Season Of Mist – Out Now.
In Solitude is an 80s influenced classic Heavy Metal band whose name should be familiar to you by now. Why? Because, even though their discography is ridiculously small for any band creating such a hype, their label Metal Blade has pulled all necessary strings to ensure participation in some of the most high profile Metal festivals (Roadburn, Wacken) and support slots for bands of true commercial appeal such as Behemoth, Pentagram, Amon Amarth and Watain.
Now, it is time for the French label Season Of Mist to ‘milk the cow’, so to speak, by re-releasing “In Solitude” – the band’s long unavailable debut, originally released under the cult label Pure Steel Records.
My introduction to In Solitude was two years ago, with the release of the band’s second studio album “The World:The Flesh:The Devil”. My review focused around two issues: the band’s ability to create simple but solid vintage-sounding riffs and the singer’s inability to support the riffs with vocals of unique timbre and quality.
This ‘imbalance’ between the two is clearly audible in the band’s same-titled debut release – finding the number of influences from Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate tipping clearly towards the former.
Songs like the opening composition “In The Darkness” contains solid riffs and melodies of pure Mercyful Fate pedigree enough to attract your attention, however, it is Pelle “Hornper” Ahman’s weak and fairly mono-dimensional vocals which deprive the composition from truly flourishing.
Closer to the sound and style of early 80s Maiden, both “Witches Sabbath” and “Beyond Is Where I Learn” are filled with good quality melodies while the duet “Kathedral”/”7th Ghost” are classic in their approach but average in their appeal. “Faceless Mistress”, on the other hand, is quite memorable, featuring a highly-energised Rock n’Roll riff of immense quality while the flamboyant solos of “Temple Of The Unknown” will most likely help raise quite a few eyebrows.
The five minute “The Monolith” is, hands down, the best composition of the album, celebrating all things Maiden and though this was the closing composition of the original album, it is now followed by two extra (for this release) tracks – the up-tempo “Hidden Dangers (In The Night)” (originally part of the 2008 same-titled EP) and a demo version of “Faceless Mistress”.
“In Solitude” is an album of unfulfilled potential, in my view. If the 80s was the decade when your music taste was formed and classic Heavy Metal is your genre of choice there is no way that you will not find the band’s riffs and lead guitar melodies attractive.
For such a style of music, however, to make a true impact, a vocalist of great stature and delivery is required and, sadly for In Solitude, Pelle “Hornper” Ahman is not one of them. As far as debut releases go, this is definitely a good one but it really could have been so much more than that!
John Stefanis
Rating: *** (3.5/5.0)
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