Serenity in Murder – Timeless Reverie

This band was a completely random discovery. Apparently online algorithms get something right every now and then because a few days ago, YouTube presented me with Serenity in Murder‘s official video for ‘God Forsaken’, and it only took hearing it once, to know I wanted to hear this full album. The band has over a decade of activity under their belt, and this is their fifth album, but for me, it was a blind listen, with barely any knowledge of their previous material.

What first grabbed me was the strange mix of sounds and genre choices that they’ve tangled together. Using a lot of orchestration, various extreme metal elements and a boomy yet sometimes raw sounding production, they seem to be going on a bit of a road trip through different versions of extreme metal. At first I thought they’re symphonic deathcore, the likes of which you’d compare to Lorna Shore or Shadow of Intent. The explosive moments highly mechanized drum sound and shrieking vocals with barely any enunciation all hint towards that. But the writing doesn’t fall in the same category. They have their moments of running riffs and blast beats, but there are no predictable disjointed down-tempo breakdowns and excessive piglet noises. In terms of riffs, they mostly make me think of melodic and technical death metal. Think Fleshgod Apocalypse and Children on Bodom. The guitar and bass sound isn’t as hi-fi as the drums and orchestrations. It’s quite muddy and primitive, and it shifts me towards more old-school aesthetics of death metal, particularly that of Scandinavian origin. With these two sounds somewhat chaotically intertwined, they seem a bit unable, or maybe unwilling to decide whether they have a preference for the traditional or the modern. And while I think sticking clearly to one direction would make their music a bit more coherent, there’s something exciting and refreshing about the compositional chaos and jarring production choices going on here. It makes the band stand out and is very likely the reason they gripped me so quickly. It also probably opens them to a broader audience because, at the end of the day, no matter how strange the sound is, it works. It delivers the energy, punch and brutality, as well as an epic cinematic effect, and even a bit of hook.

Serenity in Murder – God Forsaken

The songs are not very similar, so they keeps the listener curious for what comes next throughout the whole record. ‘God Forsaken’ is very dominant and menacing. It’s got a spectacular cinematic intro. And something about the compositional chaos and wall of sound effect tilts it towards black metal aesthetics. It’s also got a ot of disrupted rhythmic elements that I am particularly fond of. By comparison, ‘Matrix’ or ‘The Flames Above’ sound more like melodic death metal tracks, with a picked up, energetic drum pace and heavy use of guitar lead melody. ‘Never Defiled’ is the mist deathcore song with some muscular drops and de-tuned effects, though not slowing down the tempo into generic breakdowns. And at the same time, it brings some thrashy aesthetics with how the riffs kick off, and with some strangely Slayer-esque shredding during the solo section.

The orchestral and cinematic component is also very developed and diversified. Sometimes it sounds highly processed and it’s mixed in with electronic effects and percussion. ‘The Revolt’ almost sounds like a riff-driven rave song. On other occasions it is lush, vibrant and triumphant, like on ‘A Dance of Sorrow’ or the closing instrumental track ‘Hope: A Timeless Reverie’. And on ‘Never Defiled’ it even brings in tension and horror aesthetics. It also mixes in different sounds, from clear piano to music box effects and lush string sections. The sound design on the closing track is also brilliant, with tranquil bird songs and background chatter immersing the listener in a surrounding imaginative landscape. This last one is also the only track on the album that’s not running, screaming and pounding, so it feels like a reward for putting up with all the sonic abuse throughout the album up until this point. It’s a breath of sunshine after the storm.

Serenity in Murder – Blue Roses Gracefully Fall

Vocally, it’s mostly mid to high register shrieking. It’s not anything that blows my mind, but it sounds satisfyingly unhuman and it fits the instrumental backbone like a glove. There are also a few songs with clean vocal choruses that almost sound metalcore (‘Matrix’, ‘And the World Awake’, ‘Revolt’) and even some deep, penetrating spoken word sections in ‘Blue Roses Gracefully Fall’.

At the end of the day, ‘Timeless Reverie’ is not perfect. In some ways it feels like a bit of a mess, and like it can’t decide what it wants to be. The production isn’t perfect, and all the various sounds sometimes feel too crammed or inconsistent. But it feels bold, daring and willing to venture into unsafe, unexplored creative territory. This results in some spectacular moments, and makes the journey exciting and totally worth your while. I personally prefer accepting the problems if I also get the treats, rather than listening to anything predictable that only works because it follows a safe formula.

Track List:

1. God Forsaken (04:13)
2. Timeless Reverie (03:46)
3. Blue Roses Gracefully Fall (04:08)
4. And The World Awake (03:34)
5. Never Defiled (04:40)
6. A Dance of Sorrow (03:48)
7. In Flames Ablaze (03:06)
8. Revolt (03:18)
9. Past: Timeless Reverie (01:25)
10. Noticed This Is the Betrayal (2025) (03:28)
11. Hope: Timeless Reverie (06:04)