Samael
Solar Soul

When speaking of Samael, it is mathematically inevitable to refer to their slow but inexorable evolution that has characterized them from the early '90s to today. If with the initial three albums, such as "Worship Him," "Blood Ritual," and "Ceremony of Opposites," they dedicated themselves solely to the scratchiest, slowest, slithering, and abysmal black metal, touching splashes of industrial with the last of the trilogy, with the fourth "Passage," the Swiss band took off towards an even more atypical, chilling, and sidereal sound, eventually reaching completely different shores from where they had started some time before.

I'm referring to "Eternal," which showcases new musical horizons centered on electronics/industrial, to the vibrant "Reign of Light," which vastly develops the new attitudes and new genre of Samael, and especially to the latest "Solar Soul," which does nothing but pause to work on and refine what the band has achieved in almost twenty years of career: an extraordinary transition from the blackest malice to the most positive and, indeed, solar spirituality.

It's normal that, after daring and dangerous transformations, one wants to pause for a moment to reassess all the progress made: this is the role of "Solar Soul," which is, so to speak, a double-edged sword. On one side, it allows the group to breathe a sigh of relief after the commitment and grit employed to become what they are now; on the other, it is also an opportunity to brush up on their genre.

Nothing innovative compared to the previous "Reign of Light," therefore. You can notice this by listening to songs like "Solar Soul," "Promised Land," and "Slavocracy": mostly mid-tempos filled with keyboards and simple, agile, and extremely catchy riffs; the choruses are a vigorous explosion of optimism and can be enjoyed despite the presence of Vorph's hoarse voice - who no longer uses his once abyssal screams. The keyboard breaks, like the one in "Promised Land," are nothing complicated or pretentious: they are magical in their celestial simplicity.

Other small and curious experiments are "Ave!", with its martial and powerful pace, or the electronic ride of "Valkyries' New Ride," where razor-sharp guitars harmoniously blend with a swift ethereal magma of electronics. With "On the Rise," we return for some moments to the lunar times of "Passage," while with the danceable "Quasar Waves," the mythical sitar is reintroduced, which had already been extensively used in "Reign of Light." "Suspended Time" is unfortunately a bit less successful, where the use of a female voice in the chorus feels a bit out of place.

The rest of the tracks follow the same path of those already described: each possesses a mood, a chorus, and a use of instruments that differ (thankfully!), without wanting to deviate in the slightest from the global homogeneity that is a merit/fault of the album. Compliments also go to the lyrics, which are, as mentioned, full of optimism and a desire to live with much wisdom and a strong inclination towards spirituality. And so, another warm welcome to the new Samael.

To conclude, I quote a phrase from one of the early albums and then a phrase from this "Solar Soul": "Love is a poison which flourishes in the heart of the weak" Converting doubt and hate, into love and faith"

If this isn't evolving...