It’s a little later than planned… but episode #4 is FINALLY here!

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This week’s freebie comes courtesy of the awesome Solace Of Requiem! This is a band that plays astoundingly good Technical Blackened Death Metal… and some of it is available for FREE!!! The [...]]]> It’s Sunday… I have a cup of tea… this can only mean one thing… it’s time for…

*drum roll*

This week’s freebie comes courtesy of the awesome Solace Of Requiem! This is a band that plays astoundingly good Technical Blackened Death Metal… and some of it is available for FREE!!! The freebies include tracks from each album and they are available via the links below, or by heading over to SOR’s Official Website.

• Download “Rivers” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
• Download “Arctic Reflections” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
• Download “Those Born to Suffer” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
• Download “Language of the Gods” (featuring Bret Hoffman) here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
• Download “Red Sea” here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
• Download “Beyond Grace” (new version) here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
• Download “Beyond Grace” (old version) here (from “Solace of Requiem”)
• Download “Deceiver” here (from “Solace of Requiem”)

Like what you hear? Do yourself a favour and BUY THE ALBUMS! Grab them from Solace Of Requiem’s Official Site!

Band Info:

Solace of Requiem has teamed up with producer Andy Classen to usher in a new era of Death Metal. While others in the genre have strived to become more technical on their instruments, SOR has strived to become more technical with their song writing. There is no doubt that musicians should be good on their instruments but the technical aspects of music should not be limited to the instrumentation alone.

Solace of Requiem has created a sound that is not only instrumentally technical but is also technical in structure. The main focus for SOR is to properly orchestrate the emotions between lyrics and music, while maintaining a high level of technicality in instrumentation and composition. The band has blended together Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Thrash, Jazz, Rock and many other forms of music to create an extremely diverse sound that makes SOR unique.

The band has a number of tour dates coming up – Check their site for details!
Sadly there’s no UK dates… there’s gotta be a UK promoter out there just itching to put these guys on a show! C’mon! Make it so!

Line-Up:
Jeff Sumrell (Bass & Vocals)
Dave Tedesco (Drums)
Chris Armijo (Guitars)
George Arguello (Guitars)

Video:

I know I didn’t include a video in last week’s Freebie of the Week… but I thought I would this time… plus, I really like this track:

Solace of Requiem – “Red Sea” from their second album “Utopia Reborn” 2006 (featuring Bret Hoffmann from Malevolent Creation).

Links:
solreq.com
facebook.com/solaceofrequiem
reverbnation.com/solaceofrequiem
youtube.com/solreq
last.fm/music/Solace+Of+Requiem
Loucifer Speaks Interview with Jeff Sumrell
Loucifer Speaks Review of “The Great Awakening”

If you are in a band and would like to have your stuff featured in Freebie of the Week, please get in touch.

Solace Of Requiem are pretty difficult to pin a label on (but I did have a fair try in my recent review!), so I thought the best thing to do would be to get Jeff Sumrell to tell us a bit more about the band and the music, in his own [...]]]>

Solace Of Requiem are pretty difficult to pin a label on (but I did have a fair try in my recent review!), so I thought the best thing to do would be to get Jeff Sumrell to tell us a bit more about the band and the music, in his own words.

Lou: Hi, and thank you for agreeing to this interview! You’ve just returned from your European tour (which, sadly, didn’t include the UK – ah well, we can’t win ‘em all!) – how did it go?

Jeff: It went really well, but sadly the singer for Resurrection (Paul DeGolyer) had a family emergency only 3 dates into the tour and had to return home to the States. I was approached by John Astl (Resurrection’s guitarist and founding member) and asked to sing their songs from the Embalmed Existence album. So for the remaining shows of the tour I pulled double-duty and sang for both my band and Resurrection. It was totally BRUTAL, but also totally METAL Not something I want to do again any time soon, but a learning experience none-the-less.

Lou: I saw that you had to perform vocals for both SOR and your touring partners Resurrections as Paul DeGolyer had to rush home due to a family emergency. Was it difficult? Did it put a strain on your vocal chords?

Jeff: Hell Yeah! After every show I felt like passing-out But of course I remained professional and did the best I could to maintain.

Lou: Do you have any tips for metal vocalists?

Jeff: Yes.. Learn to play an instrument But seriously, I think it’s much better when a singer has more to offer to his band than only a voice. It is important to be able to understand the complexity (or sometimes, unfortunately, lack there of) of the music they are trying to put lyrics/vox to. I just don’t think its cool when the singers have no idea about music and the lyrics and vocals do nothing to represent the mood of the songs. So for all would-be singers in the world, please, learn to play/write music to some degree before attempting to be in a band. At least develop an understanding of what it means to be a front-man. It’s not all glitz and glamor, there’s (supposed to be) a lot of hard work involved.

Lou: How would you describe a Solace of Requiem show?

Jeff: Totally insane! We try to give 110% at every show. We try to be like the best live bands out today, which for us there’s no question that’s Behemoth. So when we’re on stage, we try to give a show to the fans and not only a statuesque performance. There’s no doubt that people are expecting to see great instrument players, but we try to do more than stand there and look at our fret-boards while we play. We take great pride in working the stage and giving an extremely energetic performance to accompany our extremely energetic music.

Lou: What is your favorite SOR track to play live?

Jeff: That’s a tough question. I think that we’d all have a different answer to that one. But personally, I like to play Language of the Gods from our second album (Utopia Reborn). That song has a great atmosphere and its not ridiculously hard to play. I also like to play the songs Rivers and Mariner from our new CD (The Great Awakening), but those songs are extremely technical and sometimes its not as fun to play the songs that are that fast and difficult, especially when you’re dog-tired.

Lou: Just in case there’s anyone out there in Loucifer Speaks Land who hasn’t heard of you yet, please could you introduce the band and fill us in on what kind of music you play?

Jeff: Solace of Requiem is a somewhat unique band in the sense that we are kind of progressive to be so technical and brutal. We pride ourselves in correctly orchestrating the relationship between moods and music. So we have a lot of “soul” for lack of a better word. We also try to be great at composition, so our songs tend to be a bit more “listenable” than some of the other bands that call themselves technical. But make no mistake, we are very technical and very brutal, but the best difference is that we don’t bombard you for too long with the crazy stuff before we either hit you with dark atmosphere and/or make your neck snap from the onslaught of thrash riffing. I guess we’re just one of those bands that you have to hear for yourself. But even with that, our songs are so different from each other that if you don’t like one, you’re bound to like the others. I once said that “SOR is like a good piece of chewing-gum that doesn’t lose its flavor after the first 5 minutes”. I think that’s the best way to describe us.

Lou: Solace of Requiem has experienced a few line-up changes – is the current line-up pretty much solid now?

Jeff: SOR is really just me. I write all the music and coordinate all the business stuff. So the line-up is never safe from change. However, I can say that our drummer (Dave Tedesco) is a great friend of mine and he will always have a place in SOR as long as he wants it. He’s also a big help for the band as far as finance and other important things. So Dave will probably be here a while. The guitar players (Chris Armijo and George Arguello) are also good guys whom I like very much, but because they live in California, on the opposite end of the U.S. compared to Dave and I, I can’t speculate as to when and where our time together will end. But they’re young, and I foresee that our time together won’t be at an end too near in the furture. But we all know the right job or woman could change that in a matter of hours

Lou: Where does the name Solace of Requiem come from?

Jeff: Solace means to give comfort in a time of great loss, such as the death of a close friend or family member. Requiem is a piece of music that was written in honor of the dead. So in short, our name means the inner comfort and/or peace in death metal.

Lou: Your new album, “The Great Awakening”, is to be released very soon. How does it compare to your previous releases?

Jeff: It doesn’t compare, its a totally different style of music and has a totally different feeling. I can’t compare it to the other albums because of that reason. All of our albums are progressive to some degree, but this new album has substituted some of that progressiveness for more technicality and brutality. But like any great artist would say, this latest work is my best work.

Lou: Which tracks are you particularly looking forward to getting people to listen to?

Jeff: I look at this new CD as one entity. So I’m anxious to have the entire album heard and well-received. It could be considered by some as a concept album, as could all of our recordings. So I really want people to judge the album as a whole and not dissect it into separate songs. It just wasn’t meant to be heard in that way.

Lou: A few of the tracks from the album (“Rivers”, “Arctic Reflections” and “Those Born To Suffer”) have been available to download from your website for quite some time. Do you find that allowing people to have a few free downloads helps to promote and sell your albums?

Jeff: People are going to steal your music if they put their minds to it, its not hard to do. So I figure, hey, why not just let them have it for free and sell the CDs and merch through our live shows. We have enough confidence as a band that we know we will sell stuff at our live gigs. And we have no desire to fight a losing cause. So we allow a few downloads and concentrate on selling things at shows. We usually do pretty well so we have no problems with a few free downloads.

Lou: Where can people buy your albums from?

Jeff: If you have a computer, then you can buy it. Its for sale through Amazon, I-Tunes, Rhapsody, Last FM, CD Baby, Napster.. I could go on forever if I tried to name them all, especially the lower caliber stores that aren’t so famous. Just Google “Solace of Requiem” and/or “The Great Awakening” to find our new CD. You can also visit our homepage (solreq.com) to buy our stuff direct from the band via Paypal. Same goes for our MySpace page (myspace.com/solreq). We’re on FaceBook, ReverbNation.. I think you’d have to be a Britney Spears fan in order not to find our music and merch online.

Lou: I understand that the release date for “The Great Awakening” had to be pushed back a bit. What were the reasons for this, and was the wait frustrating?

Jeff: We were trying to find a label to release our CD but we didn’t have success. Of course we had interest from labels, but none of those labels wanted to give much of an offer other than to slap their name on our disk and take all of our money. It used to be really prestigious to have a label but now it seems everybody has one. We just didn’t want to get caught-up in another record deal that only benefited the label. We had a certain criteria that had to be met by our suitors, and unfortunately, none of the interested parties were able to meet that criteria. So we sat on the album for quite some time waiting for the right company, but it just never happened. Yes, it was frustrating, but it was only so when we were approached by a couple labels that were actually big, only to be jerked around by them. Oh well, such is life, especially in this business.

Lou: What sort of subjects have been covered in the lyrics on the new album?

Jeff: My lyrics are all philosophical. I talk about life and how much it blows. There’s only sorrow in my work.

Lou: What equipment do you use?

Jeff: Whatever our support band uses Seriously, I play on Ampeg and use Ibanez basses exclusively.

Lou: Who or what originally made you want to play metal?

Jeff: Metallica! The first concert I saw of theirs blew my mind and I’ve been a metal addict ever since. After Metallica I was a Cannibal Corpse guy, then on to my favorite band of all time… MORBID ANGEL!

Lou: What was the first album you ever bought? Do you still listen to it?

Jeff: My first album was a vinyl (because I’m old). It was Kiss – Creatures Of The Night. The first album I ever bought with my own money was a tape, Pestilence – Consuming Impulse. My first CD I ever bought with my own loot was Amorphis – The Karelian Isthmus.

Lou: 3 questions in 1 here: Do you still buy CDs? What are your views on illegal downloads? Do you think that the days of the CD are numbered?

Jeff: Yes, the last CD I bought was Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue. I’m a huge Jerry Cantrell fan My views on illegal downloads is that people should welcome themselves to 2010 and quit cryin’ about stupid shit like that. Just be happy people want to even have your music and settle for selling your stuff through your live shows and find new ways to make money at your gigs. You can’t illegally download a Morbid Angel T-Shirt. No, I don’t think the CD days are entirely gone. We still sell a lot of them at our shows and through the internet. But obviously there will be a new type of disk, or whatever, but there will still be physical album sales for many years to come in my opinion.

Lou: I read on your website that you’re already working on some new material – possibly for a 4 track EP. Don’t you ever take a break? Haha! Are you able to tell us anything about the new material (track names, etc) or is it too early in the process?

Jeff: It’s too early, but I can say we’re going back to the basics just a little bit. It’ll be technical, but we are going to concentrate on the brutal elements a little more. I think this new EP will be the most Brutal music that SOR has ever made.

Lou: I also saw on the website that you are in talks to set up another European tour in 2012 with Moshquito. If this does happen, will you be coming to England? Is there anything your UK fans can be doing to get you over here? Just tell us who we need to speak to and we’ll hassle ‘em!

Jeff: The problem with the UK is that we don’t have any big contacts there for festivals. If we could get a spot on a big fest or two, then we could possibly book a few gigs around that date to make it feasible to play there. But like any tour, the fests need to be booked first, and we just don’t have any solid contacts for fests in the UK. If you can swing it, then tell ‘em to write me..

Lou: Thanks again for answering my questions! If you have any messages for the readers of Loucifer Speaks, please feel free to say them now:

Jeff: Listen to the new CD with headphones. It’ll blow your tits off.. And be high when you hear it too. Not because of any special reason, only because its good to be stoned :-p

solreq.com

Over the past year I’ve developed a bit of a fixation with Solace of Requiem – I raided their webshop at the start of the year and since them I’ve been playing their previous albums incessantly while waiting for “The Great Awakening” to be released. After a bit of a delay, the album [...]]]>

Over the past year I’ve developed a bit of a fixation with Solace of Requiem – I raided their webshop at the start of the year and since them I’ve been playing their previous albums incessantly while waiting for “The Great Awakening” to be released. After a bit of a delay, the album is now here and the CD is now in its rightful place in my CD collection.

“The Great Awakening” is a fantastic slice of technical Death Metal, and fans of the genre will not be disappointed. With that said, if you are worried about parting with your cash, click here and have a listen to the free samples before placing your order.

The album opens with “Transcending the Archaic” – an instrumental piece that sets the tone for the whole album. The intro builds up slowly before launching into a hard-hitting riff and some powerful drumming.

I’ve been aware of the second track on this album, “Rivers”, for quite some time since it’s available as a free download from the band’s official website. However, it was great to hear it in context with the other tracks on the album and it flows really well after “Transcending the Archaic”. The track has a number of tempo changes which makes for an exciting listening experience. It’s tracks like this that make me wish that Solace of Requiem’s recent European tour had included a couple of dates in England. I’ve got my fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed that they’re able to pay us a visit next time around!

“Divine Punishment” has already cemented itself as one of my favourites from this album. It’s a relatively short track, but it has a shitload of attitude and power. Plus, the guitar solo is ridiculously good and suits the song down to the ground. If it doesn’t make you want to pick up your air guitar, then there’s got to be something wrong!

The next track, “Mariner”, sounds like it would go down a storm in a live situation. There’s a fantastic – if varied at times – rhythm running through it which makes it more than perfect for a good ol’ headbanging session. This track also really shows off the skills of the musicians and every time I listen to it I think ‘Damn, I wish I could play that!’.

“Those Born to Suffer” is another track that I’d heard previously, and it’s still as hard-hitting as ever. As with most of the tracks on the album, the vocals seem to be a cross between Death Metal styled and Black Metal styled… well, at least they sound like that to my ears!

“Perspective from the Tesseract” is a strangely calming, and completely unexpected, instrumental track. This near-classical piece does not prepare you for the following track, “Scourge of Wills”. After the relative calm of its predecessor, “Scourge of Wills” doesn’t try to ease you back in gently to the Death Metal onslaught, instead it just chucks you in head first. This track definitely gets the top marks and two thumbs up from me.

“Arctic Reflections” is the third and final track that I’d already listened to previously. When I first heard the track (several months ago), I thought it was technical Death Metal at its finest (with a dash of Black Metal – have a listen and you should, hopefully, see what I mean)… and, you’ll be pleased to know, my opinion hasn’t changed. Definitely another favourite from this album, and possibly one of my favourites overall from Solace of Requiem.

“Homage to Shiva” closes the album in a completely frantic (yet melodic) way. A very fitting end to this particular musical journey.

I’ll end this review more or less how I started it – “The Great Awakening” is a superb example of technical Death Metal. One of my favourite albums of 2010.

Rating: 98%

solreq.com

Message from the band:

The New Songs have been added to our profile! The new album’s Cover Art, Track Listing, Credits and 3 free MP3s are available on our WebSite. There are also New Promotional Photos (courtesy of Captive Imagery) on the profile and 2 New Live Videos filmed in Innsbruck Austria during the [...]]]>

Message from the band:

The New Songs have been added to our profile! The new album’s Cover Art, Track Listing, Credits and 3 free MP3s are available on our WebSite. There are also New Promotional Photos (courtesy of Captive Imagery) on the profile and 2 New Live Videos filmed in Innsbruck Austria during the “Only Death Is For Nothing” tour.

Solace of Requiem’s third CD “The Great Awakening” (Produced by the great Andy Classen – Krisiun, Belphegor, Rotting Christ . .) is set for release in June. Solace of Requiem would like to thank: “Weed for being so delicious. Andy Classen and Stage One Studio for all of his hard work. Gragoth and Luciferium War Graphics for the awesome cover art. Anja and Captive Imagery for her help with our layout, websites and photography. The Virginia, New York and east coast underground where we got started. Europe for having great fans, great beer and being our second home. Conny with Knark Art Gallery and Bianca with Ferun Events for all their tour help. Bret, Phil and Malevolent Creation. John, Paul and Resurrection. Micha, Rudi and Moshquito. Our friend Lutz the soundman. Andy and Lost Dreams. Erik, Juandice and The Diatribe Magazine. Dustin, Rob, Billy and Organ Harvest. Alien and Mucopus. Greg (Tiny) and Wasteform. Scott, Chris and Down The Drain. Ritchie and Ruptured Silence Records. The Sumrell family. James Nugent the computer man. All the zines, radio and other media sources that continue to support us. All the great bands we’ve played with on the road. The promoters, agents and all the great people who book our band and take care of us on our tours. Most importantly our fans, friends and supporters from around the world, without them we could not exist..”

solreq.com
myspace.com/solreq