EP REVIEW: Guilty – Sertraline

SERTRALINE have composed an EP that demonstrates just how to play with heart but also head, improving on previous recordings and adding a maturity to their material. Full of melodic riffs and hard playing, the soaring and screaming vocals of Guilty are very promising for the future of SERTRALINE.

Title track of the record Guilty takes on a very heavy edge to their melodic style, it’s a track dripping with ferocity and yet the clean vocals from Lizzie have a softer side to the music. It’s a brilliant track that plays with time well, and makes a huge belter of a track. Following, Snakes follows in much a similar fashion, a little more bounce in there now, while the vocal screams just become more and more brutal. It’s a song that takes some classic metal themes in terms of the lyrical delivery, which is not a bad thing by any means. The music itself has a great round melody and the drums are a lot of fun. The breakdown to a more tranquil moment before punching you square in the face.

Change of Heart is yet another good track, but sticks a little but too much by numbers, and occasionally can feel like a slightly different direction from the rest of the songs on the EP. However, while it’s clearly a work in progress, there are some swooping drops with the bass and a full throttle attitude that makes this track ride through some of its imperfections. For sure, it’s much more promising to see a band play around like this than to see them just sticking to tried and tested.

Nyeevise, however, demonstrates now the band have progressed in the few years they have been together- you’d think this came from a much more established and well-travelled band. There’s some real lovely intricacies to the guitar work here, beautiful display of vocal skills and some groove in the rhythm section that makes this a real ear worm. For this EP, it’s the highlight, no question. Finally, I Admit the Blame takes the slow burn to complete this record. It’s pained and rather than taking the head-on approach, it’s a smouldering, groove-laden track that riffs on emotion and takes a simmering heat that makes a big impact.

Overall, it’s a really pleasing release from SERTRALINE, showing nuance in their craft, experimental ideas and a true progression from the last record to this one. Another strong contender in the UK melodic scene is on the rise here.

Rating: 7/10

Guilty is out march 3rd via self-release.

Like SERTRALINE on Facebook.