Hey there tech-fiends! It's my favorite day of the week, so let's get down to it. Last year in 2015, a new band I'd never heard of called Solinaris dropped a three song teaser for their debut album, Deranged, that had me instantly hyped for the album to drop. Now in 2016, these Canadian natives finally get to release Deranged in full this Friday, April 8th through Cimmerian Shade Records. And we've got a full early stream of it to show you today!
It's pretty tough to compare Solinaris to anyone, but I guess a good way to describe it would be to imagine Unexpect gone more prog/tech death metal focused, and yet still very experimental and proggy throughout in a way that occasionally reminds me of Opeth too. There is a strong emphasis on elegant acoustic guitar playing throughout Deranged, paired with orchestral additions and keys, phenomenal and audible fretless bass playing, great clean singing from bandleader Eric Labrie, a full time sax member lending another layer of plenty of the music. But when it wants to get aggressive and technical, its just as good or better than most of their peers. I guess you could compare their technical/progressive death metal side to Augury and Erosion Of Sanity era- Gorguts at times, but again there is so much more going on beyond death metal that makes Deranged its own weird world of fun to take in.
Deranged is a concept album, and in the way its done here, that applies just as strongly to the songwriting and frequent sonic shifts as it does to the lyrics. All of which revolves around the last thoughts and experiences of a serial killer before he dies. The main two minds behind Solinaris is Eric Labrie and Bernard Giroux , but beyond them the group also consists of a ton of other really good musicians. Including Deviant Process guitarist Jean-Daniel Villeneuve! Every player and performer on here does an amazing job though, this is truly a collective effort of experimental and forward-thinking technical death metal. Since this is Tech-Death Tuesday, I will mention that if you really want to hear the more tech songs first, the last three songs are probably a good starting point for you. Then work your way back. Personally, I liked how it flows as an album, but that's me.
If you dig what you hear, the album can be pre-ordered here in both physical and digital formats. As mentioned earlier, Solinaris-Deranged comes out this Friday, April 8th through Cimmerian Shade Records. Also make sure to add the band on their Facebook Page.
https://soundcloud.com/cimmerianshaderecordings/sets/solinaris-deranged
