SOLUTION .45 Nightmares In The Waking State

Melodic death metal with a modern twist isn’t normally sorting on top on my wish list, so I must admit there was a great deal of skepticism involved as I pressed the play-button to hear Solution .45’s new creation. Solution .45 was founded by Miseration/Divinefire guitarist Jani Stefanovic in 2007 and since then members of bands like Scar Symmetry, Stratovarius, Mors Prinsipium Est and Sonata Arctica among others has been involved in Solution .45 at different stages so I guess they deserve the super group stamp. They received critical acclaim for their debut album ‘For aeons past’ from 2010, and now five years later they are back with the successor. After the first couple of rounds I was not too impressed, it pretty much sounded like anything else in this genre to me. After a few more rounds though, things started to happen and the material gradually started to creep in under my skin and contours of a masterpiece appeared. Prejudge is a dangerous thing, and I’m really glad I gave this one another chance. As I’ve already mentioned the base line in Solution .45’s music is melodic death metal, but you will also find plenty of progressive elements and advanced time signatures in the all over dark and atmospheric soundscape. Ex-Scar Symmetry singer, Chrisian Älvestan, does an excellent job both with the clean and the harsh vocals, and there are even some parts with deeper death grunts kind of vocals to be found here. While guitars, bass and drums create the brutal driving force, keyboards are tastefully used to add an epic dark atmosphere. The song material is of excellent quality and the production is crystal clear as well. Great stuff.

Discography:

‘Nightmares in the waking state – part 1’ 2015

‘For aeons past’ 2010