In Times Of Solitude by doom veterans Solitude Aeturnus, is not long released. It features a collection of rare tracks, showing off early demo material, and unreleased studio recordings, that more importantly, bridge mysterious gaps in their discography. One question which penetrates the hype surrounding the album, why now? The Justice For All cassette has been bandied about for a decade (well, twelve years in fact) that includes most of the material on this new compilation, yet, bang in the middle of 2011, we’ve finally been granted permission to open our ears to such rare treasure, in all its re-mastered glory.
Speaking with Solitude Aeturnus guitarist and main songwriter, John Perez, he echoes our impatience, “I’ve actually wanted to release this collection of older material for quite some time now, in fact several years. I just felt that we needed to pay respect to the early days of the band, and I know a ton of die-hard SA fans that would like to have a glimpse into the beginnings of the band. I emphasise, this is not for the casual fan.”
Our question still remained somewhat unanswered, why now? Perez gave us no giveaways, suggested no marketing upside, no particular timing to coincide with a different release. He remained valiant that the album was to be released simply because, right now, it feels right.
Their most recent and consequent sixth album “Alone” garnered much success. It sent ripples throughout the doom community, gathering critical acclaim, heralded as ‘the strongest release since their debut’. So, just where on earth have Solitude Aeturnus been? “Playing live shows mostly. We’ve done some overseas festivals and a few over here as well [USA]. In the meantime I’ve slowly been writing songs for another release. It just takes forever these days, simply because we don’t have as much time to devote to the band as we’d like to. We all live far apart, and we all work our day jobs, as well as having our own lives to lead”.
Looking back throughout the early eras of rock and metal, Solitude Aeturnus’ writing process back in the day must have been as complex as today’s technical metal bands, who do their best to come up with something innovative through every string they pluck. Like all of their previous work, In Times Of Solitude swims in much more diverse waters than simply being an all-out doom or sludge affair. It demonstrates, that in the late 80s, putting together a doom release was incredibly forward thinking, and by no fluke was it necessary to incorporate progressive elements into the genre. Solitude Aeturnus’ progress would eventually serve as a template, for any hopeful band to write from.
John, when you first started writing for SA, was the kind of complexity which is in your song writing, something that you were consciously aware of? "The answer is both yes and no. I was very aware of writing more complex song structures, and I felt that we needed to explore this to some degree, although at the same time I didn’t want and still don’t want to get carried away with the ‘progressive’ aspect of metal. It has to be melodic and catchy enough for anyone to get into, but it also has to be forward thinking and more involved, keeping it interesting for the musicians. Hah, progressive to my mind, really means to challenge the norm and do things different than what would normally be done. We stay outside of trends to keep it genuine - and yeah, we’re not afraid to do things differently."
Incredibly, Solitude Aeturnus have been juggling in the same style throughout such a sustained period of time. Understanding that they’d alienate a huge amount of their following, by going on another direction – yet at the same time acknowledging that Solitude Aeturnus are well known to make music for themselves – I asked how they had been able to stay so focused on doom for such a long time. “By only releasing 6 albums in our entire existence! Haha! Actually it’s somewhat true. If we would have released twelve albums already, I think the quality would suffer. Our sound is diverse but at the same time familiar. We try to always keep the listener in mind and since we’re listeners as well, then we try to keep it interesting for ourselves as much as possible. Our style is actually very diverse and although doom is a foundation, it’s not the complete picture. We pay attention to song writing detail and we don’t let anything we feel is mediocre, slip by us. I’d rather do fewer albums with greater quality in each, rather than twice as many lacking in quality.”
We’ve heard nothing about a new release, and history tells us that Solitude Aeturnus take as long as it takes to put a release together, not least because of Perez’s own view on quality control. Added to that, the follow up to “Alone” carries a huge weight.
Any future plans? “Of course, and I do apologise to our fans for not working faster, but again, we’d rather release quality than quantity - I’m not a fan of releasing a mediocre product, with my name on it. We are working on new material now, and I have about 5 songs nearly done. They range from heavy metal that is kind of Iron Maiden or Fates inspired, to extreme gloomy doom. My goal is to get us into a studio by the start of next year, so I’m working hard now to get us together and finish the writing and rehearsal process. Importantly, no live gigs will be planned until we can record a new album.”
ANDREW DANSO
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