From Corona, California, Breaking Serenity are delivering a meteoric Metal song named Hypocrite. The brooding, heavy record presented in a complex layout both musically and lyrically, comes alive under the screams of Antonio Gonzales and the singing of Katie O’Connell. Hypocrite is such a drastically different creation than the previous Away From Here, that almost inevitably you will have to read the song credits to make sure it’s the same band. Yes, it is. And they are undeniably multi-dimensioned when it comes to their stylistic Rock approaches.
Side note: The world we live in is so messed up that we feel guilty describing a song as contagious due to the pandemic and while we initially intended on using the word explosive instead of meteoric, we then remembered the war in Ukraine. Can the world stop adding negative connotations to our top descriptive terms in the music business? Please and thank you. Ukraine Red Cross Donation Link HERE.
The narrative started from a personal experience of Niko Garcia, the lyricist of Breaking Serenity: “I was raised by someone who eventually went against everything they talked down on and became the exact type of person they claimed to allegedly hate. Hypocrite.” And yet, the song can be so damn well attributed to the current state of the world. Those harsh, metallic incipient motifs are resounding with great looming power. The truncated electric riff denotes an impending revelation.
All you do is take/ And run your mouth/ You f*cking fake/ All you do is take/ And break my back/ You f*cking fake, screams Antonio Gonzales. All you do is lie to them, joins in through a telephone filtered voice, Katie O’Connell. This last joint line by the two performers is gravely augmented in its sonic effect by the roaring guitar and dramatic drum composition aiding the feel in the background. The lyrical directness of accurately describing the title is goosebump-inducing, to say the least. Special mention must go to Antonio for flawless vocal control. One must wonder how long it took the guy to perfect Metal “singing” to avoid vocal chord damage. You can feel the tension in your throat even just by listening.
F*ck you/ You f*cking hypocrite/ Cut my life into pieces just to throw it all away/ All you do is lie to them/ Pulled the rug from underneath from me/ Left me in a lion’s den/ All you do is lie to them/ Feed me to the wolves, follows the mightily angry first half of the verse. The repetition of All you do is lie to them becomes the center earworm of the song thus far. We’re quite far from the hook itself but let’s discover together if it’ll match this curiously intercalated recall.
The flow of the verse is segmented and at times interrupted by unexpected melody variations and spin-offs. I’ll smile down on your grave/ And look upon the clear sky/ I know who you really are/ You’ll walk the underworld blind/ As we celebrate a toast to you/ I know who you really are. Now the growling damn near broke our monitors. This is a stellar Metal performance. Soul breaking – yes. But stellar nonetheless.
The female singer almost miraculously soothes the audience and sings with an undertone of begging in her voice: Why do you always make me the enemy? Don’t worry, the song is not getting any softer. It was just the calm before the f*cking tornado:
Why do you always/ Make me the enemy?/ Why do you always/ Have to get the best of me?/ Dead romance/ Shattered love/ Hypocrite/ Ignorance, shatters with incredible force the hook of Hypocrite. The guys and gals at Breaking Serenity have pulled off a titanic task of melding Metal music and growling with singing techniques and a melodic progression.
After a twin second verse to the first one, Hypocrite indulges in another lengthy, legendary hook succeeded by a most raw, palpable, emotionally releasing scream belonging to Antonio. And when you thought that surprises were over, Breaking Serenity introduces an equally somber charged, lyrically dark plot twist in the instrumental and vocal pattern of the song with the following section: Tell me why/ Tell me why/ You think that we should still be friends. The gift that keeps on giving, the expectations that are well over-delivered.
Hypocrite will strike a major chord with Hard Metal and Metal fans per general. It is a song memorably euphonious and lyrically outrageous deriving from a Rock band of admirable musicians and extreme raw, human experiences that unfortunately many will relate to. If we had a rating system, it’d be a 5-star Metal song.
Song Credits: Katie O’Connell, Antonio Gonzales – Singers, Vocalists; Niko Gabino Garcia – Lyricist, Guitar Player; Henry Aguilar – Guitar Player; Greg Garcia – Drummer; Nik Garcia – Bass Guitar Player; Dave Swanson Owner (Love Juice Labs Studio) – Sound Engineer; Jerold Whitting – Vocal Engineer; Brandon Narvaiz – Recording Engineer.
Make sure you stream the entire Hypocrite EP by the impressive Breaking Serenity on Apple Music HERE, on Amazon HERE, on YouTube Music HERE, on Tidal HERE, on Deezer HERE, and on Spotify below:
Written by Mariana Berdianu
Blue Rhymez Entertainment ©2022
Blue Rhymez Entertainment 