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Formed in the spring of 1987, Solitude Aeturnus are still
producing some the finest heavy metal music on the planet! Out of a
sheer dark desire to spread the power of heavy head swirling and
pounding hell metal the band pushes onward. The line up began as
darkened soul, John Perez, quit his former seminal thrash metal band
Rotting Corpse in early ’87. Assembling a group and recording a demo
in early 1988, Solitude began planting the seeds within the tape
trading and underground metal network. In late ’88 changes started
to occur within the band and without going into too many details the
members of the band all changed finally settling on a line up that
consisted of Perez - guitars, Edgar Rivera - guitars, Robert Lowe -
vocals, Lyle Steadham - bass and John “Wolf” Covington on drums. A
legal dispute forced the band to change the name to Solitude
Aeturnus during the spring of 1989. The band entered the prestigious
Dallas Sound Lab in January of 1990 to record their classic debut
album, “Into the Depths of Sorrow”. After some shopping around the
album eventually caught the attention of Roadrunner Records and an
offer followed by Solitude Aeturnus signing to Roadrunner. After
numerous other delays the album finally saw the light of day in July
of 1991 a full year and half after the album was recorded!! No tours
followed although by this time SA had already written enough songs
for a second album. In March of 1992 the band entered Sound Logic
recording studios to begin the sessions for the second album,
“Beyond the Crimson Horizon” The album was released in July of 1992
and eventually a US tour was set up in late Nov. with Paul Dianno’s
Killers. The tour lasted six weeks and was a great success for the
band. Shortly after in Feb. of ’93 the band was dropped from
Roadrunner. This came as a sigh of relief for the band as the proper
support from Roadrunner never came their way. It wouldn’t be until
December that the band would finally sign a new recording contract
with up and coming label, Pavement Records.
The band decided to get away from their familiar surroundings and
took off for England to record their third album, Through the
Darkest Hour. Recorded in late March of ’94 at Rhythm Studios, this
was to be the bands best work to date showcasing a more riff
oriented and heavier direction. The production was also at its best
ever and the band were making great strides in their live
performance. “Darkest Hour” received critical acclaim all across the
globe upon it’s release in August of 1994. The band went on the road
with metal legends Mercyful Fate for an extensive US tour and
shortly after embarked on their first tour of Europe with fellow
doom band Revelation. After this tour the band went through a long
break that would last until the April of 1996 when recording for the
next album commenced. During this time Perez started his own
Brainticket Records label as well as recording a solo album under
the name of The Liquid Sound Company. The next album, “Downfall” was
recorded in Dallas TX and despite receiving praise once again for
their efforts, the band were extremely dissatisfied with the end
product. The songs were top notch but the production quality of the
album was poor. After years of hard knocks and never ending
struggles the band underwent their first (and only) major line up
change with bassist Lyle Steadham leaving to
 pursue other musical
interests.
The band continued on enlisting the services of Teri Pritchard (Last
Chapter) in as temporary bassist. It was this line up that toured
Europe in April of ’96 with Swedish power metal band Morgana Lafey.
Another unintentional break followed and a split from Pavement
Records eventually occurred. During this time new bass player, Steve
Moseley was added to the band. Solitude Aeturnus then signed on to
German label Massacre Records in December ’97 and recorded what was
to become their strongest recording to date in “Adagio”. This time
going back to Rhythm Studios in England the album was recorded in
March ’98 and released in June of the same year. The band toured
Europe in September of ’98 with Savior Machine in support of the
record.
After several festival shows during the years after Adagio, the band
underwent a temporary hiatus with members taking time off to focus
on other things. Perez focused his efforts on the Brainticket
Records label and also recorded another psychedelic album with his
Liquid Sound Company (Inside the Acid Temple) in 2003. Moseley, Lowe
and Covington formed another group during this time called Concept
of God. An unreleased album will eventually see the light of day.
During this hiatus guitarist Edgar Rivera and drummer John Covington
both left the band on best of terms. Longtime Solitude fan and
veteran metal head Steve Nichols joined the band on drums in 2005
along with master bassist James Martin. With this new line up the
band completed a mini tour of Greece and Germany during spring of
2006 and spent countless hours crafting the songs for their newest
release. Entitled “Alone” the bands 6th studio album has been
released on Massacre Records in November 2006. A top notch
production and keen sense of songwriting makes this album one of the
bands best of their career!
Solitude Aeturnus continues to push forward despite the odds. If you
want pure metal with special detail to real songwriting then here it
is. If you want metal that sounds good to the ears then hear it is.
If you want monotonous, faceless metal sounds, then look elsewhere.
FACTS:
After eight years finally the new album by the Doom Metal masters
Solitude Aeturnus
Limited edition Digipak available including 10-minute bonus track!
Mastered by Pet
Cover Artwork by Travis Smith (Nevermore, Opeth, Malevoent
Creation a.o.)
Legendary status by both press and fans Europewide
Several European tours and festival Appearances a.o. Bang Your
Head, Keep it True (2006!)
- Live appearances and festival shows in early 2007
FROM
www.massacre-records.de
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