Review SERIOUS BLACK ‘Vengeance is Mine’

Serious Black is the brainchild of bassist Mario Lochert and the early days of the band included well-sounding names like Thomen Strauch, Roland Grapow and Urban Breed, to mention just some. That was in 2014 and there have been some line-up changes along the time with the good news, that the quality never suffered.

Two years after ‘Suite 226’ hit the shelves and after having been on tour with Hammerfall, Serious Black have a next album in the starting blocks. ‘Vengeance is Mine’ is the sixth album penned by Lochert and band mates and it is the first longplayer with their new frontman Nikola Mijić. Since Urban Breed’s voice was always one of the strong pillar of Serious Black’s sound, it wasn’t the easiest challenge for the new singer to leave his own footprint when it comes to the thirteen songs on the album. All potential concerns are baseless since the voice of the Serbian singer fits perfectly to this emotionally driven album.

There are the slower paced songs like the anthemic ‘Ray of Light’ as well as the guys push the pedal to the metal with songs like the blistering opener ‘Rock With Us Tonight’. The title is a bold statement, and I can imagine that this tune stands on pole position of future setlists.

Serious Black find the sweet spot of melody and heaviness, reflected in songs like the well-rocking ‘Tonight I’m Ready to Fight’. ‘The Story’ is the emotional power ballad while the strong and up-tempo ‘Album of Our Live’ shows a proudness of what the guys achieved.

‘Vengeance is Mine’ is a well-done melodic metal album of a band and band leader that follows the direction given by their musical heartbeat. Passion and dedication is what characterizes these songs with more personal lyrics than on the previous releases. This record is 100% Serious Black.