SERENITY DIES DO NOT DIE IN THE MALDIVES

Before reading on, allow yourself to get a good grasp on where the Maldives are. Look at that map. The Maldives are a remote island chain a good 300-400 miles off the southernmost tip of India. They’re isolated as all fuck.

Now imagine what it’s like for those of you who live in small American towns; no record stores that carry metal CDs, a long way from any music stores that carry adequate equipment at best, no touring bands come through your town, metalheads few and far between (let alone ones you’d see eye to eye with in a band). Now multiply that by 10 and imagine how tough it must be to be in a metal band in the fucking Maldives where your nearest neighbor is India, not exactly a bastion of metal itself. Of course the Internet has made it much easier for fans in remote locales to discover obscure music, but you can’t email a guitar or the gear it costs to record one; shit must be expensive, yo!

Yet in the face of all that, the gentlemen in Serenity Dies have managed to put together a mighty fine metal band.

Serenity Dies bill themselves as “thrash metal,” but I think they’re only about as thrash as a band like Lamb of God or Byzantine; there may be a very rudimentary thrash template, but they’re by no means a straight thrash band. They’re intricate and musical, and they’re as much God Forbid as they are Megadeth. Their rhythm section crushes, their guitarists have tasty riffs upon tasty riffs and delicious solos upon delicious solos, and to top it all off they have a really talented singer. And oh hey they can actually write songs.

Serenity Dies’ new album Hacksawcracy is out now. Listen to a few tracks from it here.

-VN