Suffering in
Solitude – A Place Apart (2013)
Domestic
Genocide Records
Review by Jude
Felton
If there’s
anyone out there that would like to send me a complete and detailed list of all
the sub-genres within “Metal”, I’d be eternally grateful. On a serious note, I
believe there are only two sub-genres, and that is good and bad; although I
suppose you could add mind-numbingly average into the fold. Suffering in
Solitudes debut album, released on Domestic Genocide Records, falls firmly into
the good category.
If you want
to get really picky, and I know us metal-types are, then you could say that
Suffering in Solitude are Post Black Metal; with plenty of Depressive and Atmospheric BM
thrown in on an experimental twist. Sometimes the categories, in which we try
and describe the music, hinder as much as help. Sure, they give you a broad
ballpark in which to play, but so often they will give you a preconceived
notion of how a band is “supposed” to sound.
Suffering in
Solitude is the brainchild of one Christopher A, who has over the past couple
of year expanded the band from a solo project to a full band, and the results
are quite sublime. Fans of Deafheaven, Ov Hollowness and Vattnet Viskar are
going to enjoy this six song outing; one that’s as beautiful as it is abrasive.
It’s a
short(ish) album, at around 28 minutes, but it’s one that is definitely best
digested as a whole, rather than in small doses. The songs cascade through the
speakers, from the opening Inside Out, which is a soothing 5 ½ minutes, through
to the closing of Sunken, Placed Apart, which both bookend the album perfectly.
In between these two, the songs ebb and flow as the band create a truly
magnificent soundscape.
Although not
strictly an instrumental album, there are large sections that do play without
the need for vocal accompaniment. However, when Christopher A does unleash his
vocals, it’s of the totally anguished variety; which of course helps convey the
desolation within the beauty of this album. And it’s this beauty that is an
overriding feeling throughout the running time, even when the music conveys the
opposite.
A Place Apart
is due to hit the stores on December 31st and I can tell you that
this album is a perfect way to see in the New Year. Black Metal purists may
well run off and burn a church in anger, rather than listen to this, but for
everyone else I can tell you that this is a quite wonderful album; absolutely
terrific.
Tracklist:
1. Inside Out
2. Entrance
3. Exit (Time Lost)
4. Suffering in Solitude
5. Distance (Instrumental) 2
6. Sunken, Placed Apart
A Place Apart in released by Domestic Genocide Records on December 31st.
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