There's a lot of great stuff on this album that these Scot doomsters have going for them. Fantastic art, vivid, surreal pagan lyrics, and some really impressive doom/thrash metal. And then there's the vocals. They don't seem to work with the music, which can be categorized as quality, ultra dark and depressing doom metal with thrash breaks (really!). Maybe they're too gruff, almost hardcore sounding (besides the clean singing). Or maybe it's because this album would be truly amazing if they went a little deeper, into a doom death style.

The lyrics especially caught my attention. "Embracing weave of wheat" seems to be an ode to a member's wife; it even chronicles the wedding day. Tell me that isn't original! There's also a heavy emphasis placed on nature, and it's done very nicely.

The intro just goes to show that the band are talented enough to produce really inspiring music. If they could continue down this path, and perhaps apply the vocals in a more suitable way, then Serenade would without a doubt become a favourite of mine. Sadly, the weak gruff style and rather silly off key clean vocals make the album difficult to listen to.

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