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Embrace The Darkness

    
       
       
       
     
             
Solitary are a thrash metal band from the UK formed in 1994, releasing five studio albums to date - 'Nothing Changes' (1998), 'Requiem' (2008), 'The Diseased Heart Of Society' (2017), 'The Truth Behind The Lies' (2020), and 'Embrace The Darkness'...    
             
...emerging in 2024 featuring the bands unforgiving and uncompromising thrash metal savagery! Celebrating thirty years since the bands inception, Solitary are thrashing harder, heavier, and meaner than ever before - 2017's 'The Diseased Heart Of Society' ranked by me as one of the best thrash metal albums I've ever listened to! And I've listened to a lot, a helluva lot, for I go back a long way, all the way to the eighties and the emergence of thrash via the Big 4 (Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer), the Teutonic Four (Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Tankard), and the British Four (Onslaught, Acid Reign, Sabbat and Xentrix). Solitary have taken all the aggression, savagery and brutality from every one of these bands and doubled it - no, tripled it, quadrupled it even, and added more! Much more! The bands new album 'Embrace The Darkness' is a barnstorming barrage of full on ferocity, Solitary taking no prisoners across thirty six fast and furious minutes of immense head bang ability! I'm telling ya right here and now readers, if you ain't got a neck brace to hand you'd better get one sharpish, 'cause by the albums end you're gonna need it - for the brand of thrash on offer is the neck breaking variety! So without further ado (or waffle from me) let's dive into Solitary's new album, an album that comes to life with 'III.XXIII.MMXX', a spoken word portent that leads us back to the days of lockdown and its shocking, unforeseen consequences - segueing into the title song 'Embrace The Darkness'.    
             
And what a song - the level of thrash metal thunder is deafening, Solitary pounding the ground fucking hard, shaking buildings to their foundations to leave only a desolate wasteland behind! Aggression, menace and snarling vocals are all sensational here, the band meaning business as 'Settle Scores The Old Way' storms in at a hundred miles an hour - the level of head bang ability shooting right through the fucking roof! The up front and in your face attitude is overwhelming, Solitary performing like a perfectly tuned sports car, entertaining everyone as they hurtle on by at a breath taking pace. The opening brace has been terrific, the band a fierce tour de force with an unstoppable array of pulsating thrash metal songs - 'Virtues' coming to life with a more abrasive feel than heard so far! But boy do the band maintain their phenomenal thrash metal onslaught, the aggressive nature pouring out of 'Virtues' just like lava pouring out of an erupting volcano! A bloody big one! Solitary are on fucking fire, burning hotter than the sun as 'Bury It Now' explodes into life and races on faster than the speed of light - and at 186,000 miles per second, the band are fucking fast!    
             
Seven years ago Solitary delivered a genre defining album in just thirty three minutes, the band doing it again, and taking longer this time - only by three minutes mind! But then every little helps eh! And every little thing makes a big difference - Solitary turning the levels of everything up to maximum, and beyond! The incredible speed of the album shows no sign of slowing down either, 'Beneath The Surface' breaking loose and lacerating the sky with venomous intent - the band keeping their collective feet firmly pressing the pedal to the metal! 'Embrace The Darkness' (the album) has been foot to the floor, wall to wall thrash metal since it began, surely surging into pole position for Album Of The Year! And incredibly, the speed of the album increases even more, 'The Disappeared' roaring into life to scurry off at high velocity, the level of head bang ability rocketing higher than ever! And at just two minutes in length, 'The Disappeared' is the shortest song on offer, but what a big fucking impact it makes! As big an impact in fact as the meteor made that wiped out the dinosaurs over sixty-six million years ago! Can 'Embrace The Darkness' (the album) get any better? You bet your arse it can - 'Section 21' maintaining the albums electrifying pace, power and purpose! Albeit with an increased level of thunder too, the band wreaking more havoc than a force twelve hurricane - the searing vocals full of snarling aggression and frightening menace! Simply stunning stuff from the Lancashire four-piece!    
             
Every song bar one of the ten on offer clocks in at less than four minutes in length, paving the way for a quick moving, fairly unstoppable thrash metal rampage - a rampage that's not over just yet, 'Divided And Demented' raising the bar to new and uncharted heights! The pace here is astounding, the band setting off earthquakes all over the world, the vibrations of which can be felt by the International Space Station - and that's orbiting the Earth two hundred and fifty miles up! Now perfection exists in many shapes and forms, from scoring ten out of ten in a test, to finding clothes that fit perfectly, to Torvill And Dean's perfect score at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics (I was just fourteen years old back then) and Doro Pesch! Yes readers, Doro Pesch, the "queen of metal" is my perfect all time metal love! Well now there's something else that exists in the realm of perfection - Solitary's fifth album 'Embrace The Darkness', an album that's still not over yet, 'Filtering Hindsight' shuddering the ground more violently than any other song heard so far! The band are at their mightiest here, most majestic too, striding across the land with shoulders back and head held high. And to round off a terrific album, Solitary deliver a barnstorming cover of punk rockers The Exploited's 'Beat The Bastards' (taken from the bands 1996 album 'Beat The Bastards') - and even though Solitary "thrash it up", you can still clearly hear the punk attitude shining through loud and clear.    
             
Overall, an aggression fuelled album of foot to the floor, highly head bang-able thrash, 'Embrace The Darkness' is a savagely brutal slab of perfection.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
Other Reviews    
             

           
           
The Diseased Heart Of Society      
           
"a fast and ferocious thrash metal assault requiring furious head banging, Solitary have delivered a heart racing, adrenalin pumping album" Read Review      
     
     
     
           
             
             

           
           
The Truth Behind The Lies      
           
"a stunningly fast and furious thrash metal rampage, rammed full of savage ferocity and raw aggression" Read Review      
     
     
     
           
             
             

           
           
XXV: Live At Bloodstock      
           
"'XXV: Live' captures Solitary at their most brutally savage, delivering an aggression fuelled and ferocious barrage of thrash metal" Read Review      
     
     
     
           
             
             
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