Andrew Danso

It’s one thing to be an angry razor-sharp doom band, expressing your outward vitriol against whatever aspect of life may be troubling you (in Children of Doom’s case it means flicking 'v's at the camera, and dressing up as if the 70s never left us) and another to actually make the listener angry, because of the poor quality of the doom played back.

The French trio’s message, lyric and image are really a smokescreen to what they actually sound like on playback, which is a tepid stoner band, with a handful of tepid punk ideas put about. Emphasis on tepid, as Children of Doom struggle to find much, if any groove in their stoner predicament - and are candidly tame during the punkish progressions too. CoD’s vocalist who goes by the name of ‘B.B.F’ does his best to tear apart the entire experience with ghastly wails over the progressions, giving them little substance and a frustrating character. Aptly tagged ‘stoner-doom-punk’ because you have to be inebriated in clouds of illegal chemicals, to actually appreciate the material. Get a grip.

3/10 Powerplay issue #136

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

My review of In Times Of Solitude

Full interview available in Powerplay issue #135

It smacks at a surprise, just how far doom has progressed over the past two decades. The style of the genre inside of the eighties and nineties wasn’t much slower in tempo than its post-Sabbath rowdies, it was simply much more progressive throughout the era - doom back then wasn’t lauded for its lack of energy, but how everything put together was done with a greater intelligence, than something fronted with speedy guitar heroes and daft haircuts.

How does the critic judge what was back then genius, to now be old, shrivelled and stale? Is it churlish to assume that Solitude Aeternus have never bothered to release the rare Justice For All cassette of '88, until now, because it wasn’t that great? Since their strong reputation follows in 2011, does it nervously have a leg to stand on? DVD extras can be charming, but there’s good reason why they never made the final cut, and after all, this is a remastered demo – like a movie director showing us the final version of his or her film stuck in the pre-production stage.

Accentuating the past for oldies is In Times Of Solitude’s only triumph, as offering newcomers nothing fresh or radical other than different arrangements of a brand of metal that’s been laid to rest - for good reason – is an obvious disappointment. This late eighties demo has very little gold tucked away; much more of a history lesson than something of hidden treasure.

6/10 Powerplay issue #135

Looking for unorthodox rhythms, as well as complex song structures? Deep lyrical undertones, saturated in a near scientific production? Why not have it all? Fully realised “Apple For Teacher” should be all of these things, but in reality it’s neither. A folk-indie-rock experiment, it toes the line on something as soft and airy as Wye Oak, to the rigor of National Sunday Law – certainly, it’s an album spanning every genre you can say in thirty seconds. This then tells you it’s the kind of album that’s very easy to chortle at and discard pretentious, without giving a thought to its great intentions. Menendez are trying to make something zealously expressive and honest inside of an experimental production. Certainly no easy feat, but one which isn’t done very well.

It’ll test your patience, be demanding and pretend a little far too much, “Apple For Teacher” may prove unrewarding for many, but it’s difficult not to feel enchanted by its artistic nuances, even when the whole thing has been put together in a clumsy, sheepish way.

6/10 Powerplay issue #135

Echoes of the Fallen lifts and cuts around those huge releases, which have elevated Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom and Dying Fetus to dizzying heights in the metal world. They then have used various parts of their heroes graft, to put together an album resembling something of a slick and accomplished package. You’d think it’s simply difficult to not hate an act, which looks at their pioneers work, and snobbishly concludes ‘put this beside one another, we can do all of you much better’. No inspiration to colour the sound with, no punchy album concept - yet, it’s an incredibly polished piece of work, one that cynically resides little heart, but tons of knowledge and effort.

Echoes of the Fallen isn’t a ground breaking exercise in melodic metal, but it certainly raises more than a few eyebrows with its water-tight technical performances, and solid structure.

7/10 Powerplay issue #135

This was just a bit of note taking I did before I planned to review the said albums. Since then, I've never got my finger out and put together a working piece.

This is entirely meant to be subjective - from my own point of view – and since that’s no different from pulling a search off a fanzine, at the very least, I can say that you have been warned.










So, how best to define DTP without the press release? What does it mean to me?

Essentially what the Devin Townsend Project is, is a cathartic release in the form of music to the aftermath of drug addiction and an emotional reaction to a long-term band break up.

In many ways the concept is its limitation, yet Townsend claims a fervent freedom in the yin and yang of the projects idea; the limitations I’m thinking off, are when something heard is more like the old, instead of the new (the entirety of Addicted! as an example).

• Its size, passion, intention, ideas, complexion. Most of all, because of its honesty it’s an extremely brave record.
  

• Its powerful beginning and ending (tracks: Praise The Lowered & Poltergeist).

• I feel that Deconstruction wants to display a thwarted stream of consciousness (e.g. an awareness of being a little angry and thinking about it) through the form of metal, but unfortunately I think it’s closer to proving how limited the genre can be, in its failure to do so.

• For sake of genre bashing, I think the album has more in common with power metal, than it does progressive, death metal, etc. It wants to be heavy in its zillion progressions, but with so much going on, it's flimsy than weighty.
  

• Its misdirection. If every action has an opposite reaction, then it’s OK to laugh at the silliness dotted throughout the album. Despite the records best attempts at taking itself seriously, the humour (or intended mania) doesn’t stick. Deconstruction proves the opposite; many of his fans are finding the album hilarious, when it's meant to be plugging a sense of derangement.

Ghost is a cathartic lullaby to tune out the four album concept. I find the ideas here much more rich and complex than that of Deconstruction, and better yet, I think Ghost & Ki prove that Townsend is better in doing something neurotic than all out metal. He’s much better writing with his age in mind, than something he would build upon twenty years ago. He’s great to listen too when there’s a straight-jacket applied.

I feel that Ki & Ghost (specifically in that order) are his greatest achievements.

On a label crammed full of metalcore, death metal and post-hardcore rowdies, it’s a bizarre site to read through a press release drawing on language such as ‘ambience’, ‘atmosphere’, and ‘fragile grace’. Despite the statements subtlety, it leapt out with much greater force, than something leathered in the usual ‘demolition’ ‘chaos’ and ‘rage’ – but more important than simply standing out, it was honest. At The Soundawn’s second release, Shifting, lived by its written definitions; it was l’atmosphère, a red herring, and ultimately a breath of fresh air.

Lifeforce looked to be taking a gamble with ATS. After all, the label had brought through the likes of Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, and Trivium - not the kind of acts associated with grace and delicacy. Yet, it was the simple process of dovetailing several contacts, and then mailing out a record or two which got them onto Lifeforce Records radar. Guitarist Andrea, begins.

“The story is pretty simple. Right after we recorded our first album, we sent a CD to Drew Juergens, who was in charge at Lifeforce USA at that time. He digged it and sent it to Stefan Luedicke, who was and still is running Lifeforce EU. Stefan loved our tunes, and they offered us a deal”

All looked well. At The Soundawn release Shifting to widespread critical acclaim and then embark on a live show roundabout climaxing in a European tour. Only, the bands blog suggested otherwise. It implied that the reality of being an underground act specifically based in Italy was something of an uphill battle.

“Playing underground heavy music in Italy means a struggle. A struggle against your everyday life, a struggle against your job, against promoters and venues; sometimes against other bands and even we could turn on each other.”

The lack of transformation began to take its toll, when they took into consideration the work which they put into promoting the act, not just in their home town, but across Europe. Staying connected with their following, At The Soundawn kept correspondence with fans through open and sincere blog posts, even letting us into problems in their personal touring routines. This wasn’t about marketing, witty professionalism, or plotted naivety (nor was it a skittish way of trying to flog an extra CD or two). This was a human reflection of how life as an underground act unfolded.


“Before I even thought about running a blog for ATS, I used to spend some time reading other bands blogs. I read about great concerts, great tours, great record deals, great endorsements, great everything, and I was kinda excited. I thought ‘Wow! This or that band is doing such great things!’ This then on reflection, made me pretty mad at myself, and my bandmates. How the hell are we the only ones, who have to fight with our boss to get free days to tour? Why the hell did we travel for 2000 km to play a gig in a filthy club with no P.A. and no crowd, while other bands are playing in great clubs with hundreds of people attending their shows? Why do we have to fight so hard, while everything appears so easy for these other bands?”

“90% of those bands were just lying. Not in a bad way, but they were obscuring the worst part of the job, focusing on the positive side of it and adding a little bit of spice to it, like avoiding saying that there were ten people attending the show and instead they just talked about the great lights the show had - social networking is great at doing this! Another 5% delivered a balanced and true report of their activity but gave a really boring picture, no great success nor great defeats, just a pretty plain life in underground music. And the other 5%... well, those are the lucky ones who really made it, so horns up!”

“The point is, I realized that the very fight ATS has been living through, is the fire which keeps us alive. It’s that struggle that pushes us to do more. It’s the pleasure and unpleasure to have a small but enthusiastic crowd at our shows which gives us the strength to follow our path, to write more music, to write better music, to discuss with my bandmates about a riff, to struggle with my boss to get holidays to tour in, to waste all my money on pedals and gear, and finally, to keep on running the show… And if this is the real point of playing in a band, why don’t I tell it? Why would I keep it in the background? Why am I not sharing our whole experience? I think that every single band out there is facing our same problems. Simply they don’t share it with their fans. We do.”


Andrea’s genuine acceptance brought home the stark reality of being lassoed in the underground – especially when on the surface many make it look gullibly rosy.

Realising that the band had been able to lug their problems around with them, I asked if they had eclipsed any difficulties. Had they found resolutions? “Yes, there have been resolutions – but we’re still living in it”. He also admitted “We’re writing new music and somehow it has changed – but it’s too early to understand how our experience has affected it.”

An undisputed positive was their European tour, which garnered a buzz wherever they choose to play. Explaining the nooks and crannies of the tour, as well as Italian misconceptions, Andrea was both upbeat and modest.

“As far as I can recollect, we had such a great response everywhere. The real matter while touring, as I told you before, is: “How many people will be in the crowd tonight?” We’re not a popular band yet, plus we are Italian and usually Italian bands are not really well received by the audience”

“You know, when you think about Italian music you picture the sea, the sunset, a couple kissing on the beach, some classic guitar notes and a sorrowful vocal fading in. The thing is… how can I blame anyone? That is a big part of Italian music!”


“Anyway, sometimes concerts are pretty bad, usually they’re fine and once in a while they are really great - like the opening show of our last tour, when we played at Progresja in Warszaw, in front of three hundred plus and Shifting sold out in half an hour.”

When I asked about a new album, Andrea was privy to detail, not passing on any information other than that there was something already in the pipeline. He also mentioned a possible tour before the new album launched, hinting at a few shows within the UK.

It was difficult not to feel enchanted by Andrea’s transparency. Here he was, letting us into the core of what the band and himself had experienced, refusing to accept that what they had achieved was enough, even throughout the bands relatively short lifespan. As is often the case, bravery follows honesty, and At The Soundawn carry this in abundance.

“Thank you so much. Keep in touch guys - come to read and discuss our blog here: http://www.atthesoundawn.com”


Article found at Metal Mayhem UK