Solitude Aeturnus

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Solitude Aeturnus
General information
Genre (s) Epic Doom , Progressive Metal
founding 1987 as Solitude
Website http://www.myspace.com/solitudeeternal
Current occupation
singing
 Robert Lowe (since 1988)
Electric guitar
 John Perez (since 1987)
Bass (1996-2004) , electric guitar (since 2004)
Steve Moseley (since 1996)
bass
 James Martin (since 2005)
Drums
 Steve Nichols (since 2005)
former members
Drums
 Brad Kane (1987-1988)
singing
 Kris Gabehardt (1987–1988)
guitar
 Tom Martinez (1987-1988)
bass
 Chris Hardin (1987-1988)
guitar
 Edgar Rivera
Drums (1988) , bass (1988–1996)
Lyle Steadham (1988-1996)
Drums
 John "Wolf" Covington
bass
 Teri Pritchard (1996)

Solitude Aeturnus is an epic-doom band from Dallas, Texas, founded under the name Solitude .

history

The band was founded in 1987 under the name Solitude after John Perez left the thrash metal band Rotting Corpse in early 1987; instead of Thrash Metal he wanted to play Doom Metal with his new band . Over the course of the following year, he put together a line-up that consisted of Brad Kane (drums), Kris Gabehardt of the death metal band Death Tripper (vocals), Tom Martinez (guitar) and Chris Hardin (bass). After the band had written and rehearsed pieces until December 1987, they went into the studio in January 1988 and played the demo recording Justice for All ; this bears almost the same title as the Metallica album ... And Justice for All , also released in 1988, but the band emphasizes that their release was about seven months before Metallica's album. The reactions to the first concerts after the release of Justice for All were "at best lukewarm" according to the band. In late 1988 a new line-up was formed with Perez and Edgar Rivera on guitars, Robert Lowe on vocals, Lyle Steadham on bass and John "Wolf" Covington on drums, which lasted until 1996 and made a new demo recording, which in turn caught the attention of the record company King Klassic excited. In 1989 the band had to rename itself to Solitude Aeturnus.

In January 1990 the band entered the Dallas Sound Lab to make their debut album Into the Depths of Sorrow . After a first mix that was “disastrous” according to the band, the band went back to the Sound Logic Studios, where the demo recordings were made. According to the band, it was "a nightmare" to improve the mix. The recordings, including the remix, cost $ 3,000 and lasted seven days. The publication was delayed because King Klassic lacked the money; via a license agreement with Roadrunner Records , where the band signed directly, the album was finally released in July 1991, a year and a half after it was recorded. No tours followed, but the band had enough songs for a second album. In March 1992 the band began recording their second album, Beyond the Crimson Horizon . again at Sound Logic Studios; this time she had a significantly larger budget. The album was released in July 1992, and at the end of November 1992 the band went on a six-week US tour with Paul Di'Annos Band Killers , which Solitude Aeturnus itself described as a "great success". In February 1993, Roadrunner Records announced the band, which they viewed as a relief, as they were not adequately supported by the record company according to their own information. At the request of the major label Columbia Records , a demo recording with three pieces was made for them in 1993. The band, however, remained without a contract until they signed with Pavement Music in December 1993 . For the recording of their third album Through the Darkest Hour in March 1994, the band traveled to England, where it was recorded at Rhythm Studios. After the release in August 1994 and negotiations over several months, the band went on a six-week US tour with Mercyful Fate , which was followed by a first European tour with the doom metal band Revelation. After this the band took a longer break.

In April 1996 the band returned and began recording the next album. At this time, Perez also founded Brainticket Records and recorded a solo album under the name The Liquid Sound Company. The Solitude Aeturnus album Downfall was recorded in Dallas and, according to Detlef Dengler of Metal Hammer and the band themselves, was extremely poorly produced, which is why they were extremely dissatisfied with the album. Lyle Steadham, who had made a significant contribution to the band, left shortly after the recordings and founded the punk band The Killcreeps and later Ghoultown . The band recruited Last Chapter's Teri Pritchard as a temporary bass player. With this line-up, the band went on a European tour in April 1996 with the Swedish power metal band Morgana Lefay . The band split from Pavement Music and took on Steve Moseley, a longtime friend and supporter of the band, as bassist. She signed with Massacre Records in December 1997 and recorded the album Adagio in March 1998, again at Rhythm Studios in England, which was released in June 1998 and is considered by the band to be their masterpiece. In September 1998 the band went on a European tour with Savior Machine . In January 1999, a US release of Adagio appeared on Olympic Records, which increased the band's profile considerably through distribution through PolyGram . In the years that followed, Solitude Aeturnus became quieter. John Perez recorded a second psychedelic rock album, Inside the Acid Temple , with The Liquid Sound Company , and worked on Brainticket Records. Steve Moseley, Robert Lowe and John "Wolf" Covington gave concerts in the vicinity for a few years under the name Concept of God.

In early 2001 a new album was recorded, which was released in 2006 under the title Alone ; In the meantime, Edgar Rivera and John Covington left the band, which after several brief occupations finally took on drummer Steve Nichols and bassist James Martin. The music magazine Metal Hammer named Alone album of the month for December, ahead of Killswitch Engage and My Chemical Romance, and the best Doom Metal album of 2006. Perez explained the long break by saying that it was “becoming more and more difficult” to compose “really good songs and to find ideas ”. In addition, singer Robert Lowe was “sick several times for a long time”, “then we had to cope with changes of line-up, which really took me away. In addition, as you get older you are more and more involved in other areas of life. . We have families to feed, "For 2007, he also announced" a raw, very extreme old-school - black metal to dial to select ". Lowe succeeded Messiah Marcolin at Candlemass in January 2007 ; he saw “no problem in that, because with Solitude Aeturnus, which only tour sporadically, it is 'not fully utilized'”.

In early 2007 the band went on a short tour through Greece and Germany. In February 2007, an appearance was filmed for a DVD release via Metal Mind Productions in the spring of 2007; there the first two albums were re-mastered and re-released. In 2010, In Times of Solitude appeared .

Music genre

Since Perez was a fan of black-sabbath- influenced, heavy sounds of the early 1980s and of bands such as Witchfinder General , Saint Vitus , Black Hole and the Candlemass forerunner Nemesis, it was clear from the start that the band should play Doom Metal . According to the band, the reactions to the first concerts were "lukewarm at best, as nobody in the area knew what to think of a band that played really extra-heavy, slow and melodic". She describes the sound of the debut album Into the Depths of Sorrow as "great, albeit raw" despite the problems with the first mix. The successor Through the Darkest Hour was kept simpler and heavier according to the band, but the band was also assigned to Progressive Metal by Metal Hammer . According to Perez, the music is "primarily based on riffs , melodies and atmosphere, and we don't want to repeat ourselves, we want to deliver the highest quality". In addition to Doom Metal , guitar solos influenced by Michael Schenker and Mercyful Fate are also among the band's influences. Perez “used to be very influenced by Metal Church , old Savatage , Slayer , Metallica , Omen and Cirith Ungol . However, I did not exactly register that compositionally I was tending in a direction that only played candlemass at the time. But I love heavy metal as a whole - and not just parts of it. That's why we seem more diverse. "

According to Detlef Dengler from Metal Hammer, Alone offers “a full hour of beguiling emotionality, terrific playing technique, deeply touching singing and excitingly staged songs. Doom Metal in perfection. The Texans have the gift of creating a drama through catchy riffing and intelligent structures that is simply captivating. ” Scent of Death begins with an oriental-inspired riff, while the opening solo of the faster Waiting for the Light is reminiscent of the guitar work by Michael Denner and Hank Shermann remembers at Mercyful Fate. For Blessed Be the Dead are the alienated vocals, minor melodies and "a tear-inducing solo in the middle section". Sighless, on the other hand, is based on Power Metal . He describes it as "[n] ot comparable to troops influenced by the seventies like Saint Vitus, Pentagram or Trouble , but modern, heavy, with flattering melodies and more likely to be settled in candlemass proximity". His colleague Christian Hector described the two-part passages as moving, Schöwe ​​described Alone as “a solid heavy metal album with a strong Doom touch that combines epic and power [...]. Because Doom kings from Candlemass can't piss Solitude Aeturnus in the candlelight. ”The lyrics on the album deal with religious topics.

Discography

  • Justice for All (Demo, 1988, as Solitude)
  • Into the Depths of Sorrow (1991)
  • Beyond the Crimson Horizon (1992)
  • Through the Darkest Hour (1994)
  • Downfall (1996)
  • Adagio (1998)
  • Alone (2006)
  • In Times of Solitude (2010)

VHS / DVDs

  • Days of Doom (1994) (VHS)
  • Hour of Despair (2007) (DVD)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hard Fax . In: Metal Hammer , September 1993, p. 8.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Solitude Aeturnus , accessed on January 18, 2013.
  3. ↑ Hard Fax . In: Metal Hammer , October 1993, p. 7.
  4. ↑ a b c d Solitude Aeturnus . Alone . In: Metal Hammer , December 2006, p. 98.
  5. ↑ The best of the year . In: Metal Hammer , January 2007, p. 59.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Detlef Dengler: Solitude Aeturnus . You live! . In: Metal Hammer , December 2006, p. 90.
  7. ↑ Petra Schurer: Candlemass . The baptism of fire . In: Metal Hammer , June 2007, p. 98.