Solstice - New Dark Age
Miskatonic Foundation
Epic Doom Metal
9 songs (67 Mins)
Release year: 1998
Reviewed by Dee
Archive review

I think it might be time to slaughter a sacred cow!

Solstice hail from England, native home of doom, and so they stand upon the shoulders of titans. Included among Solstice's ranks have been prominent members and ex-members of other notorious bands - Dragonforce, Cradle of Filth, While Heaven Wept and the mighty My Dying Bride have all shared their talent. Together, however, they squander their promise. One must assume that miscommunication is the primary reason for this mediocre album's existence.

Things begin encouragingly; bells toll in time with the sound of the tides. Guitars soon wail like bagpipes in the background, and a sullen voice narrates a short passage after which a pleasing melody is played on dual guitars - the bass isn't there to root the sound which gives this part a pleasing medieval feel, but disappointingly they then repeat those bars with bass in tow, dispelling the magic.

Soon after, the singing starts, and you discover that Solstice have foregone the use of a traditional operatic singer, opting instead for a crystal clear folk voice, one that rolls its Rs in a most exaggerated, elfy manner. In a different musical setting I'm sure this would be strikingly beautiful, but here it simply gives you no confidence in the band's power. Occasionally the singer fails to really lock into a note and that is even harder to overlook, although as the voice is not always present you can perhaps agree to forgive.

This is a generous and temporary reprieve on your part, for the passage that follows is simply disastrous.

The song builds into a guitar solo over some woefully nonsensical chords; there simply isn't any reasonable melody that can result in this musical chimera and so instead it sputters out and the verse returns, sounding exactly as it did three minutes ago apart from a few questionable guitar sweeps. Once the verse has run its course, the song LEAPS into a different key entirely and without warning, ending a short while later in a way which proves that this entire debacle should have faded out, preferably five minutes ago.

We can dismiss that song (long though it was at almost eleven minutes), and hope that the band has tighter songs to present us with from now on. This incredible act of faith is briefly rewarded in the following track, "Cimmerian Codex" - once you get past the dreadful lyric, "Forgive me father / for I have dreamed" you are treated to a melodic and very well sung interlude which is nothing more than voice over a regular bass drum. Anywhere past this point is a justifiable place to press 'stop,' as another bridge lurks on the horizon, and brief though it may be, the chosen chords are so unrelated that the guitar player simply has to ditch the solo and pretend it never happened. Perhaps these short breaks are meant to be modal and medieval but if there's a word beginning with M to describe them most adequately, it's "misjudged".

This band is obviously brimming full of ideas but is dangerously low on musical sense - plenty of epic doom bands write very complex songs but that is not the problem, as the songs in evidence have identifiable verses and choruses but are littered with bonus (or should I say penalty) solos and breaks, none of which have any sensible or satisfying cadence, and all inevitably result in an awkward segue back to a recognisable verse or chorus. Solstice can be likened to Opeth not in style but in the demand they place on the listener; each song presents several leaps of logic and transgressions of melody and cadence and they don't necessarily have the responsibility to justify the listener's faith or continued persistence.

If this doesn't put you off, then Solitude Aeturnus and While Heaven Wept are good touchstones for the style Solstice play, but in this humble reviewer's opinion, any album by either of these aforementioned bands would be a better purchase than New Dark Age.

Killing Songs :
The Keep (an a cappella folk song set to howling wind)
Dee quoted 64 / 100
Ken quoted 70 / 100
Other albums by Solstice that we have reviewed:
Solstice - Solstice reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
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