Solution .45 – For Aeons Past (2010)

After being kicked out of Scar Symmetry, Christian Älvestam didn’t get mad, he got even. Putting together Solution .45, a band that features musicians that are involved (or have been involved) with tons and tons of other bands, most notably: Jani Stefanović guitarist from Miseration (Christian’s other project) and Rolf "Stuka" Pilve on drums also from Miseration and Essence Of Sorrow.

You will get a complete feeling of Déjà vu when you start listening to “For Aeons Past” since it sounds almost identical to what Scar Symmetry used to sound when Christian was in the band. We don’t say that cloning your old band is a bad thing, but I think that Solution .45 has gone a bit too far in this department. However, we loved Scar Symmetry with Christian, therefore we love Solution .45

Fueled by Christian’s charismatic clean vocals and powerful growls, the band’s Melodic Death Metal is near perfect, giving Dark Tranquility a run for their money. The band’s guitar work is top notch, which is more melodic oriented rather than technically inclined like Scar Symmetry was.

Musically, we hate to repeat it so much in this review, but the band is like a ‘slower’ version of Scar Symmetry. All 10 songs are very well crafted and show that Christian did not needed Scar Symmetry to make top notch Melodic Death Metal. The only song that seems a bit out of place is “Lethean Tears” a classical power ballad that should have been left to the end of the album.

Every single musician does an excellent job at their instrument, and together create very catchy songs that would put most Melodic DM bands to shame. As we stated before, the first thing you will notice in this release are the great vocals, which are mixed perfectly to showcase Mr. Älvestam talents.

Overall, we love “For Aeons Past” because it sounds like Scar Symmetry did in the past, however we expect tons of people to bash this band and release, because of that same reason. But we consider the music to be very good and worthy of recognition.

Release: May 11th, 2010

Country: Sweden