An album that can bring together some terrifically heavy styles such as doom and death metal while simultaneously allowing us to look inwards towards our emotions as well as having this incredible ethereal vibe permeating itself from start to finish is something that can be really special. It’s a sound that we’ve seen in plenty of circumstances over the decades from leagues of different bands from all over the world, yet it never loses its power as it’s a sound that, when done well, packs a significant punch like none other. It’s with their latest album that Soliloquium may not have hit the mark perfectly, but damn if it was close!
Many times that I’ve encountered death/doom that offers to look inward, it’s in a light that often gets put together with words like “melancholic” or “depressive” as that’s just a trend that we see from plenty of acts like, to name just only one, Clouds have made quite popular. And I honestly felt that Soliloquium was going to travel down such a route with their latest album, “Contemplations”, but it’s here that we get a slightly different route as Soliloquium doesn’t stick to the normal routines of the style even if it’s taking just a barely different route than what many others do. Throughout this record, we get many tropes of death/doom tastiness from the expertly executed heaviness that really hits home, but Soliloquium has pulled back with the intensity to deliver us a performance that’s somehow still just as powerful. Then we get Soliloquium venturing into bold territory as we see them shift from growls to clean vocals that, while I feel could’ve been handled just a little better to fit the overall music, still came together wondrously to present us with great contrast and dynamic that effortlessly breathes life into “Contemplations”. Bring that together with the already immensely organic nature and sound of the record that’s an absolute rollercoaster that’s a hell of a joy to ride and what we get is an album that may not shake the foundations of the style, but Soliloquium has created an album that is definitely something worth sinking your teeth into time after time.
It’s on occasion that we come across an album that strays ever so little from the normal path of any given style, and such deviation and change of pace is the exact sort of thing that makes you come crawling back as such a thing can lead to creations that bring us flavors we never knew could work so well together. Soliloquium has done just that as I’ve almost always felt that death/doom only gets better the heavier we get with acts like Illimitable Dolor being splendid examples of such, but it’s with “Contemplations” that we see the glory and excellence possible in simply holding back just a bit and thus creating something immensely flavorful.
LISTEN to “Contemplations” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Soliloquium on Facebook here.
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