It always amazes me, the propensity that individuals within the metal scene have, to re-invent themselves or to form new projects a way to continue being creative and to challenge a genre's creative boundary. This was the thought that came into my head when I received an e-mail with this demo on.
It was sent to me by Stefan Nordstrom, who alongside fellow member Jonas Bergkvist, play in Swedish death metal bands Ending Quest and Desolator and who formed Soliloquium as a doom/death band last year. I've featured both Ending Quest and Desolator before on this blog, so it seemed only fair to feature this new project too.
When Silence Grows Venomous is their first two track demo.
Tracklist:-
1. Garden of Truculence
2. Autumn State
Having listened to previous work by Stefan and Jonas, I was intrigued
to hear what their take on the old doom/death blueprint would be like. Garden
of Truculence's main element during the intro is the huge sounding guitar riff,
with the gently plucked guitar notes sitting underneath. There are elements too
of death metal, in the drumming.
The real clue comes in when Stefan Nordstrom's raspy death
metal vocals start. They're low and fit the music really well. It's actually
very anthemic as well, with the guitar being allowed to project melody into the
song. The doom influences here are more obvious in the length of the song, and
the slower passages. There's no need for
Soliloquium to go all out and batter the listener, they just
let the music flow and evolve. The clean guitar and singing that they play
towards the end of song are a surprise and add a new texture to the music.
Autumn State follows on along the same blueprint, slow,
anthemic riffs, but with added layers this time and the main verse kicks in,
with less of a build up. It seems as though Soliloquium want to build more of
an impact through this song. Stefan's vocals are certainly more prominent. The
instrumental passages are still there though, with more great guitar melodies
and cleverly placed moments of musicianship.
I think this song gives them more reason to carry on along
this path. It's got the foreboding dynamics that you'd expect from a project
like this and it certainly places melancholy at the forefront of your mind when
listening to its two winding songs.
Overall, it's great to hear musicians stepping across
genres, even ones like doom and death metal, who's lines have been crossed so
many times now. This demo is an assured start for Soliloquium and I look
forward to seeing how it develops in the future, as the duo are currently
working on new material.
Soliloquium are currently streaming this demo on their Bandcamp page, where it is also available for free download. I've posted a stream below, so make sure you check it out.
You can also find Soliloquium on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soliloquium.
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