Solefald — In Harmonia Universali
With this album they define there is still good and very interesting metal out there. Instead of going down the road like many other acts do, stepping outside the metal scene by composing electronica and pop music, Solefald are actually trying to do something refreshing with the genre.
Ten songs, ten rites to purify the spirit. After Solefalds previous album, the little bit dissapointing, Pills Against The Ageless Ills, Cornelius and Lazare went back to the drawing board and took all of their best ideas from the older albums and included some brand new ones. Like including a small choir, a saxophone and Lazare's weird obession for Hammond organs. Both these additions add a fresh dimension to the Solefald sound.
One thing that I missed on Pills Against The Ageless Ills were the great vocal harmonies. Cornelius still doesn't sing much. He groans and moans and narrates most of the lyrics, but even if it sounds bad on paper it works on the album. Together with Lazare's great vocals they do some perfect vocal harmonies. Most of the time their voices flow into eachother. And if that's not enough, the lyrics are once again pretty interesting. I'm not much of a lyrics person, I usually don't care what they sing, as long as it sounds good, but with Solefald I make an exception. They make a great read. And this time they sing in four different languages, so get your dictionary ready.
In Harmonia Universali is a punch in the face of the metal nay-sayers. Of course I can't listen to every band, but personally I got a little metal fatigue over the last few months. Solefald proves to me that there is still good and interesting songwriting in the metal scene. In Harmonia Universali is not an easy album, but it's their best and so far one of my favourites of this year.