Seregon
Disposable Suffering

December 2009
Released: 2009, n/a
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Hanntu

Seregon are a young thrash band from Bristol, England who are rapidly gaining a name for themselves through hard touring and being seen on stage opening for the likes of Evile and Onslaught. When I saw them in early 2008, they were opening for Toxic Holocaust and Municipal Waste, and they seemed like callow youngsters who just wanted to live the thrash lifestyle of booze, banging and more booze. And yet their 2008 two-song sampler A FUTURE EXPIRED showed something more to this band, something more ambitious – there was a maturity in their songwriting that went beyond downpicked low E riffs and whammy abuse. This has solidified in the form of an album this year, DISPOSABLE SUFFERING, and given the right breaks, they may be a force to reckon with on the UK thrash map.

DISPOSABLE SUFFERING is firmly rooted in this new wave of thrash we’re experiencing – Warbringer, Gama Bomb, Evile, Municipal Waste etc – and they’re not afraid to flash those high-tops. But they also bring to mind, at times, Testament and Susperia; that is, unmistakably thrash, but with hints of melody and variations in pace that is bursting to break out. I say ‘hints’ because I’d really like to see more of these little additions that take them beyond simple thrash. Case in point: ‘The Removal of the Spine’ has several midpaced sections that really serve to highlight the all out thrash bash crash that follows. DISPOSABLE SUFFERING also throws in surprises here and there, such as the wickedly misleading intro into the first song (effectively the intro to the entire album), a kind of spacey underwater duel between clean guitar, crash/snare and bass guitar. Totally tasty! And segueing nicely into double-kick uber thrash riff territory is the start of the mayhem.

If there’s one nitpick I have, it’s that there aren’t enough solos. I’m still a sucker for a nice well-placed guitar solo, although I’d rather they didn’t do solos than do them badly. Fair play to them for not resorting to bog standard pentatonic E. And if Legion of the Damned can get by without so much as a venture into high E territory, Seregon sure can as well. The riffs are strong enough to allow that.

There’s a long way to go for these guys yet, but the signs are encouraging – not least a definite ambition to be slightly different, to not be afraid to throw different things into the mix. It’s not so usual for a young band to have the confidence to step away, albeit slightly, from what is expected. I hope they throw more experimentation into their next writing sessions, while keeping the ‘Fuck Shit Up’ sense of fun. Keep your eye out for Seregon, they might not make it big but they’ll certainly have a fair crack at it!