Serafin - No Push Collide
At the moment there is such an over saturation of English and American grunge lite rock bands. Obviously the quality is variable with the vast quantity currently being churned out. It's seems record companies are so eager to make a quick buck that they'll sign almost anyone who jumps on this particular bandwagon making them plenty of money in the process. Serafin are just plain average. Competent musicians, but their over reliance on cliched teenage angst and tormented state of mind, while genuine and relevant to today's society we live in had frankly been done to death and is so predictable of the genre.
"Stephen's In The Sky" is a fair stab at a goth metal hybrid with Simon and Garfunkle styled melodies. To be fair to Serafin they do make an effort in their lyrics to touch the listener. The line "young man, heart attack and breathing through a metal sack" is written with a heart and soul not usually on display. On "No Happy" Ben Fox Smith's vocal is half spoken half sung mixing a Lou Reed drawl with the sneering of Mark E Smith. Lyrically spiteful and the riffs match anything the Vines can unleash. "Numerical" is your standard intense ballad with power chords, but the slower pace does suit Serafin's sensitive, subtle nuances. The vocals are a little too whiny for comfort over the whole album though on the quieter moments such as "Sage Waites" it shines. "Who Could I Be" is a slow burning ballad which starts with just an acoustic guitar and vocals and then melts seamlessly into superb harmonizing and a full on grunge rock explosion.
"No Push Collide" is a mixed bag of an album from Serafin. Just as you're being bewitched by the beauty of the music you're suddenly brought back down to earth by the limitations of their musical ability and their tendency to play it safe by recycling themes of loneliness and desperation. Serafin will improve in time, but at the moment are content to just give their fans what they want without really stretching themselves and making the most of their full potential.
Nicholas Paul Godkin
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