out now: Seraph in Travail - symphonic extreme metal from Pennsylvania, USA

Seraph in Travail has been laboring mostly under the radar in the United States. It could be that their style is too European for some U.S. fans, but fans of fast, blasting symphonic extreme metal may enjoy the third full-length album. They seem to be an independent band that has been going at it since 2008, but things got considerably more serious beginning in 2015 and at this point seem to be doing well enough to put out good, DIY albums that show an effort to deliver a production that is acceptable to fans of the genre, especially to the dedicated fan that likes to look for bands that so far have not been getting lots of coverage in the bigger publications. Fans will find that Seraph in Travail is serious business, and the presentation of their material has been getting better with each album and nowadays offer a solid, independent album that might interest fans of bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth: mostly fast, black metal with a contemporary production (not raw black metal) with the symphonic background that fills out the sound.

Seraph In Travail

A Black Death Incense

19 March 2021

Bio: Seraph In Travail was formed in 2008 by guitarist Joe Bonner and vocalist Jon Sutherland to be a classically influenced metal band. It took years of scrapped demos, local shows, and group lineup changes to find a focused musical direction and give birth to the first album, Bring Forth Death, in 2015. With the addition of Mike Shaw on drums and Dan Shegue on guitar, the pace, atmosphere, and maturity of the melody-driven sound on Bring Forth Death were ramped-up to produce a second album in 2019 called Lest They Feed Upon Your Soul. Immediately after the 2019 release, the band forwent any serious live ventures and instead set to work at a breakneck speed to outdo themselves with an intense follow-up record that was completed by the end of 2020. A Black Death Incense is the third and latest installment in Seraph In Travail's series of full-length recordings that pursue an austere mastery of the art of dark music at the expense of any scene trend or genre convention. It will be released March 19th, 2021.

A Black Death Incense by Seraph In Travail