Distorted Abyss !

On a cultural level, Kingdom of Norway is home of all historical hot Vikings. But on a musical level, we must mention it is the home of Serena Maneesh. Serena appears as strange looking boys parading around as a cool band with a tall skinny blond girl on guitar or bass. Her hair stops the retina from moving forward to her instrument, musical one of course. You do notice a string instrument being floundered on her thighs, nevertheless. But because it’s rather large one, it’s a bass. What can I say, I once had intentions towards bass but just didn’t have the hair.

The guys from Serena Maneesh, (big apologies for the girl but due to the cock majority ergo…), they release a second album, 5 years later from their previous self titled debut album, S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor. Song after song, you quickly become convinced that Serena rocks it. The old school coated with that 2000 musical foam of let’s jam like cool people and see what comes out of it is there. The voice for them is not that important, that is very obvious. But it merely entices, like another noise in the crowded background (Reprobate), or used simply as a swift whisper. (Blow Your Brains In The Morning Rain).

If the voice is alluring and barely there, the sound is another matter completely. It is alluring as well, but, most important, it is far from clean. The distortion is being fervidly abused, a statement maybe, that the dudes are instrumentalists above all else. And furthermore the intended aggressive, edgy (Melody for Jaama) and provocative feeling (Ayisha Abyss) coming from the sound is becoming a reality. All those attributes round up successfully towards the sixth track on this album, towards Honey Jinx. Still, each song is like destined for a treasure discovery, or more adequately saying an instrument discovery. The complexity of the orchestration makes a rather subtle invitation for the audience to listen closely and then separate in a more logical/easier way, each instrument’s sound.

Whether Serena Maneesh have made the long waiting worthwhile, is not that much of a debate. Because from all this musical work presented in the form of this new album they sure prove that is was worth it, otherwise you don’t get or are into them. Greetings serenity.

picture courtesy of Amazon