Genre: Symphonic/Power Metal
Label: Napalm
Date of Release: March 22, 2013
THEATRIC SYMPHONIC POWER
Austrian
quintet Serenity is one of the many bigwigs of the melodic power metal genre,
along with bands such as Kamelot, Symphony X, and Dragonforce. Their fame began
to escalate after the group formed in 2001, today including members of other
seasoned bands such as Fairyland and Whyzdom. They released a few short demos until
they landed a signing with Austrian record label Napalm Records, where deals
were also struck with acts such as Draconian and Alestorm. Afterwards, they
released three full-length records, their latest being “Death & Legacy”
from 2011, which served as a great definition for the symphonic and melodic
power metal genre. In 2013, the group has returned with their fourth
full-length release called “War of Ages.” After a little lineup changing since
the previous release, including the recruitment of a second vocalist, Clémentine
Delauney, this ten-tracked helping of epic power metal will show the return of
one of power metal’s largest giants to storm the scene.
In
all respects, the musicianship fares very well in “War of Ages.” The vocals are
stellar, with Georg Neuhauser’s singing possessing great potency and emotion.
However, in this particular release, there is more duality between both the
male and female vocals than earlier, and it certainly works in the album’s
favor. Clémentine’s singing is also excellent, being graceful in their notes,
but on top of that, the album takes advantage of this duo effort to build up a
more dramatic tone to it than before. Another element of musicianship that aids
the record in this theatrical feat is the orchestral effects, including the
piano and the violin, creating some nice melody and epic atmosphere. They don’t
overwhelm the record or overstay their welcome, either, and they are used at
the right times to make a dramatic effect. Both the guitar and drums also help
in making the release showcase the musicians’ talents well, providing a firm
framework for the epic tones to have a basis for the album to have the cake as
well as the frosting. On top of all of this, the sound production is also
well-played, giving the music a somewhat resonant atmosphere to it, thus
building up the fantasy-like aspect of the band’s metal tracks. In this
release, both the musicianship, along with the production and mixing, is simply
great.
The
majority of “War of Ages” focuses on Serenity’s traditional take on the melodic
and symphonic power metal genre, and for the most part, the band succeeds. There
are plenty of epic melodies and choruses to be found in this release, and those
truly do know their way around taking one’s breath upon listening. The songs
are also structured rather well, so they do a decent job of keeping their
listeners invested with their buildup and climax, which is also reinforced in a
mellower element soon to be described. As stated earlier, the duality between
the male and female leads allows for a great, dramatic and theatric effect for
the music, and the emotion it builds up makes the formula all the more
pleasurable. The orchestral instruments also play their part perfectly, with
the guitar and drum work also playing their part in adding grounded foundation
to the music, demonstrating a nice teamwork in terms of instrumentation in
these ten tracks, to the point where the music is concise and concentrated in
terms of sound and structure, while still hanging on to the more gripping parts.
Although this full-length release does not throw too many surprises in terms of
innovation or standing out of the rest of the genre’s pack, it does a very solid
job in showcasing the brusque and thunderous side of the power metal coin.
On the
other hand, despite the more energetic demonstration of melodic
orchestral-laden power metal, “War of Ages” also has its very fair share of
mellower and softer moments throughout. A few of the songs in the record’s tracklist
are theatrical ballads, complete with the vocal duality described earlier, and
they each individually serve their purpose well in not only their efforts to
astound people with their soft yet dramatic passages, as well as provide the
album with some dynamic to make the more potent parts of the album come more to
life. On the other hand, unfortunately, despite the advantages, this is also the
area where “War of Ages” most suffers from. The most fatal flaw of this side of
the band’s power metal coin is that the songs that follow this formula do tend
to sound a little too similar for their own good. In short, they have a rather bothersome
lack of distinction. This causes these segments to lose some steam throughout
the album’s course, and the epic nature of these tracks begin lose their vibe as
a result. Another issue with these parts is that they do tend to be somewhat
cheesy at occasions, where the band overplays this side’s dramatic aspect so
much that they sound too much like traditional fantasy-romantic movie musicals.
Thankfully, in spite of these flaws, these segments to help in creating some
good drama and dynamic for the release.
With
all these elements taken in, “War of Ages” is nothing short of a solid effort.
The musicianship showcased in it is stellar, and each musician does their part
to make everything in terms of sound come together rather tightly. Along with
that, the sound production and mixing gives this instrumentation much more
explosiveness and atmosphere to emphasize their effect. As for the music
itself, the band’s demonstration of energetically epic power metal is quite
solid, and there is plenty to be enjoyed in this respect, particularly in terms
of some of the spine-chilling melody. Sadly, although the mellower side does a
good job of creating some dynamic for the music juxtaposed to the potent
melodic power metal, most of the flaws spawn from that section. The parts have
a bad habit of sounding too congruent and wind up losing their sense of distinction
and variety, and they do also bear a tendency of being rather cheesy and cliché
in their sound. However, even though this does get in the way of the release
being completely enjoyable and investing, there is still enough in the record
to enjoy overall. This being said, if you wish for something new or inventive
to be brought into the power metal genre, you sadly are not missing too much if
you decide to pass this up. Even so, however, if you are in the mood for some
solid and epic power metal, this theatrical record could be for you.
Score: 7.5/10 (Solid+)