In Solitude "Sister" (2013)

After two years of touring, the Daniel-proclaimed masters of nowadays heavy metal have released their new album today, and today is also the day it leaked and I got to listen to it... repeteadly. As for background, the ridiculously young Swedes have two more albums under their belt, the pure and innocent "In Solitude" (2008) and the complete masterpiece that is "The World, The Flesh, The Devil" (2011). There's no denying in their talent for writing riffs like no one has ever did before and with a frontman like Pelle Ahman it's bound to be something amazing everytime they release new music.

After hearing the official release of the album's title track on youtube a month ago I was a little confused, the vocals sounded quite different and I did not like the change that much. The riff was extremely interesting but it was no classic In Solitude. Then I heard the 1 minute preview for the single off this LP, "Lavender" and remained moved, marked and impressed. I think I checked about 20 times if the song had leaked anywhere in the past weeks. I did the same for any other songs on the album, and half of them could actually be found on the Internet. There were more build-up expectations for this album more than any other, except for Graveyard "Lights Out".

Pelle Ahman. Role model. Amazing singer.
Look at those legs.

When I finally got to listen to it after a day of school I gotta say, I loved it.. yet it had its ups and downs. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. My gripe is that I was expecting more extremely powerful heavy metal influences like on the previous LPs In Solitude has offered, but this album takes their musical style into another direction, a direction which I absolutely love, but it's still not the classic In Solitude. Non-gay melodic black metal and post-punk influences are clearly heard and it's a very cool thing. The other thing that I did not enjoy was, most surprisingly, "Lavender". The only hook the song has is in the beautiful chorus, but the rest sounds very different and weird.

The rest of the album is beautifully executed and mastered. Perfect riffage and eerie vocals everywhere. Even with the whole style change it's still In Solitude at heart, and it's an extremely interesting change, to say the least, and I love it. Best track is, unquestionably, "Pallid Hands".

9/10 Would Buy On Vinyl.