SOLSTORM consists of a versatile blend of people with backgrounds in both black/death metal constellations to more ambient- and noise-related acts. They released an EP in 2009 which contained some of the backbone to what’s now become a full-length, self-titled debut that will now be presented to the world through Duplicate Records. Building up the atmosphere with the initial track “Art of Creation”, Björn Ognöy – the master mind behind all sampling – sets up a promising gloomy post-apocalyptic scene. Think of a Shoggoth manifesting itself into music and you’ll get it (and I say that as a good thing). For the second track “The Sun Will Appear From the West” the rest of the instruments gets involved, with Jaran Hereid taking care of bass/vocals, Helge Taksdal on guitar, Camilo Beltran on guitar, and Mads Lilletvedt behind the drums. We immediately find some references in the register of SOLSTORM and I don’t think that anyone will be surprised if I compare them with doomy acts such as NEUROSIS, SWITCHBLADE, and even a bit of SUNN O))). But still they manage to stand out from the crowd a bit, keeping the songs together while sneaking in additional elements, which you did not foresee, here and there. It’s slow, it’s heavy, and it swirls around your mind and settles you into a desolate and tranquil state of mind where nothing exists but SOLSTORM and the beating of your heart. “On This Barren Rock” starts of as a more groovy thing as massive as a horde of mammoths, but like a shape-shifter it transforms itself into new softer forms, only to retreat to heavy riffing, over and over again as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, while still keeping the anti-euphoric core of the sound intact. However, this is somehow lost a bit in “Manhattan mass” that, although beautiful, sort of makes the mind wander off to diffuser places. The strongest part of this album ought roughly speaking to be the first half, which also shows the real potential of this band, while the latter is not really anything that “pops out” of the endless row of heavy doom metal bands. However, these SOLSTORM creations is by any means not bad, rather the opposite – they’re well composited, with a desolate feeling hanging over you while listening. Overall, this is a really nice album but I have the general feeling that if SOLSTORM would allow a bit more of the apocalyptic atmosphere, which flickers on and forth throughout the album, created by the combination of non-conventional and conventional elements, to become more pronounced in more of the songs I bet that they could be marvelous.
-Septikemi
VITALS:
Release: 22.05.2011
Label: Duplicate Records
Avantgenre: Noisy Apocalyptic Doom Metal
Duration: 45:12
Origin: Norway
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/solstormofficial
Review online since: 13.04.2011 / 20:04:4
TRACKLIST:
01 – Art Of Creation
02 – The Sun Will Appear From The West
03 – On This Barren Rock
04 – Manhattan Mass
05 – The Carrington Event
06 – Exhumation
07 – Art Of Destruction
Leave a Reply