SERIOUS BLACK

Power Metal • Multi-National
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It all happened on a sunny 23rd of August in Spain, when Roland Grapow (ex- Helloween, Masterplan) and Mario Lochert (Emergency Gate, ex - Visions of Atlantis) had a conversation backstage over a cool beverage, talking music business – you know, what musicians usually do.

For quite a while, Mario had had the idea of bringing together 6 musical masterminds to form a band floating around his head. After a few initial concerns about igniting various conflicts when getting together in that configuration, eventually Mario was able to convince Roland of his intentions.

Back in Munich, Mario immediately contacted his friend of many years, Thomen Stauch (ex- Blind Guardian, Savage Circus), telling him about his idea. Thomen was sold and joined the bunch right away. After that, Jan Vacik (ex- Dreamscape) and Dominik Sebastian (Edenbridge) were quick to agree to a collaboration, too. With that, a new band was born, consisting of five
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SERIOUS BLACK As Daylight Breaks album cover 4.25 | 2 ratings
As Daylight Breaks
Power Metal 2015
SERIOUS BLACK Mirrorworld album cover 3.50 | 1 ratings
Mirrorworld
Power Metal 2016
SERIOUS BLACK Magic album cover 3.00 | 1 ratings
Magic
Power Metal 2017
SERIOUS BLACK Suite 226 album cover 3.92 | 2 ratings
Suite 226
Power Metal 2020
SERIOUS BLACK Vengeance is Mine album cover 4.50 | 1 ratings
Vengeance is Mine
Power Metal 2022

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0.00 | 0 ratings
I Seek No Other Life
Power Metal 2014

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SERIOUS BLACK Reviews

SERIOUS BLACK Suite 226

Album · 2020 · Power Metal
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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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