Serenity
Serenity are a four piece rock outfit who have been gigging in and around the Plymouth area since their line up was completed in early 2006. With a sound formed through influences such as Nirvana, Silverchair, Pearl Jam and Queens of the stone age, serenity provide an epic rock sound, immense metal moments, and emotionally charged glimpses throughout their debut album release “The Psychle”.
The use of an intro to the album builds suspense for the relentless power of track 2 “Affair”. With a solid percussive rumble throughout accompanied excellently by thunderous bass, “Affair” is a great example of Serenity’s style. They combine their huge musical sound with the powerful voice of vocalist Alex Jennings with great effect. Throughout the album there are changes in tempo and dynamics showing that Serenity are certainly not one trick ponies.
Serenity shift between corrosive riffs, guttural chord sequences and elegantly gentle melodies with ease throughout. The heavier moments of the album such as “Wild West Shootout” and sequences within “Letters and Diaries” are my personal favourites.
Final Track “Goodbye” combines the warm but intense sound of a piano with soothing melodies to show a completely different side to a musically talented and proficient band.
If anything detracts from the class of this album it would be an occasional lack of depth in the production quality. With a band which produces such a big sound I occasionally felt that the recording caused the songs to lose their presence slightly. This is however explicable with the knowledge that the release of this album and production of all the bands promotional material has been self funded. From what I can see the only thing which seems to have suffered from this may be the sound quality.
This album is a great package, filled with varying songs and approaches, but all with the Serenity style firmly stamped on it. Each track has its own signature from the band members and shows a band who are definitely all on the same page when it comes to writing music together. Whether this is due to the close relationship formed through their influences or the so called “Telepathy” the band have developed through knowing each other a long time, it is clear to see that Serenity have only promising times ahead of them if this release is anything to go by. If you are a fan of chest crushing exchanges between Drums, Bass and Guitar and the occasional solo, or breakdown thrown in then it is well worth checking out Serenity. Buy their album from www.serenity-official.co.uk