SERIOUS BLACK is a band from Germany that has been on the road for 10 years already. The band has ex members of famous German bands like HALLOWEEN and BLIND GUARDIAN and are now releasing their 7th full album Rise Of Akhenaton. Uncle Google tells me that it comes from the Egyptian Akhenaten, King of the 18th Dynasty. Son of Amenhotep III and queen Tiy. Akhenaton is also the name of a song from a previous band album, so the band must like this guy. The first track “Open Your Eyes” is a good opener. Full of energy and with a nice melody. The tune is full of keyboards from a non credited player and I wonder if anybody on the band gets an extra pay to get the keyboard parts done.

The sound is very what I call, Epic Metal. Ancient histories, folclore, the mysterious, wars from the past, the magical. All can be heard in tracks like “We Are The Storm” and the good “Silent Angel” that has a good melody and reminds you of the great Hard Rock bands from the past like WHITESNAKE. Bands of this style usually have to start with a great singer, and Nikola Mijić delivers the goods. Great range that can go from the sweet to the harsh and is able to reach high notes with ease. Nice singing melodies also on “Take Your Life” that calls all the rockers in the world to rise, and the heavy and also melodic “Shields Of Glory” that has a killer guitar riff. The guitar duo Bob Katsionis (that I suspect do the keyboards as well) and Dominik Sebastian does not disappoint with solid riffs and piercing solos as you can hear on the romantic “When I’m Gone”. Yes, the ballad. And it is a good one which in my opinion is hard to do. Actually is not a total ballad as it has good heavier moments and a sticky chorus. The songs are creative and varied musically in terms of time signature and each beginning of a tune is unique.

We reach “United’ that has a touch of EUROPE, but in a good way. You will also note that the band is composed by well seasoned musicians as the songs are very well structured and catchy. The band also explores different moods in each song providing to the listener a new discovery in every track like in the mysterious “Rise Of Akhenaton” that has an Egyptian touch giving me total Powerslave vibes. The best of the album so far. The output is a kind of Metal that gets its roots in the singing melody. It seems that everything around the singing was produced after the singing melody was written as in “Virtual Reality”. Is that situation when somebody comes with a full melody and the band builds the musical parts around it instead of creating a song from a guitar riff. Dig it? We reach “I Will Remember” that is another kind of ballad in this album, and is another good one. I have also to mention the good work of drummer Ramy Ali that has some interesting grooves in certain songs, and the competent bass player Mario Lochert that has his ax well mixed in every track making it audible. The album ends with “Metalized” , which is a traditional half speed energetic track calling for the metalheads of the world to unite (again). Good album and if you are a fan of melodic Metal, it should be right up your alley.