IVS – Serenity, At Long Last… EP (People Of Punk Rock Records)

Serenity, At Long Last… is a relatively a brand new EP by IVS if we are speaking of publishing, but actually, this fine punk rock material has been in works for over six years. The band went on indefinite hiatus and these songs sat back unfinished since 2013, until this year. These tunes have been recorded during the band’s last days of activity and as Matt Kap, main vocalist and guitar player of IVS stated, there are no further plans for recordings, shows or anything else, because of their involvement in other bands, projects, and priorities. However, these tunes represent the IVS at its peak with all five songs showcasing the bands full potential as musicians, composers, and songwriters. Buried Alive opens this EP with classic dual heavy metal mini solos, but after just a couple of seconds, this composition is transforming into the great anthemic skate punk tune. The singalongs are giving more depth to the overall sound and the minimal presence of the lyric parts categorize this composition at some sort of overture to the rest of the presented material. Her’s Last Breath is the next one and it’s another fast skate punk song accompanied by great drumming, heavy metal technicalities and great singing abilities of Matt Kap. This particular composition is proof of how IVS has matured as a band and how they’ve expanded their musical knowledge during the years. One More Day is a third composition, which is much more in the vein of pop-punk music than skate punk, but once again IVS are showing how diverse their sound can be. This tune is much more mellow in sound, but still, the band shows its capabilities to transform their raging music to something much more commercial in a matter of seconds. Oathbreaker is the fourth composition and a perfect comeback on the right tracks with proper shreddings mostly presented by guitar scales, supported with good drumming. Arrangements on this one are insane and this particular tune shows so much diversity in sound in nearly three minutes. To The Core is a fifth tune and a great closure of this amazing EP. It’s an acoustic song, supported with background ambiance performed on keyboards. It comes as sort of refreshment after a couple of raging overly distorted compositions and it indicates an end of the EP. Serenity, At Long Last… is accompanied by a great artwork which has been done by Matt Kap, who also done all the recording, mixing and mastering. The band really outshined their previous recordings with this one and hopefully, the stars will align for these fine musicians, so they can continue their journey as a full-time band and perform these tunes live for the audiences. Serenity, At Long Last… had been published by People Of Punk Rock Records and it comes as the digipak CD or in a bundle with an impressive shirt, so pick it up if you’re into some ripping skate punk music supported by great melodies and technicalities.