Review of Serocs - The Next

If you were to listen to the second album from Serocs blindly, with no knowledge of the band at all, you would be forgiven for assuming the band was from Canada rather than Mexico. The band has a distinct Canadian tech death metal sound akin (OK, not akin, exactly like)  to mid era Cryptopsy (Whisper Supremacy, And Then You’ll Beg, Once Was Not) with a razor sharp, twisty turny take on tech death metal littered with twangy bass lines and jagged, scattershot riffs, and it’s done pretty damn well.

The international flavor  and quality of the band is bolstered by several guns for hire assisting founders and guitarists Antonio Freyre and Phillip Tougas notably Monstrosity/Vile bassist  Mike Poggione, Lecherous Nocturne vocalist Jason Hohenstein and Sotajumala/Atakhama drummer Timo Häkkinen. So with somewhat of an allstar line up, it’s no surprise that this crew renders Freyre’s song writing vision impeccably, with dashes of the bands other projects amid the heavily Cryotopsy sounding material.

But with a sense of flattery, not sheer mimicry, The Next delivers on all levels. Expectedly tight musicianship (dominated by Poggione’s frantic bass work) and competent tech death metal song writing make the album balance finitely between indulgent noodly overkill and memorability. The album’s compact 31 minute run time, feels perfect as the 3-4 minute songs slice and dice with little fanfare. Just  crisp,busy riffs and stop start savagery that never over does it. There’s just enough tempered pacing and variety amid the chaos to keep things interesting as heard on personal favorite “The Shining One” or  “Urban Terror” but Serocs never lose sight of their primary Canadian influence with jagged, atonal, serpentine blasts like the opening title track ,”The Variable”, “The Hellgrammite Method” or “Weakness Fed the Fear”.

Amid Comatose’ recent gore drenched discography (Necrotic Disgorgement, Suture, Exhumer, Mortal Decay), Serocs and The Next delivers a more intelligent take on brutality and shows potential for a very promising future and heir apparent for Cryptopsy. Now can someone tell who or what a Serocs is?