Review by Faithless on September 27, 2020.

As the “dominant” species in the third rock from the sun, we humans have been in a constant struggle between keeping civilization going and creating our demise. Empires have risen and fallen and our current society is speedily going towards extinction. We are a zero-type civilization and the horizon looks blurry each day, leading us to be the virus, the cancer of earth. After the album The Phobos and Deimos Suite Serocs strikes once again the technical brutal death metal scene with an EP called Vore. This EP deals with the theme of humans as devourers of everything on the planet and us causing our obsolescence.

Serocs' sound hasn't changed much from their previous effort. The band keeps up with the blasting and technical brutality in the drums, fast and intricate riffing, techy bass lines, and horrendous guttural vocals. In my view, this EP serves as a way to perhaps include songs that were not into The Phobos and Deimos Suite for x or y reason and also as a teaser for what's to come shortly. The production, writing style, and instrumental attack is kind of similar to previous efforts. The only thing I can say changed a bit was that the guitar passages are more melodic than before. Of course, without sacrificing aggression and technique.

Vore is composed of 7 tracks in which 2 previous versions of their 2011 demo were included ('Nihilus' and 'Anthropic'). I have to say that the new versions of the demo songs are sounding brutal enough to justify their existence in this EP. By the way, those are instrumental versions, no vocal parts included. Anyways, let's get into the other 5 songs. The EP opens with 'Anthropic', this track starts with a short mysterious intro that quickly builds into the main riff, which is rhythmic, melodic, and catchy enough to keep your headbanging. The bass is prominent and pulsating, something that most of the time doesn't happen in technical brutal death metal bands. The bass usually gets buried into the mix and is just relegated to breakdowns and slow parts. Speaking of slow parts, there is only one moment to get your breath back in this EP; 'Shallow Vaults' is a brief instrumental that bridges 'Building a Shrine Upon Vanishing Sands' and 'The Temple of Knowledge'. Apart from the small interlude, you will only find frantic blast beats and complex guitar sections.

As I already mentioned, Vore is a demonstration of the inhuman technique in all the instruments, and is not about showing off how fast they are or how brutal. It is about how coherent and cohesive you are with the concept you're displaying. 'To Self-Devour' closes the butchery consistently, keeping up with the melodic guitar moments along with the EP as well as with the technical parts shown in the bass and drums. This is by far my favorite song of Vore due to the leitmotif drawn in the guitars that makes that track catchy, labyrinthine, and aggressive. A perfect closure.

Concluding with my review, I just want to say that Serocs has been a very consistent act since the beginning of their career. Throwing competent material into the scene, this band takes their time to release smart music into a sub-genre that tends to be repetitive and sometimes dumb. So folks, it is time to self-devour your brains and spin Vore, a very interesting and decent piece of technical brutal death metal from the band Serocs.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on December 15, 2023.

Are you hungry for some rock and roll? Do you feel the need for speed? Well, I’ve got just the album that you need boys and girls. For today’s review, I will be covering the Swedish heavy metal/hard rock band Warhawk, and their second full-length album Dambuster, released on August 4th, 2023 via Cimex Records. Without wasting any time, let’s start the engines rolling and get straight into it! 

The output of Warhawk is a very rock and roll driven heavy metal that contains the musical DNA of Motorhead, with guitar playing that is quite reminiscent of Eddie Fast Clarke’s style and the drumming in Philthy Animal Taylor’s style, whereas the vocals have a really dirty and aggressive singing style that reminds me of Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan of Atomkraft and Venom Inc. The general approach that every song has is oriented towards that filthy and devilish rock and roll with a punk-like attitude that really wants to wreck everything apart, with the standard length of every song being around 3 minutes or maybe less (the only exception being the final track 'Hawks Of War'). Each song has this heavy uplifting spirit that pumps your adrenaline from start to finish, from the fast riffs all the way down the raw guitar solos, and the great thing is that it transcends a very oldschool energy that really gets you going. The stylistic consistency of this album does not slow down at any given moment all the way throughout, even when it reaches the final banger song 'Hawk Of War' that is a brilliant album closer and a grand pay off which speaks in high volumes that it was worth it baby. The songwriting is fairly simple and energetic, which is perhaps one of the biggest highlights of the entire album that really gives it its special charm to captivate you from the very moment you press “Play”. Warhawk may be dabbling in oldschool heavy metal and overdriven hard rock, but what is also very evident is that they obviously graduated the school of rock and roll from the ages of old, which would even make Lemmy proud. I really love the album art as well, which reminded me a lot of the 70’s band Budgie who had hawks on their album’s cover art, and I think that the cover art for Dambuster wonderfully captures the essence of Warhawk’s music. The production is also damn great, where every bit of instrumental and vocal performance is simply top-notch. 

Dambuster is probably one of the most badass and greatest rock and roll performances put on album this year, and I am glad that I got to hear it right before the end of 2023. I always said that so many excellent bands are coming from Sweden, and Warhawk is no exception, especially not after releasing a banger of an album such as this. Fans of oldschool heavy metal, especially the kind with a lot of devilish rock and roll, will definitely pick up this album and blast it at full volume, because that is how the lads of Warhawk would demand of all you maniacs out there. 

Rating: 8.9 out of 10