Album Review: Solothus – Realm Of Ash & Blood (20 Buck Spin)

Realm Of Ash And Blood, the third album from Finland’s Solothus, drops a dripping broadsword of Cimmerian carnage and staggering Death-soaked Doom delirium on the scorched landscape from which only mounds of skull dust and obsidian shards shall remain.

Making its debut on 20 Buck Spin as a band ideally suited for the label, Solothus’ Realm Of Ash And Blood will be released on March 27th 2020.

There is a gooey thickness to Solothus’ doom sound, like coagulated blood. Yet it is doom none the less blended with death metal so that it resembles an appealing yet cloying paste. The slow drawl of the riffs on Father of Sickness crawls into the mind, settles in and refuses to budge an inch.

It’s quickly joined by the miserably heavy The Watcher, a track that has a little less intensity thanks to a more melodic guitar approach. Even if the vocals and percussion try their hardest to make that not the case.

Embrace the darkness currently residing inside your head and allow the The Galllows’ Promise to lead you to places you won’t want to go too. Just when it seems as though you won’t be able to take any more of the monotonous pace, Solothus change direction and up the tempo just a bit for a thrilling finish.

It’s take a breath time with the short Last Breath, a relaxing piece of melody before you’re dragged under the waves for the suffocating Below Black Waters. Once that terrifying experience comes to an end, you’ll find yourself washed up on the edge of the Chasm of Shattered Bones. No comfort here, only the crawling and sticky sound of death and doom. Although a wicked guitar solo goes some way to adding some fresh blood into things.

The frightful concentration of heaviness reaches its apex with the 10+ minute finale of A Rain of Ash. A slightly more up-tempo beat gives way for the darkest and slowest segment of the entire album, the vocals roaring away while the guitars are drawn out to excruciating levels. By time the final notes ring out, the darkness will have consumed and the lights will have gone out.

Solothus – Realm of Ash and Blood Full Track Listing:

1. Father of Sickness
2. The Watcher
3. The Gallows’ Promise
4. Last Breath
5. Below Black Waters
6. Chasm Of Shattered Bones
7. A Rain Of Ash

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