Band: Serianna
Release: Inheritors
Label: Bullet Tooth Records
Release Date: July 2011
Reviewed By: BMer
Track Listing:
01. Fragments
02. Guilty Spark
03. The Rescue
04. Virtues
05. Inheritors
06. Colors
07. Deep Sleeper
08. Cast Away
09. Redeemer
10. Revelations
Serianna is a 5-piece metalcore band from the midwest and their debut full-length is titled Inheritors via Bullet Tooth Records. The band’s heavy style is very technical in the vein of August Burns Red and I The Breather, but with their additional clean vocals there are moments where they sound like Haste The Day (Stephen Keech era). The 10-track full-length kicks right in with opening track “Fragments” and only really lets up once; during the instrumental 6th track “Colors”. Most tracks are right at that 4:00 mark making the album run just over half of an hour.
One of the highlights of Inheritors is the varied vocals, not just between the harsh vocals and the cleans, but the different styles of harsh vocals used. Most of the time there is the typical yell/growl common in metalcore, but in moments of needed emphasis a much larger and lower growl is used and sometimes a higher screech used (ala Jake Luhrs). The cleans aren’t all that memorable or unique, and might be considered the weakest aspect on the album.
Musically these guys are killing it. The drumming is awesome and technical, never really sticking to one pattern for too long. The track “Virtues” features a killer time-change halfway through giving into a great breakdown. Songs like “Guilty Spark” contain some breakneck speeds, mixed with super-tight fills and its almost like the bass-drum never stops. The guitar-work is also excellent, meandering through each track and at moments very heavy.
Lyrically there is a ton of content here, all of the songs read from beginning to end with no repeating choruses which makes each song a little tough to follow in that the typical hardcore song format (verse-chorus verse-chorus) gives the listener a feel of where the song is at. The songs serve as a warning to those who are living in sin “Living a life of lust (wasting away)
Momentary pleasures are lost in a moment, are the struggles worth it?” And when Serianna aren’t pointing out the flaws in mankind, they’re offering a word of hope “Open your eyes and let the light sink through. You’ll make it, You’ll make it, I swear.”
OVERALL Serianna are admitted fans of metalcore, they set out to make a record that showed that they’re students of the genre. For the most part Inheritors achieves what it set out to do, the music is excellent, there is obvious talent throughout the band, and the songs are intricate and creative. Unfortunately the songs almost run together and are sometimes tough to distinguish against each other. As everyone loves to point out, metalcore is a saturated genre, but with Serianna there is obvious talent and the songs don’t sound forced, they sound natural. These guys obviously had a good time putting Inheritors together.
Buy it here (and listen to samples)