Fall Of Serenity - Open Wide, O Hell

2024-03-20 08:00:08

Good things take time, you know Fall Of Serenity only too well. Founded in the late 90s and disbanded from 2009 to 2012, the German melodic death veterans have been promising a new album ever since. In fact, concrete work on a successor to “The Crossfire” (2007) began in 2017, and now completion can finally be reported. Not only that, on „Open Wide, O Hell“ The gentlemen from Saxony and Thuringia are audibly developing further musically.

A not to be despised black metal influence arrives and really shakes things up. This cannot be ignored in “Darkness, I Command”, for example. Immediately it goes into media res, melodic blackened death sounds create a fat, hook-heavy bulwark with hoarse vocals and resounding success. The leisurely, playful second part in particular is immediately catchy. Immediately afterwards, “I Don’t Expect I Shall Return” increases the number of beats significantly, tans the skins with increasing enthusiasm and produces high-quality arcs of suspense that can sometimes be reminiscent of Neaera.

“To Tear The Flesh”, on the other hand, intensifies the blackened element, skillfully slows down the tempo and allows resignation to take hold. The basic mood, which is dejected and at the same time angry, runs through your bones, the malice felt in every note and every growl torpedoes all senses with growing enthusiasm. The way “I Am The End” always goes to the max, triggers small explosions and is more than courageous, is at least as much fun as the steam hammer “Chaos Reign”, which leans even more heavily into the deep black side and distributes powerful liver hooks .

Fall Of Serenity gets this stylish, anything but exaggerated development very well. There’s nothing rushed here – you’d almost think they sounded like that from the start. “Open Wide, O Hell” seems organic, rousing and well-measured, an absolute jaw-dropper of an album that crosses subtle melodies with putrid atmosphere and promotes ominous catchiness. The longed-for comeback album is an excellent success for the quintet and brings back well-deserved attention. In this form, we can only hope that the successor will progress a little faster.

Rating: 8/10

Available from: March 22, 2024
Available via: Lifeforce Records (Membrane)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/fallofserenity