Monumental: Songs of Misery and Hope is the debut full-length by UK quintet Serotonal, an act about which there is surprisingly little information online – at least, information that doesn’t directly relate to the band’s vocalist, Darren White, formerly of doom/death legends Anathema and gothic rock act The Blood Divine. One source described the band as being a drone/doom act, but this description seems out of place on listening to the album. Opening track ‘Self Control Seizure’ rockets out of the speakers with pretty up-tempo pace, roaring, full-throated guitars choking out pretty modernistic, aggressive riffage, while the see-sawing power chord progression of second track ‘Now It’s Over’ suggests a more commercial, hard-rocking baseline. White’s vocals recall his output on Anathema‘s Serenades album – morose, gravelly spoken-word erupting into more guttural roars as the intensity of the instrumentation spikes.
The musical landscape opens up to show more of Serotonal‘s full range on third track ‘Unseen’ – beginning with a languid bassline, shimmering clean guitars and a more restrained pace before exploding into a powerful chorus, a simple, vibrato’d lead guitar melody soaring over walls of distorted rhythms and White’s agonised roar. This dynamic between gentle, atmospheric guitar lines and driving, aggressive choruses is used to good effect throughout Monumental‘s running time, seeing the band firmly placing themselves in a sort of hard rock/metal/alternative mode. There’s no rampaging double-kick patterns, no tremolo-picked death metal runs, no breakdowns – just solid, well-written metallic anthems from beginning to end.
The production serves the material particularly well, placing White’s vocals firmly up front and centre (with the curious exception of the chorus of ‘Isolated’, which sees the billowing riffage drowning out the singer somewhat) and providing guitarists Gary Hill and Jon Francis-White with an array of gleaming clean tones and ripping, full-bodied rhythm tones on command. Andrew Heath’s bass throbs away throughout, giving the music a satisfying low-end rumble, while Wayne Denny’s assured drumming is given suitable weight and heft in the mix.
My main criticism of Monumental is that despite the uniformly consistent songwriting quality and equally invariable quality of the instrumental and vocal performances, this kind of material demands maddeningly catchy hooks, which this album sorely lacks. The whole album washes over the listener pleasantly enough, encouraging air-drumming and stolid headbanging throughout, but even after several start-to-finish listens, there’s no one part of any of the songs that really stands out and captures the imagination, and no one particular song that leaps out as a highlight. That said, if you’re looking for an album that’s heavy without being extreme, topped by a vocal performance that is fierce without making the vocals illegible, you could do far worse than this.
Serotonal’s Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/serotonal
Union Black Records’ Website: http://www.unionblackrecords.com
Bottom Line
A satisfyingly heavy, dark-tinged record with an engaging vocal performance, but one that could do with more in the way of memorable hooks.
Darren White didn’t sing on “The Silent Enigma”.
February 12, 2010 at 16:28
You’re absolutely right – must have had a brain-fart while writing the review and typed ‘The Silent Enigma’ instead of ‘Serenades’. Thanks for pointing out the error (which has now been rectified), and thanks for reading the article!
February 12, 2010 at 17:28
No problem! With Anathema’s fluctuating line-up changes, its easy to get it all mixed up.
I agree with you, the drone/doom tag doesn’t fit Serotonal well. Indeed, defintiely more of a modern hard rock edge, like you mentioned.
February 12, 2010 at 17:34
ERM! Wayne Denny did NOT do the drums on this album!!!! I can’t believe he, the band and their record company haven’t mentioned that fact in reply to this article saying so – which means they must be happy for him to take credit! I know it’s hard to find ex drummer Simon Monkhouse’s name on the Serotonal Album sleeve, but believe me – he did WRITE AND PERFORM ALL of the drumming on that album! I was there! If I was Wayne Denny I’d be dying of shame not amending this article – however, it’s not the only one!!! Taking credit for other people’s stuff is the most tossy and pathetic of all low behaviour.
On a pleasant note, Si left this band to join an art house post rock band called MinionTV who are doing rather well for themselves.
October 2, 2010 at 18:24
Or they haven’t seen it? When Phil is back online I’m sure he’ll amend this.
October 2, 2010 at 20:40 OneMetal Team Member
Chill out “Sazzy” – there is no conspiracy. Simon is sufficiently credited on the album. While we were able to work with Simon’s assured drumming, his abilities and especially his creativity is way behind John from Anathema or Was from The Blood Divine. Wayne learned Simon’s patterns and has since shown he is a far superior drummer anyway, so it’s all good.
October 5, 2010 at 14:55
Why is not Simon on here himself? Who is this Sazzy?? Simon can not defend himself? I am big Fan of Anathema and now Serotonal. I like the album and songs but drums not so good. I see Serotonal at Hellfire Fest last year and new drummer Wayne is very good drummer.
October 9, 2010 at 15:36
In my defence, I was only sent a digital copy of this album for review, so I didn’t have anything in the way of liner notes, album credits or anything else to hand – I only had what scant information I could find online about the band to go on.
October 11, 2010 at 14:10
Greetings from Russia. Good album. Always loved Darren White. Nice review, thanx.
October 19, 2010 at 19:51