SEROCS — The Next (review)

SEROCS — The Next album cover Album · 2013 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
adg211288
The Next (2013) is the second full-length album to be released by Mexican death metal act Serocs. Despite first being released not even a full year since prior effort Oneirology (2012) The Next features an almost entirely new line-up. This is, I guess, because Serocs began life as the solo vehicle of Antonio Freyre, but has gradually developed into a full band with Freyre concentrating on the guitarist position. The Next was originally released digitally off the band’s own back in July 2013 but was picked up by Comatose Music for a CD release that came about a few months later.

The music on The Next is a really furiously brutal sounding brand of technical death metal. A relatively short album with just eight tracks in the space of about half an hour The Next represents music that aims to get the job done with little to no fuss. The job in this case could be attributed to the perhaps cliché 'to kick your arse' because that's exactly what Serocs do on The Next. New vocalist Jason Hohenstein (ex-Lecherous Nocturne) tops off Antonio Freyre's riffs with a strong vocal performance but it's clear that he's one of these death metal vocalists who goes for the as extreme as possible approach, and I find that his performance doesn't leave for much lyrical identity between the album's songs, on account of I really can't catch a word of what's coming out of this guy's mouth. He suits the sound to the point where it's best to consider the vocals just another instrument, but throughout the release I can't shake the feeling that Antonio Freyre hasn't found the right voice for his music yet, because musically The Next is really quite excellent, especially tracks like Urban Terror or The Hellgramite Method. Jason Hohenstein handles it well enough but doesn't have the sort of commanding presence to do the music justice.

The Next is an enjoyable brutal/technical death metal cross release from Serocs. It's clear that Antonio Freyre remains the star of this group even though it has become a band over a one-man act though, with his technical but fast and brutal guitar playing being the aspect of the album that instantly won me over, making up for a lack of identity between the songs. So it's not perfect by any means, but there is more to be positive about on The Next and if you need an album sometime which is fast, raw, intense and old school, then you really could do far worse. A great album tier rating is deserved.

78/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/serocs-the-next-t3195.html)
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