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Solemnity was by many European metal journalists considered
to be one of the most promising newcomer bands in 2002 and this debut album of
their's was rated as high as 11 out of 12 by Oliver Weinsheimer in Heavy,
Oder Was and 8.5 out of 10 by Stefan Glas in Rock Hard. Could it be that they
are a German band on a growing German label? No, these guys are very
objective, right? To tell you the truth, this band is actually good but not
that good. Apart from the cheesy, horrible and cheap looking album cover this
listening session was a positive experience for me. The music is heavily
influenced by 80's heavy / speed metal and references like early Helloween,
Manowar (mostly lyrics and imagery), Metal Church and Forbidden come to mind.
Even though this band is still a youngster (formed in late 1998) they have
begun their musical career in a very convincing way and have already opened up
for international acts like Metal Church, Thunderhead, Angel Dust, Sacred
Steel and Wizard. Lyrically they're just another Inferno band but the music
definitely makes up for the Manowar-like cheesiness. Did I mention that the
album contains 66 tracks and lasts for 66 minutes and 6 seconds... The
vocalist is extremely important when it comes to power metal and Solemnity's
vocalist Sven The Axe (I'm not going to say anything...) has a very strong
voice indeed. He sounds somewhere inbetween Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) and Matthew
Barlow (Iced Earth) but not quite reaching the strength of these two vocal
masters. A fine debut album and I am really looking forward to hearing more
from these Germans in the future. Rather straight-forward and traditional but
definitely well done.
| Tracklist |
1. Solemnity 2. Open Fire |
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3. Reign In Hell 4. Chalice Of Blood 5. Blood Will |
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Prevail 6. Ritual Of The Beast 7. Axekiller 8. |
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Walpurgisnight 9. Valpi (bonus track) |
: 66.06
| Buy other Solemnity albums |
