adg211288 War of Ages (2013) is the fourth full-length album by Austrian power metal act Serenity. After experimenting with a small group of guest female vocalists on their last album Death & Legacy (2011) the band has brought in Clémentine Delauney (ex-Whyzdom) as a full time member of the band. Clémentine was not actually among the vocalists who were guests on Death & Legacy but had been a touring member with the band since 2011 and was added to the main line-up in early 2013.

While War of Ages is my personal introduction to Serenity’s music, I think it’s important to note that the inclusion of Clémentine Delauney can’t have affected the band’s sound all that much, because her contributions here are playing very much second fiddle to established male vocalist Georg Neuhauser. His voice fits Serenity’s brand of symphonic power metal really well, but having brought Clémentine Delauney in full time I would like to have heard more vocal interplay between the two, as there is evidence to be found during the album that the two could work really well together in a dual lead role, rather than the ‘backing vocalist who occasionally sings lead’ role that Clémentine Delauney has been regulated to at the moment.

The music on the album is all very good; obviously the work of an established and skilled band who know what they’re good at and don’t feel the need to experiment, meaning War of Ages won’t throw many surprises at you even if, like me, this is your first Serenity album. A few songs, such as Shining Oasis, have underlying progressive elements but they are welded into the sound so that they aren’t exactly obvious if you’re only listening casually. Otherwise the album follows the sort of patterns that you’d expect from a symphonic power metal album of the current era – fast paced songs with the symphonic backing creating an epic sound topped off by crystal clear vocals, with the obligatory ballad song included in the form of For Freedom's Sake. Props to Serenity though, seeing as they shown themselves one of the power metal bands in the minority group who can include a ballad without it wrecking the flow of the album. Not an album highlight by any means, but tastefully done. The only thing really missing from the current formula is a longer, extra progressive track (which usually appears towards the end, if not the last track, of an album) but Serenity does show here that they don’t have to elongate their songs to be progressive. The gem of the album’s tracks is Legacy of Tudors, but honourable mentions to The Art of War, Shining Oasis and Symphony for the Quiet as well.

War of Ages is a great power metal album if you like the sort of really pure voiced music as made popular by acts such as Falconer and Kamelot, and is an especially recommended listen if you enjoyed the latter band’s latest release Silverthorn. An exceptional tier rating is just about deserved for the consistent high quality but it lacks enough real belters in the evin of Legacy of Tudors to push it up there with the true classics of the genre.

86/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/serenity-war-of-ages-t2998.html)