Fading Failing Ruin LP (Blue, Colored, Gate)

Solace deliver their fifth studio album "Fading Failing Ruin" just in time to celebrate the anniversary of their 30th year as a band. And all the heaviness, experience, and obvious maturity of their songwriting across three decades is perfectly reflected in the seeming ease with which these master craftsmen hammer out one captivating and crushing track after the other. Revolving around apocalyptic, infernal, and end time themes that easily fit this day and age, "Fading Failing Ruin" nails the current global mood by taking a strong dose of inspiration from the earliest days of metal and blending it with contemporary heaviness. Solace have called their amalgamation of doom and heavy metal with hardcore elements dirt metal, while elsewhere it has been somewhat tongue-in-cheekily dubbed shorecore. Others file the New Jersey five-piece under stoner metal - and in truth, all these descriptions have and still fit the band to an extent. With "Fading Failing Ruin", Solace erect a new milestone of US heavy metal that respects traditions from both sides of the Atlantic while churning toward a chaotic future. Time to bang those heads!