With loads of heavy-weight death metal influences, the brutal duo Sol Ether finally dropped their debut record “I: Gold Head” on the 10th of July, 2022. With blasting raw riffs, fat basslines, and pounding drums, Sol Ether are delivering a record that’ll take every metalhead’s breath away, let me tell you why
The opener “Spire of Fate” will get you fully prepared for battle with a war chant -or that’s what I think it is- that’ll make you mark your face in blood and raise your axe preparing for the massacre to come. “Morrigan” hits brutally with a dark intimidating intro before it explodes into a nasty brutal 7 minutes long piece of thick solid riffs, subtle melodies, and guttural larger-than-life vocals resulting in never-ending headbanging. Its structure shows a lot of Sol Ether’s writing skills, as they managed to create a dynamic, interesting structure that’ll keep you hooked for such a long time with steady heaviness. With a fat bassline the title track “Golden Head” starts before the guitars pick up the melody and build on it with heavy crunchy riffs. It’s a solid relentless brutal tune with some well-written melodies with smart arrangements that gave the song a deeper layer without messing with its pounding sound, while the riffs are thick and slow with multiple unexpected tempo changes that kept things interesting. The war chant comes back again on “Through Time” preparing for the heavy dose that’s coming next on “Unyielding Yew”. “Unyielding Yew” has a more groovy approach with some of the record’s finest drum works and heaviest melodic riffs. The slow groovy riffs mixed with guttural deep vocals and dark melodies that kept on getting bigger as the song progresses gave it a gloomy emotional feel. Next comes my favorite off the record “Windswept” with that slamming breakdown around the 05:10 minute mark, it brings up all of Sol Ether’s musicianship with its progressive ever-changing structure as they amazingly steer between different moods with great dynamics and perfect guitars, drumming, and vocal melodies. “Call of the Sídhe” brought back the tribal war vibe before Sol Ether ends “I: Golden Head” with extreme brutality on “Freedom”. It stresses on their OSDM roots and influences with its thick slow brutal riffs and blasting drumlines ending the record on a high note.
“I: Golden Head” is one hell of a brutal record by Sol Ether that’ll send you off your seat headbanging from start to end. It is really remarkable how they managed to balance having a well-heard and clear production while maintaining their raw old-school sound and brutality. I’m really glad I had the chance to listen to and review their debut and I’ll be keeping an eye on Sol Ether, looking forward to more, cheers!
