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Sertraline: Guilty EP

Modern Heavy Metal

2.5/5.0

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Unsigned/Self-released
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 22.02.2017

What's that old saying? Oh yeah. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. More on that in a moment. Featuring a female lead vocalist, Sertraline is metal band from Stoke-On-Kent, a town southeast of Liverpool in England. They're dropping their second EP Guilty in March.

Sertraline

Returning to my first words, I keep forgetting, in this modern era, that when a band is described as being a "melodic metal" band, that doesn't always hold true. Actually, it's not so much a matter of truth, but of full disclosure. Sertraline is not without melody and harmony in their music, mostly from Lizzie's vocals and somewhat from the twin guitars. But what you don't know until you listen to Guilty is that there are also dirty/death vocals in every song.

Essentially then, Sertraline's sound can be distilled into a few simple elements: clean female vocals, contrary or contrasting dirty vocals, thrashy riffage, and a heavy bottom end in the rhythm section. That's pretty much it. Sure, they try to get tricky with some light guitar at the start of Snakes or the fine opening bass and drum line of Nyeevise. The latter is probably the best song here, because of that, and the refreshing guitar lines that actually include a solo. Otherwise, frankly, I lost interest in both Sertraline and Guilty the very moment I heard the dirty death vocals. I'll take a pass.

Sertraline - Change Of Heart

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Frankly, I lost interest in both Sertraline and Guilty the very moment I heard the dirty death vocals. I'll take a pass.

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