Style: Classic Tech-Death (harsh vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: Austria
Release date: 07-08-2020
Tech-Death is one of the prog sub-genres that has been through the most amount of transformations throughout its 30 year history. You can easily be into the 90’s tech-death (popularized by Atheist), which was very eclectic, punchy, and at points jazzy, and at the same time dislike the early 00’s dissonant-like tech death (eg. Gorguts) whilst you enjoy the modern trend of batshit insanity (popularized by Necrophagist).
Even though it is far from trendy nowadays, a lot of bands have been doing what is called OSDM (Old-School Death Metal) worship, and if we add a T there, there’s also OSTDM worship going around. Sacred Serenity is exactly that; a blast to the past of early tech-death, both in it’s songwriting and production.
Let’s get one thing clear: This album has a pretty amateur-ish vibe to it. It feels like a dude that loves Atheist or Death just wanted to pay a tribute to these acts by writing songs that are heavily influenced by their style. Not to mention that the production also has a very DIY feel to it. But amateur doesn’t equal to bad in my book, especially on styles that don’t take themselves too seriously to begin with
So it’s great that Redefining Life doesn’t feel like that. It’s a 24 minute blast from the past, that’s digestible, head-bangable, and fun. You should not expect anything more out of this release, as it does not want to do more than that. With that in mind, I’d consider this album to be a success for what the band was going for. It’s not going to be in my AOTYs, I won’t even listen to it obsessively, but it’s a nice addition for a throwback-style that’s been getting some deserved love over the past years.
Recommended tracks: Redefining Life, Eternal Decay
Recommended for fans of: Atheist, Death
Final verdict: 6.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Sacred Serenity is:
Gravedweller (all Instruments)
1 Comment
Gravedweller · October 6, 2020 at 06:11
Hey Dylan, thanks for this review!
With Redefining Life I really never meant to go anywhere but “I’m bored of always playing regular fucking Powerchords in a 4/4 time signature, give me a challange”, which is excactly what I found in Death and Atheist! It’s a big compliment to hear, that my music in one way or another reminds them of such Titans, since they were in fact a very huge influence in what I now create.
With the record I’m currently working on I’ve been trying to find more of my own style in this, some parts in Redefining Life just stood out for NOT sounding Death or Atheist; Those are the parts i want to have more of!
Have a great week,
Jonas