Review | Seraina Telli – Addicted To Color

Metalville / P.I.A.S.

“Sassy, Loud and even more colorful” is the opening line for the new Seraina Telli album, aptly titled `Addicted To Color’. Blue and green hair as an offset over her lilly-white face. Telli’s piercings and nose-ring, her red lips and her deep blue eyes potent, she cogently looks onto us on the album’s front cover. Serene and blank, colorful and alluring, Seraina takes her debut days from `Simple Talk’ to color her music more brightly.

POWERHOUSE VOCALS

From the bat it is inevitable that Seraina means business of this second solo album. ,,Song for the Girls” is a highly potent track with thunderous underscores and poppy/punky attitude, not lacking chartbusting luster. Much like Pink! got shot up with adrenaline, GaGa got injected with Johnny Rotten elixir and Green Day got overtaken by power women. Telli’s vocals are powerful and melodic, rocking out loud and pack serious attitude. 

Separated ages from her Burning Witches days, Seraina certainly knows where she is heading. Loud mouthed she kicks up the dirt on ,,Monkey & Zookeeper” shouting “You’re so fucking beautiful”, belting out her grudge towards to those who parade with their money and looks. It is anger-laden and hook packed, dynamic without lacking a heavy riff, modern sound effects and time changes while radiating modern with its echoing brisk vocal harmonies. It is Telli who fires on all engines with her powerhouse vocal delivery. Maintaining the punky raw attitude, she lands on the wonderful ,,Colors of the Soul”. The memorable guitar raining a melodic lick atop the driven strutting (post)chorus is phenomenal and adds to the songs warm throb and powerful groove. 

SERAINA TELLI SHOWS THE CONFIDENCE

Punkier and fiercer ,,Be Somebody” storms onto us full frontal. There’s a Foo Fighters reminiscent section with drum rolls firing up for the loud and obnoxious chorus with hook-laden afterburn. Belting out classic rock appeal she touches with Sass Jordan on the thunderous melodic ‘boogied’ down ,,Wish You Well” and the great and nesting ,,Spaceman”, with its pulsating bass and wonderful instrumentation. Highly melodic the song welds a great riff and lick to the bridge and towering chorus harmonizing all. Her vocal delivery is subtle and warming, constantly switching registers and powering up. She roars and echoes, hitting mezzo-soprano notes and raining down confidence.

Going power pop, she builds for a power-punk hook on the slow-burned ,,Hit Shit”. Poppy, hip-wiggling, with some soul passages, the song constantly has Seraina go mental. Some Gwen Stefani-like nutty segments weld to her powerhouse charisma, Telli creates stomp. The modern accolades and No Doubt-ish vibe also land on the Eillish-like low throbbed ,,If No One Else Had Ever Been There Before”. There’s some of that panache on the attitudal ,,Think!” with its anti-drink ‘n drugs proclamation and jagged riffs and drum breaks. Telli’s voice is towering high, emphasizing her stance and opinion with power and persistence. She blends lyrical content with riffs and licks perfectly, making an impression.

THE BEST IS SAVED FOR LAST

When Seraina gears back, Telli touches the gut with her frail opened modern pop-rocker ,,Left Behind”, propelled by modern licks and trident combustion that orbits with piercing guitars and powerful drum breaks. The grandiose opening makes you wish for more and Telli gladly answers our call on the exquisite ,,The Harder Way”. Acoustic, with wonderful strumming bass and jazzy drum rhythms, the song enrols with increasing power and Seraina displaying her great flexibility belting out a memorable vocal job. She finds middle ground between Lady GaGa’s best and most dramatic delivery, while searing and choiring with welling melancholy. Toning down even more, ,,All Your Tears” is frail and absolutely heart touching, somewhat making me think of Lauren Spencer Smith’s hit single ,,Fingers Crossed” due to its throb and stagnant instrumentation. 

It’s the best that is saved for last, though earlier on the title track, opened with a Telli-“interview” proclaiming her addiction to color before diving of the cliff with the heavy as hell rocker. Her range stretched to the max, she delves from narrated scats before firing on all engines and touching her towering echoing hauls. Edgy she lays down a rougher side, with more metal to roar fiercely. 

SERAINA TELLI – THE CONCLUSION

Seraina Telli’s `Addicted To Color’ is packed with attitude and borders with emo punk and melodic metal as much as it does with heavy power pop and hard-edged post-punk. It is crafted around Telli’s extraordinary vocal range and her appealing discharge, creating memorable songs that appeal to a wide range of rockers, metalheadz and power pop lovers. She is the perfect act on a sizzling metal festival and her attitude and charisma fused to her perfect feeling for melody and heavy rocking appeal makes for a potion that will inflict serious damage in any pit frontstage. 

Seraina Telli might not instantly appeal to all, but once you give this powerhouse a listen, she will burn down prejudice and light the fire inside. `Addicted To Color’ got me hooked on Telli!

Release date: 18 August 2023