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.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Antibeauty Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mana Earth Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Intimate Isolation Hardcore Punk
GOOD FALL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Dark Future Sludge Metal
PAIN CHEMISTRY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Violent Delights Hardcore Punk
GALLEONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Galleons - Electric Emotions
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us