In Solitude - In Solitude

Sweden. Heavy Metal. Here's two things that go together like beer and curry!

What we have here is a band playing straight up Heavy Metal, in the vein of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate (pretty obvious MF influences, actually). This album has everything you need to make a good Traditional Heavy Metal record; catchy riffs, soaring vocals, decent drumming and killer melodies.

There aren't many bands around these days that actually show a personality through their music, there's no real "it" factor in their songs that make me say "fuck yeah! this is awesome!". In Solitude, however, have that special something that makes a great metal band. Every song on this album is good, I really can't find a filler track on here, and believe me, I tried. Every song has great riffs, catchy vocal lines, what more could you want in a Heavy Metal song?!

The stand-out tracks on this album would be the opener "In The Darkness" because it just hooks you in right from the word go, track give "7th Ghost" because of the killer riffing, not much else to say about this particular song, and my favourite, the closing track "The Monolith" which is just plain epic.

These swedes are definitely not trying to re-invent the wheel here, you get the feeling that they are playing good old fashion Heavy Metal because they love it! It's great to see a band playing Metal for the sheer thrill of playing such amazing and fun music. This album is destined to be a classic dose of Swedish Heavy Metal.

I give this a 5/5 for being everything I could ever want in a Metal album. Any fan of the timeless classic Metal sound should give this a listen.

www.myspace.com/InSolitudeHeavyMetal