SERIOUS BLACK — Suite 226 (review)

SERIOUS BLACK — Suite 226 album cover Album · 2020 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Power metal is coming home...

Serious Black strike back! This album is a lesson in tasty European power metal. It retains the few good things that contemporary European power metal has to offer and blends in all the good stuff from original power metal and traditional metal. I, for one, appreciate that.

Several of the tracks on this album feature some pretty aggressive guitar riffage and drumming, and the album definitely ventures into, if not quasi-thrash, then at least speed metal territory at times while retaining the melodic sensibility of quality power metal. That is not to say that there are no softies on the album - one such example is 'Fate of Humanity' which combines pop rock with metal (and I gotta say, I really like the chorus - in particular the instrumentation, but the vocal line is undeniably catchy). More of a hard-rocker 'Heaven Shall Burn' overlays weirdly cheesy synth parts on top of groovy guitar riffage. It sounds like a recipe for failure, but it works. At the other end of the scale, we find aggressive tracks like 'Let Me Go' and 'Solitude Étude'.

There is just the right amount of cheese on this album, which is otherwise dominated by guitar riffage and compelling guitar melodies along with face-melting guitar solos. The musicianship is top notch as is the songwriting. Some might protest that Urban Breed's vocals are a bit too thin for this type of music, but I think his singing works well.

"Suite 226" is a fine power metal album which seriously challenges my dislike towards European power metal. You know what, I'm happy to be proven wrong by these guys.
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