UMUR
Serenadium is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Iniquity. Graced with one of those ugly computer animated nineties cover artworks I don´t exactly feel welcome but after taking a listen to the music on the album my initial turn off disappears completely.
The music on the album is brutal death metal which is obviously very influenced by the technical US death metal scene. There are very few melodic moments on the album but there are actually enough to make this album a rather memorable one even though it´s very brutal. A couple of guests on keyboards and Cello add a little variation to the otherwise brutal music. The vocals are some of the most mean guttural growling vocals I´ve heard in a while. Unlike most undecipherable growling vocalists, Brian Petrowsky ( while not easily understandable) really sounds great. It´s the delivery of the vocals that just seem to please me a lot. The band make sure to vary the tempo in the songs to keep them exciting throughout and overall they are a very technically skilled unit. Drummer Jacob Olsen would leave Iniquity after the recording of the album and it´s actually new drummer Jesper Frost who is on the band picture in the booklet.
The production is good but could have been better.
Besides a few acts the Danish death metal scene in the nineties never really crossed the borders of Denmark. Danish death metal don´t really have a signature sound like their neighbours in Sweden or the famed brutal US death metal sound, so many acts ended up sounding like pale clones of bigger internationally known acts. Iniquity are not a pale clone on Serenadium allthough they draw lots of influences from especially the brutal US death metal sound. On the other hand they are not the most original act either but I enjoy Serenadium for what it is. A good brutal death metal album with mostly memorable songs, good energy and good musicianship. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.