“A lot of solos in metal definitely have a formula... To me, a solo really hits home when you don’t hear the magic coming”: How Svalbard’s Serena Cherry is tearing up the metal guitar playbook

Serena Cherry.

Serena Cherry puts it simply. “Metal is my outlet for anything that’s troubling me,” says the lead guitarist, frontwoman and principal songwriter for Bristol, UK quartet Svalbard. “If you’re having a bad day, metal is the thing that lifts you up and helps you release all those negative emotions.”

These words will no doubt ring true for anyone who’s ever experienced the uniquely therapeutic effect that plugging in, turning up and thrashing out some savage riffs can have on both the heart and mind. But the band’s brutal yet vulnerable new album, The Weight of the Mask, is about more than just personal catharsis for its author.