SOLACE deliver their fifth studio album “Fading Failing Ruin” just in time to celebrate the anniversary of their 30th year as a band. And all the heaviness, experience, and obvious maturity of their songwriting across three decades is perfectly reflected in the seeming ease with which these master craftsmen hammer out one captivating and crushing track after the other.
Revolving around apocalyptic, infernal, and end time themes that easily fit this day and age, “Fading Failing Ruin” nails the current global mood by taking a strong dose of inspiration from the earliest days of metal and blending it with contemporary heaviness.
A direct link goes back to 1996, when SOLACE rose from the ashes of GODSPEED, who made their name on Headbanger’s Ball and Beavis & Butthead, appeared on the “Nativity in Black” tribute backing Bruce Dickinson, and toured with CATHEDRAL and BLACK SABBATH. Emerging at the dawn of the internet and the burgeoning stoner rock scene, SOLACE were driven by hardcore-infused metal, captivating vocals, and a dark doom underbelly.
The New Jersey band hit the scene with their ferocious debut “Further” in 2000. Its tracks remain as contemporary and relevant as in those early days, and an extended and re-mastered 25th anniversary edition became an unplanned but much deserved tribute to brilliant yet tortured original SOLACE vocalist Jason L., who had sadly passed away in January 2025.
SOLACE continued to build on a solid foundation of classic metal, early doom, and punk ethic into which the four-piece infused a healthy dose of hardcore fury and groovy, grinding sludge.
Three years after the worldwide success of “Further”, SOLACE returned with the sophomore album “13” (2003), which highlighted the epic side of their songwriting. In the wake of this album, the band was invited twice to perform at the prestigious Roadburn Festival in 2006 and 2009.
The shoremen returned with their highly praised third album “A.D.” in 2010. Despite the band’s growing acclaim, SOLACE took an informal hiatus to revamp their lineup, returning even stronger with full-length number four, “The Brink”, in 2019.
SOLACE have called their amalgamation of doom and heavy metal with hardcore elements dirt metal, while elsewhere it has been somewhat tongue-in-cheekily dubbed shorecore. Others file the New Jersey five-piece under stoner metal – and in truth, all these descriptions have and still fit the band to an extent.
With “Fading Failing Ruin”, SOLACE erect a new milestone of US heavy metal that respects traditions from both sides of the Atlantic while churning toward a chaotic future. Time to bang those heads!
Tracklist
1. Spiral Will
2. Fettered to a Stone
3. A God Changes His Plans
4. Wrath’s Object (The Big Fall)
5. Culling the Herd
6. Beyond Below
7. Malengine (The Scaffold)
8. Every Day Is a Loaded Gun
9. Ridden
Pre-orders are available HERE
