Review Summary: Serosia remains determined to provide quality over quantity to its faithful, albeit limited audience.
With its third record finally released to the public, Serosia remains determined to provide quality over quantity to its faithful, albeit limited audience. Complete with only three tracks of average length, the band doesn’t stray far from its comfort zone. Instead, Serosia aims to impress with performance and polish which, by the way, has just scored them a producer, Cristian Machado of Ill Nino, for their fourth record. Whether this is a blessing or a curse is still to be seen, but I imagine the acknowledgement alone put smiles on many faces. Fortunately, The Vehicle EP did the same.
As brief as the first play through was, I was eager to hear each song all over again. The vocalist in particular has this fantastic quality present in many of their previous tracks and thankfully reappearing here. These brief flares of energy, where Lucas d’Agata shifts gears and rapidly shouts before regaining equilibrium, provide the necessary hooks to keep you engaged. Sadly, the rest of the band doesn’t really attempt anything extraordinary like in “Perspective and Balance”. The soundtrack provided is heavy enough to preserve their alternative metal label but seems to lack any sort of experimentation that drew me to the band initially. Still, where the former holds true for the first two tracks, the third, Eleventh Dimension, does attempt to be different both vocally and instrumentally. Slightly slower and softer, but nowhere near enough to be called a ballad, the closing track provides a much more melodic experience than what fans may be used to. Singing takes precedence over shouting, notably near the end of the track, which happily brings to mind Index Case and makes this the standout track.
As a returning fan, I definitely imagine their first full record to be filled with tracks similar to Criminal and Rainstorm with some progressive breaks like Eleventh Dimension in between, though I wish for the opposite. I can’t help but feel that this record was stripped of some of the originality which made “Perspective and Balance” so distinct. Nevertheless, what we are left with is still miles ahead of what the majority within the genre are churning out right now. If you’re looking for some style and substance in your music, wrapped in a heavy package, then Serosia is not to be missed.
good to hear
