IN SOLITUDE

Sweden’s In Solitude have been causing quite a stir since their second album, ‘The World. The Flesh. The Devil’, and started gaining popularity with the rise of occult psychedelic tinged retro metal and rock. It’s a great album and the band deserved the accolades; they had two great albums under their belts and, from starting off playing a traditional style of heavy metal which wasn’t popular a little while ago, they were in exactly the right place at the right time when that full circle completed. So, to their third album, ‘Sister’. They promised radical changes as we all listened out for snippets of the album. The first track I heard was ‘Sister’ and, on the strength of that track alone, I was thinking this is going to be album of the year. The off kilter and quirky riff just gets stuck in right from the off, but now hearing the full album I can see why this track was used as a taster. Much of the album is about mood and is slower to have an immediate affinity with. I’m sure this is In Solitude’s intention and they do it with remarkable ease. In a strange way, there is a lot of very interesting non-metal influences on the album; at times lurching between The Mission’s classic jangly gothic tunes to a punked up Echo and the Bunnymen. Saying this though, ‘Sister’ is certainly a metal album but with its own distinctive voice. The mood still reeks of Mercyful Fate in a good way. In Solitude are no plagiarists, they simply occupy the same mood space. All in all, ‘Sister’ is an unexpected album, maybe not so immediate as their previous offerings, but with plenty to recommend it. In Solitude may outlive many bands who started playing a similar strain of occult rock, because they are not afraid to take risks that pull off.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Metal Blade

Album

SISTER

Review by Paul Sims

RUNNING TIME:

46:11

RELEASE DATE:

1st Oct 2013

TRACK LISTING

1) He Comes
2) Death Knows Where
3) A Buried Sun
4) Pallid Hands
5) Lavender
6) Sister
7) Horses in the Ground
8) Inmost Nigredo

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"In Solitude may outlive many bands who started playing a similar strain of occult rock, because they are not afraid to take risks that pull off."