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| Artwork by Chris Smith. |
Solstice are magic. Their deft combination of trudging, pounding doom and British folk sensibilities is unmatched. White Horse Hill is their first album in twenty years, the follow up to the epic doom masterpiece New Dark Age. It carries the torch into the twenty first century bringing their magnificent sound to a new generation.
New Dark Age was built on a foundation of epic doom songs breathing with British history and folklore, interspersed with folk interludes surprisingly as good as the crushing doom tracks. Morris Ingram's lilting Yorkshire vocals brought everything together to make epic doom history.
White Horse Hill follows the same formula but is more concise, conceived to be no longer than a single vinyl LP. Comprised of three long form doom tracks, one long folk track, and three interludes, the album is comparatively short for the genre but it ends up being just the right length. None of the songs are throwaways and it's hard not to simply play it again once it ends (my approach since it dropped on Bandcamp).
Though the lineup has changed since New Dark Age, lead guitars and drums remain the same and nail that Solstice sound. Huge melodic riffs, mostly in 6/8, folk rhythms, dual leads; it's all there and it's all amazing.
The biggest change are the vocals. Paul Kearns replaces Morris Ingram and I actually like his vocals better. While Ingram undoubtedly completed the sound of New Dark Age, his vocals were folky to a fault, taking some acclimatization if you weren't used to that style. Kearns hews closer to traditional doom, though keeping a nice lilt to his delivery. Coupled with the shorter run time, White Horse Hill makes for a more approachable record than New Dark Age, though only time will tell if it ultimately lives up to its predecessor.
As it stands I absolutely love White Horse Hill. It's everything I wanted from a new Solstice album. Even the album art is amazing! Solstice have delivered with aplomb. Those disinclined to epic doom will be unlikely to be converted, but Solstice aren't out for crossover appeal. They bring the doom.