{"id":21173,"date":"2014-08-11T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T00:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21173"},"modified":"2014-08-11T21:36:32","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T21:36:32","slug":"album-review-solace-of-requiem-casting-ruin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-solace-of-requiem-casting-ruin\/","title":{"rendered":"SOLACE OF REQUIEM – Casting Ruin (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOLACE OF REQUIEM
Casting Ruin<\/strong><\/span>
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\nViciSolum Productions (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Well, it\u2019s about that time of year again when one feels the need to be lacerated, shredded, battered, bruised and bedazzled by another tech-fest, and on this occasion it\u2019s the new death \/ black metal hybrid created by Virginia crushers Solace Of Requiem.<\/p>\n

Casting Ruin<\/em> is apocalypse number four for this act; the band was formed in 2001 by vocalist \/ bassist Jeff Sumrell who in 2006 enlisted the help of drummer Dave Tedesco, and they are both joined by axeman Richard Gulczynski who completes the line-up.<\/p>\n

Over the years numerous session musicians have come and gone, but with this new record there is a sense of stability within the ranks and so hopefully Solace Of Requiem will become more of a prolific beast over the next few years.<\/p>\n

Casting Ruin<\/em> offers us nine tracks which delve deep into the mystical realms of technical black \/ death metal. As one would expect from an album of contemporary design, Solace Of Requiem\u2019s latest composition is one well produced and jarring throughout. Blazing blast-beat drums work in epileptic tandem with those fidgeting solos and inaccessible bass-lines, all coated in a hoarse vocal lap which has a tendency to drift into more bruising, growling outbursts which I tend to prefer as the combo edges its way through some mightily impressive and punishing numbers.<\/p>\n

As a slower beast, Solace Of Requiem \u2013 in spite of that bloody clicking drum sound \u2013 is a true wonder within the genre, but even with those frequent speedier passages it\u2019s all very much a scathing, angular attack harbouring a juggernaut of a guitar sound. As I said previously though, the issues do arise with that irritable drum click, and while I cannot fault Tedesco\u2019s talent these infuriating nuances seem to litter so many modern day releases of this ilk. But anyway, it\u2019s still a mind-boggling and ferocious workout showing marked improvements from 2010\u2019s The Great Awakening<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are some deeply atmospheric turning points throughout this album which add extra dimensions of technicality to tracks such as \u2018Wading Into Mire\u2019, the foreboding pulverisations of \u2018Heaving Bile And Ash\u2019, and the storming complexity of \u2018Pools Of Ablation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Solace Of Requiem is the sort of act capable of anything, as long as it remains within that blackened death metal framework. This is the sort of relentless yet unpredictable that can drift off into classical segments and then effortlessly veer back into brutality via way of countless tempo changes and double kicks which will send your head into a spin. Indeed, there are times when I\u2019m so enthralled by this opus that I\u2019d even go as far to say that this posse is one of innovation, and with those incredible atmospheric moments injected \u2013 particularly the closing instrumental \u2018Bio-Alchemy\u2019 \u2013 I am happy to report that modern technology does have its benefits within heavy metal, and that this sort of stuff most probably would not have existed several decades ago.<\/p>\n

So, with its continued references to space and all things intricately cosmic, Solace Of Requiem\u2019s fourth release is one that should transport you to some otherworldly realm via its unorthodox chambers of brutality.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOLACE OF REQUIEMCasting Ruin ViciSolum Productions (2014)Rating: 8.5\/10 Well, it\u2019s about that time of year again when one feels the need to be lacerated, shredded, battered, bruised and bedazzled by another tech-fest, and on this occasion it\u2019s the new death \/ black metal hybrid created by Virginia crushers Solace Of Requiem. Casting Ruin is apocalypse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1370],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-solace-of-requiem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21178,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21173\/revisions\/21178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}