Serenity – Fallen Sanctuary

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Napalm Records
Produced by Oliver Phillipps & Jan Vacik

Over the last couple of years, particularly since the 2007 release of Words Untold & Dreams Unlived on Dockyard1, Germany’s Serenity have been gaining notoriety at a steady rate, earning spots on several festivals and the main support slot on tours with Kamelot, Threshold and Morgana Lefay.

They had hoped to debut material from new album Fallen Sanctuary, still in production at the time, at the ill-fated ProgPower UK III festival in March, but that wasn’t to be. Nevertheless the new Jacob Hansen-mixed album has finally arrived and sounds flawless. Crisp production and the kind of top-drawer musicianship and vocals listeners should expect from a serious progressive metal band.

However, most of the songs sound a little too familiar. The biggest and easiest comparison to draw is with known fans Kamelot, particularly because of the vocal similarities between Georg Neuhauser and Roy Kahn. However, there are others that are almost as obvious. Coldness Kills, for example, is a very Threshold sounding song, while power ballad Fairytales could almost be by anybody.

These songs are undoubtedly good examples of what they are, but they are just examples. Opener All Lights Reserved is a bit of an exception, purely because it’s such a good metal song. Big, bold riffs and plenty of over-blown vocal harmonies, hooks and intricate instrumentation to get stuck into. The presence of Star One can be, whether intentionally or not, felt all over Rust of Coming Ages, even if it is slightly heavier, while To Stone She Turned and The Heartblood Symphony would fit nicely into the catalogue of just about any melodic metal band.

Velatum is the subject of the band’s first video for this album, and personally I’d have chosen All Lights Reserved or the over-hooky Coldness Kills. The soft acoustic verses between the heavier, symphonic choruses are no doubt the reason this one was chosen, appealing as it will be to the Sonata Arctica crowd. Again though it sounds a little too much like Threshold-meets-Kamelot. The piano-intro’d Derelict, slightly over-symphonic Sheltered and closer Oceans of Ruby have the same effect, although they are all very, very strong songs, particularly Derelict.

As a melodic, well-structured metal record this is perfect. It’s got a little of everything and fans of everything good quality in this genre will likely lap it up. But in a genre which prides itself on developing and stretching what’s gone before this fails. Satisfaction with the result is therefore going to greatly depend on what a listener hopes to get from this album.

“ a little too familiar ”

Tracklist: All Lights Reserved / Rust of Coming Ages / Coldness Kills / To Stone She Turned / Fairytales / The Heartblood Symphony / Velatum / Derelict / Sheltered / Oceans of Ruby
Limited Edition Bonus Track: Journey’s End

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2008, Albums, Progressive, Serenity