854. Serious Black / As Daylight Breaks. 2015. 3.5/5

The tendency to look for new music for me often comes down to either mates insisting that I must check out this band because they are awesome, or by following artists when they change bands or do a solo project, or, in this case, a side project away from their  major band of occupation. Most tend to be a one-off proposition, which of course hampers the chase for new music to the odd album. Whether or not that becomes the case for Serious Black is yet to be seen, but this debut effort does offer the possibility that it could lead to further releases.

I found Serious Black through guitarist/vocalist Roland Grapow. Roland had first joined Helloween to replace Kai Hansen, which was where I first encountered him. After several good album, of which he contributed to along the way, he moved on to co-found Masterplan, the band he is still the leader of to this day, and whose initial albums are still legendary. So when I read an article that he had become a piece of this so-called 'supergroup' I went out of my way to track it down.
The one thing I can say with certainty is that you won't find anything new here. That doesn't make it poor, it just means that all of those elements that make a typical power metal album are all here. In effect, if you enjoy power metal, you are more than likely going to enjoy this album. If you do not enjoy power metal, then nothing here will likely change your view on it.
As always, the faster paced, drum and guitar packed songs are the ones I enjoy most here. The opening tracks "I Seek No Other Life" and "High and Low" express the best of this kind of music. They are fast, significant drumming from veteran Thomen Stauch, the keyboards from Jan Vacik prominent but not overbearing, while the guitaring of Roland is just superb. "Sealing My Fate" doesn't quite live up to the opening expectations, before the instrumental "Temple of the Sun" returns to a better innovation within the album. "Akhenaton" features the best of Urban Breed's vocals (yep, that's his name...), they really soar here and showcase his great range and power. "My Mystic Mind" draws its roots from Roland's writing, as it sounds like it could be a Masterplan song. Once again, it's fast and powerful with amazing vocals. "Trail of Murder" follows a familiar path with the keyboards taking centre stage on this shift.
You can take it to the bank that the title track for me is a complete album killer. Power ballads, they are just the bane of my existence, and "As Daylight Breaks" fits right in that category of the massive mood killers. Everything has been going so well, fast paced power metal in the best sense, and then we throw this track into the mix. Well, there's no power here, just quietly spoken lyrics over keyboards, before progressing to the powderpuff heart of the song. Ugh ugh ugh.
"Setting Fire to the Earth" returns us back to middle ground, the pace reels itself back up a notch, though it is the synth and harmony vocals that dominate this song rather than the guitars of Dominik Sebastian and Roland and the drums of Thomen. "Listen to the Storm" sails a bit too close to going down that ballad track for me to be completely at ease with it, while the closing track "Older and Wiser" regains any lost ground, ending the album on a high note.

Overall, apart from any misgivings about the ballad styled tracks deposited here, this is an impressive debut for this gathering of musicians. As mentioned earlier, whether or not this becomes a group that produces multiple releases will be for the future to decide, but the debut effort gives every confidence that if they did, they could only improve on the base they have created here.

Rating:  When all the seasons come undone, I shall rise again.  3.5/5