Recent Reviews

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

[ More Music Reviews ]


Sertraline: Guilty EP
Sertraline Guilty EP CD Album Review

Sertraline: Guilty EP

Modern Heavy Metal
2.5/5.0

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 Guilty EP Band Photo

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



CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

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

The Bottom Line

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

Find A Review

Alphabetical Index

a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
u v w x y z #
New & Notable
Read the Eclipse: Megalomanium II Album Review

By far, Sweden's Eclipse is one of my favorite bands. Always consistent and always entertaining, Eclipse has been delivering their 21st century version of melodic metal rock since songwriter, producer ... [ Read More ]