EP REVIEW: Clouded Minds & Silver Lines – Sertraline

For all the occasional pot holes you’ll come across on Clouded Minds & Silver Lines – five piece prog/metalcore outfit SERTRALINE at least manage to deliver a relatively fresh take on the sub-genre. Their forgivable inexperience makes their newest EP – which follows from 2017’s Guilty – sloppy in places, but the quintet do seem to have an ace in the hole which, in time, could be a real game changer for them.

This power weapon is vocalist Lizzie Parry, who adds layers of authenticity to SERTRALINE‘s otherwise by the book approach. Where the mantle of originality often gets laid on vocalists shoulders, Parry offers an at times fascinating presence through Clouded Minds & Silver Lines. Felt most on opening track Inside Out, there’s a staggering level of dexterity to her vocal ticks, she drops low notes that often graze deep before delivering graceful notes of grandeur in the chorus sections. By far the best track on the EP: it shows that at their peak SERTRALINE can be both a brute, and luscious force.

What follows is a stark reminder of reality for the band though. The trio of Mean To Me, 2205, and SFS all have decent enough, low pinned backdrops from guitarist Mike Hawkings – but the hap hazard attempts at hooks here is more akin to the bland nature of NEW YEARS DAY than it is NORTHLANE or PERIPHERY. And where Parry is a soaring central figure in the early stages of Clouded Minds & Silver Lines, the bands infantilism shows here, with a barrage of tracks that are little more than forgettable, plodding nods at standard modern metalcore.

It’s still incredibly early days for SERTRALINE, they’re entitled to have some slack cut for them, and this is an EP that at its peak sounds like the next step for a band that will go on to take plenty more. Despite its often insipid output, Clouded Minds & Silver Lines is still worth your time – because with some tweaks in the right places, there’s plenty more to be offered from these progressive upstarts.

Rating: 6/10

Clouded Minds & Silver Lines is set for release May 22nd via self release. 

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