Review Summary: Reborn is a new and fresh album within the melodic death metal genre featuring some great symphonic sections and melodies.
Reborn is the fourth studio album from the Japanese melodic death metal group, Serenity in Murder. While their influences are obvious, they still add their own twist to the genre by having some symphonic elements throughout their records. On
Reborn, they had to survive a vocalist change while also keeping their sound exciting and fresh which they thankfully succeeded at.
Their symphonic elements are clear from the beginning with the intro,
The Great Beyond. It starts with a simple piano melody that then builds up to heavy guitar parts. It then transitions to
Anthem, which is an absolute monster of a track. It fully showcases their new vocalists abilities. Ayumus vocal style is like a blackened version of Angela Gossow and it is a great fit for the band. It also contains a memorable and melodic guitar solo that soars through the mix. This is an excellent way to start the album. The next song is
Plead For Your Life which features some incredibly crushing riffs and some impressive yet absolutely fierce growls. The song peaks in the last minute though with a melodic and impressive symphonic segment.
The Titans is where the band truly shines though. The song opens up with immense strings and sluggish riffs. Then the vocals kick in alongside intense blast beats. Everything in this song works but what makes this a standout track is it’s symphonic sections. After the heavy chorus, the song crescendos into a Japanese folk style making a genuinely delightful moment in this otherwise extreme and powerful track. Another highlight off the record is
Beast in Human Shape. It contains one of the better of the many triumphant guitar solos that you can find throughout the album. The cut also accommodates a seamless and unexpected breakdown in the middle and it is eminently effective and dynamic.
Reborn’s biggest weakness is that it is a fairly predictable listen outside the occasional surprising moment. This causes songs like
Rain or Shine or
The Glow of Embers to be forgettable and run of the mill but are otherwise fine songs. There is nothing bad about them outside their comparative blandness as every other track has at least one thing different or interesting to offer. Even then, most songs on the album do follow a familiar formula making some moments feel stale or done before.
Serenity in Murder changes things up slightly on
Sea of Stars with a solid mid-tempo tune while still keeping their quality of great riffs and monumental melodies.
The Black Sun has the advantage of being the heaviest cut off the album. This track is the closest
Reborn gets to being death metal as it holds thundering riffs and blast beats. While
Leaves Burned to Ashes is your fairly standard melodeath affair, it does end with a relaxing acoustic guitar melody. Honestly, this band needs to utilise the acoustic guitar more as they are great with it. The album closes off with the instrumental
The Four Seasons showcasing all of their talents that were shown in the previous tracks. From some soothing piano parts to a victorious guitar solo to some folky acoustic guitar passages while still keeping their symphonic metal influences throughout, the song never dips in quality for a split second. It is the perfect closer for
Reborn.
Despite the fact that Serenity in Murder isn’t exactly reinventing the melodeath wheel, they are still creating some great music. The symphonic sections never feel gimmicky. The melodies are all truly amazing. Ayumus vocals add something new to bands sound while giving an excellent performance. However,
Reborn does feel a bit dull in certain places as some tracks do start to sound similar or fail to stand out amongst the track list. Still, Serenity in Murder is an extremely talented group and if melodic death metal is something you enjoy, this is an easy recommendation.
