THE SLAYLIST
SERENA CHERRY
The Svalbard and Noctule mastermind talks shredders, expansive extreme metal and being a power metal nerd
WORDS: RICH HOBSON
“I WENT TO the first Download in 2003 and one of my strongest memories was watching ARCH ENEMY. Seeing Angela Gossow live was one of the first times I’d seen a woman doing extreme metal vocals and that definitely lit a fire in me. I’m also a real sucker for dual guitar leads – that influences my playing a lot. I always wanted to play like Michael Amott and have a great time learning to play songs like Enemy Within on guitar. It was quite different when I tried to learn one of SYMPHONY X’s songs –I ending up crying, they’re so hard! Michael Romeo is basically not human; he’s got that technical prowess but doesn’t compromise the actual songwriting. Symphony X are really well rounded and you can really hear that on ballads like When All Is Lost.