SEALEN – Deathly Silence (2011)

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SEALEN hails from Murcia, Spain, and finally after ten years on the road, they are releasing their debut “Deathly Silence”.
Despite the album title and the apocalyptic cover art, this is not a Doom or Death Metal act, Sealen plays classy Hard Rock mostly influenced by ’90s Euro bands.

“Deathly Silence” is based around the potent guitar riffs courtesy of Teo Martinez who also is able to play some interesting solos, and Damian Romero’s strong vocal lines with a style somewhere between hard rock and traditional metal, yet melodic on many passages, specially on the more American oriented tunes. Sung in English (no accent in sight), Romero proves to be very comfortable on every note.

First track ”Fire & Ice” opens with a melting guitar riff and a melodic line resembling US metal acts as the harder Dokken. Interesting punctuating guitars during the verses and hard rockin’ chorus.
“The Curtain Falls” is one of the heaviest songs on the album, and one the most modern sonically.
Follower “Dust To Dust” has a more late ’80s classic Euro melodic hard ‘n heavy style as Pretty Maids or Vengeance, including some clean guitars on the first part.
On “Desert Room” Sealen changes drastically the style of the their music. This melow tune is one of my picks of the album, an extremely melodic semi-ballad very close to Firehouse.

The hard rock returns with “Breath”, a typically early nineties rocker, followed by the Americanized “Lady Killer” that reminds me Le Mans’ second album.
“The Worst Days” starts as ballad including acoustics, but the tempo goes in-crescendo for the melodic chorus. Romero’s vocalization has a hint of Bon Jovi here and the song includes a short but nice guitar solo.
The potent riffs return with “Can We Fight?”, one of the best composed tracks by this guys, sadly the drums sound a bit disjointed (mix issues).
Title track “Deathly Silence” has an overwhelming sonority, again in a US metal style, but this time more instant and hot. Surprisingly, the guitar solo has an European metal vibe.
Last track is another ballad textured with clean electric and acoustic guitars, with all the band providing vocals at the end of the track.

Sealen is a good band with an interesting musical premise, covering many rock sub-genres.
This fact does not suppose that “Deathly Silence” has a confusing musical direction, not at all. The band just dropped all their influences into these songs, and the result is cohesive and effective for the most part.
They are competent songwriters and the musicianship is more than correct, specially the guitar work and the vocal department. My only issue with this recording is the production, a bit muddy and unclear, noticeable by a howling drum sound on several tracks.
But considering that “Deathly Silence” is a self-produced album (recorded and mixed by themselves as well) surely with a very low budget, the result is more than satisfactory for an indie.
The key always is to have good songs, and Sealen has them.
If you like ’90s hard rock, both Euro & American, on “Deathly Silence” you’ll find some cool material to enjoy.

01. Fire & Ice
02. The Curatin Falls
03. Dust to Dust
04. Desert Room
05. Breath
06. Lady Killer
07. The worst Days
08. Can we Fight
09. Deathly Silence
10. My last sigh

Damian Romero: Vocals
Teo Martinez: Guitars
Jorge Merono: Bass
Raul Romero: Drums

BUY IT !
itunes.apple.com/es/album/deathly-silence/id443134927