Solefald
Pills Against The Ageless Ills

THE REVIEW

Many mental hand-wringings and a lot of substance. Pills Against The Ageless Ills (see mental hand-wringing) is a concept album about the story of two brothers, one, a Rocco Siffredi ad litteram named Cain, and the other a monk named Fuck (see mental hand-wringing or Casa Fattanza). The first will be executed for the murder of Kurt Cobain, and the second will die in a psychiatric hospital after losing his mind. Original, no doubt about it, and extremely self-ironic. In a very subtle way, it winks at the purist black metal scene from faraway Norway, ridiculing some of its dogmas while simultaneously fraternizing with the circle of pseudo-futurists like Ved Buens Ende, Arcturus, Dodheimsgard, or the elusive Fleurety (if someone has any of their CDs apart from Min Tid Skal Komme which I've already acquired, please contact me). The music presented by this "unusual" duo doesn't stray too far from a hypothetical cauldron resulting from the union of the aforementioned groups. Add a touch of dark-wave, rare glimpses of keyboards from more down-to-earth groups like Cradle Of Filth, and you'll have an idea of 50% of the production branded Solefald. The rest is a mix of anything else you can think of, from rap to reggae, jazz to punk-rock, industrial to... everything. A small encyclopedia of music reviewed through a lens that timidly mocks something definable as black metal. Unfortunately, in Neonism, these nuances were easily audible as if the songs were simple collages where each element remains standalone and doesn't interact to form something new. It is with this PATAI that formal perfection is achieved at the songwriting level. The two elements, Cornelius (guitar/bass and vocals) and Lazarre Nedland on drums and synth (present in proto-Vikings Borknagar as a keyboardist), possess no small amount of musical genius, and it shows. First, they grind our balls with the blast-beat pounding Hyperhuman, deceive us with the heavy and oppressive, almost doom-like, Pornographer Cain, disorient with Charge Of Total Affect which starts with a perfect death/black metal song vibe and then slides into punk-rock (see guitars) to venture into the 70s prog with Hammond organ elements, and chop what's left of our balls with Hate Yourself (doesn't it remind you of someone?) which recalls the Satyricon of Volcano and so on until the "soothing" Hierarch. Cornelius expertly alternates typical black metal screams with normal or theatrical clean parts in the vein of Arcturus and the like, thus supporting the various style changes of the rhythmic session where there is obviously no room for unnecessary virtuosity (see typical phrases from metal reviews). In conclusion, Solefald captivates with their skill and a not insignificant charismatic component that is always pleasant. A recommended album for those who have engaged with black metal or metal in general; it's difficult to recommend it even though it is extremely experimental and avant-garde to those who may have just absorbed Amnesiac. NORWEGIAN PANDA ARE NOT ALLOWED