I love technical death metal, so
I always get a little excited when I see a new release from that sub-genre in
my inbox. The guitars all go “weedly deedly”, the bass goes “woodly doodly”,
the drummers get insane, the songs bounce all over the place between tempos and
time signatures. It all just makes my music nerd heart happy.
Solinaris is just such a band. They hail from La belle province of Quebec,
they've been around since 2012, and “Deranged” is their first full length
release. Except, these guys are not content to be just a tech death band. Spend
a little time with this album and you will hear that there is not one track out
of the ten on offer that stays a tech death track all the way through. In my opinion,
this makes the album that much more interesting and listenable. All of these
guys have chops for days on their particular instruments and it's fun to listen
to.
I'm not sure if you could call
this a full blown concept album, but it definitely revolves around the theme of
the mind of a serial killer in his last moments of life. Has he been caught,
convicted, given the death penalty, lying on a table and awaiting the
lethal injection that will end his life, as he has ended the lives of others?
Is he on the run, surrounded by the police, and it's just a matter of time
before they take him down, because he has decided that there is no way they
will take him alive? We don't really know, because the songs don't go that
deeply. I can tell you this, though. If these tracks are any indication, those
last few moments are very interesting.
I listen more to the music, and
the moods that it evokes. From the imaginations of these talented players, the
album seems to say that many things are flashing before the eyes of the killer.
There are, um, deranged moments, which sound exactly like you might think of
the mind of someone such as this. Interestingly, there are calm, serene moments
as well, with some songs not even hinting at metal, or even heaviness, in any
form. All of these songs, though, have a twist, a zig when you think it will
zag, and no song can be pinned down to be exactly what you might think it is
from the opening moments. This is some very creative songwriting and not just
the typical pummeling you get from this type of death metal. I found it to be
thoroughly enjoyable and have spent a fair amount of time listening and digging
in to what these gents have to offer.
If you like to be challenged a
bit with your metal, if you like music that will lead you to think and contemplate
what is outside of your normal existence, you should most definitely give a
listen to this new release. Even if you are sometimes put off by tech death,
there is enough here to sink your teeth into that you will surprised and
entertained. Odin says check this one out.
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