes out to be. The energy behind the band really sets this release apart, and it greatly dwarfs the production issues since there's so much coming at you in such a tight manner that you simply will be too busy focusing on the positive aspects of the release to even bother with the negative. Inheritors by Serianna may not be the strongest in forms of melody, but those little touches do add up to create an album with a strong impact that lasts until "Colors", which is hard to ignore as it does end up sending the album limping along the finish line a bit due to interrupting the overall intense flow of the album. If you're a fan of Metalcore in any sense, then Inheritors by Serianna is an album you simply must check out the next chance you get. Though it would have been better with a deeper audio quality, it's still a strong album with plenty of replay value.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Bullet Tooth Records.
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