Seraph in Travail

Seraph In Travail

Lest They Feed Upon Your Soul

digital: April 30th, 2019

CDs: 12 July 2019

The album marries symphonic elements to extreme metal for purposes of the creation of majestic, fast melodic darkness. It is easy to appreciate the effort by this Pennsylvania, U.S. band. Fast extreme metal is often ugly, and adding symphonic and melodic elements goes a long way towards changing the way that people hear said ugliness turning into something different in dark ways. It is not hard to figure out that this requires a lot of work. For instance, the guitar work, upon a close inspection, reveals lots of little details, like the fast speed of the melodies; all is good work with serious intention. The progressive components are done at high speed; therefore, the rhythm changes and intricate guitar work come at the listener quickly.

The album might be interesting for genre fans looking for DIY bands. The album features a DIY production, and it is important to hear the production and see if it is an obstacle to enjoying the music. It is not a big-budget production and this may affect greatly one’s perspective on the music. A small but strange detail is the decision to use such an amateur-level artwork for the cover. It seems like a hand-drawn artwork done for a cassette tape demo. This last problem has easy solutions: use an old public-domain painting that is more attractive to the eye; use a photograph of the band; use a photograph of a mountain covered by clouds/mist/fog, etc. People listen to music with their eyes, too, and if the art is outstandingly bad, then that’s what they will talk about. Die-hard fans of extreme metal who support DIY bands should not dismiss the album based on the artwork, of course.

seraphintravail.bandcamp.com