Solar Lovers

It’s remarkable how there were so many doom/death metal bands coming out of Holland back in the day, with bands like Sempiternal Deathreign, Delirium and Mourning originating all the way back to the late 80’s even. Unlike those bands, Celestial Season stood out due to their longer lifespan as well as their melancholic, yet rocking take on doom/death metal, before heading into a stoner metal direction for a while.

Multifaceted riffing, violins and deep growls that come straight from Stefan Ruiters’ Dutch belly are all part the record’s charm here. You could tell that these guys listened to Trouble as well as My Dying Bride and hence I’d argue that Solar Lovers should appeal as much to doom metal fans who want to rock out as to doom metal fans who look for an emotional outlet. Sure, earlier bands aimed for similar results, but there hasn’t been many - Paradise Lost’s Shades of God could be a clear point of reference, as could be God Forsaken’s Dismal Gleams of Desolation (which I think stinks...but that’s neither here or there). It also helps that Solar Lovers sounds more refined than their debut and therefore makes it a superior sophomore record.

Swinging riffs sections lead into gloomier, few-notes movements, yet Celestial Season manage to pull both aspects off well, even if the writing doesn’t quite make it to the standards of earlier and well-known doom/death metal records (Gothic, As the Flower Withers, etc.) A big plus includes the record’s ass-kicking introduction; ‘’Decamerone’’ haunts the night, yet does so with big riffs crushing all in sight, resulting into a proper doom-styled mammoth that rocks out, yet leaves a sentimental aftertaste behind. ‘’Solar Child’’ rocks even harder, and the band’s sense of sentimentality is nowhere to be heard here - instead, you end up with a good old dose of faithful doom riffs that loudly lead towards the finish line.

From here, Solar Lovers continues to fuse gloom and groove, with a few exceptions here and there. Short, so-so interludes appear from time to time, but they’re not making much of a change and it doesn't help that they sound like outtakes from the songs themselves. There’s also an Ultravox cover that can’t get unnoticed and why this doom/death metal band felt like covering a synthpop song is beyond me. As you might expect, it doesn’t turn out well - not that I like the original to begin with, but it’s terribly out of place and if you must replace poppy clean vocals with death metal growls, you might have to ask yourself why you cover something in the first place. Fortunately, the actual original tunes remain fairly good and in fact, Solar Lovers saves the best for the last. ‘’The Scent of Eve’’ might be full of lyrical clichés, but hearing these eerie violins creep next to these melodic, yet well-timed guitar riffs is absolutely wonderful. The tempo changes also appear fluently and the track hardly feels as long as it is; which obviously a big plus point.

It may not be the best doom/death metal album of 1995, but Solar Lovers is worth going after….especially if you’re not sure about wanting to rock out or to need some sentimental tunes to fit your melancholy mood.

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

I’ll admit it right now, I’m a newbie to the doom-death genre. More accurately, to the doom genre in general. Sure, I listen to Black Sabbath. I mean, who the fuck doesn’t? But everything else I’ve heard that was labeled doom sucked, including the soundtrack for the video game Doom. Lots of ugly clean singing, shit that was far to slow, and boatloads of keyboard lameness. And lots of guns firing – but that’s just in the video game.

In a miraculous turn of events, a trade with a friendly metalhead in Russia has led me to abandon my anti-doom platform. Celestial Season’s “Solar Lovers” is damn good, and it makes me want to seek out other stuff in the same style. In fact, I just bought me a Swallow the Sun album…so the addiction begins. “Solar Lovers” (who are quite likely to develop skin cancer) avoids the pitfalls of the doom-death genre – it is just about cheese-free.

Let us be free of complaints before we start the fellatio. There ain’t much to mention here, but I will try. The production makes everything a little fuzzy, but that works in Celestial Season’s favor for the most part. There’s a bit of repetition in some of the songs, most apparent on “Vienna.” By the way, “Vienna” is a cover of the 80’s synth-pop group Ultravox. Which would normally register as a complaint with me, if the song weren’t so damn catchy. I brought this up to a buddy of mine last night (who loves 80’s synth-pop, which is a crime against the human race) and he said Ultravox was one of the coldest, most clinical 80’s albums he had ever heard. Cold like cvut and trooo? I’m guessing not. Probably cold like there were no actual performances, just a roomful of keyboards feeding feces directly into a computer for maximum profit via album sales.

That wasn’t much of a criticism against the album, was it? Perhaps that’s because the album is fucking good, so fuck criticism. Celestial Season apparently changed gears from a doom-death to a stoner metal over their lifespan. They’re from the Netherlands, so just be happy they never played tulip-metal or something. Anyway, this album does show a transition between more traditional dirgy, doomy plodding and a kind of fuzzy, upbeat stoner sensation. The two mix nicely.

So what will you hear when you press play? I heard lots of nice violins, cellos, a crunchy guitar that pumps out one meaty riff after the next with occasional cat-being-raped (in a good way) solos, a bass that merges into the heaviness, some ocean noises and other little samples, and some low-effort but still just fine drumming. You may hear nothing, because you may be deaf. Then again, why the fuck would you be on a music site if you were deaf? Maybe metal MADE you deaf, and you still love the genre even though you can’t hear shit. Everything is possible.

The vocals are what really convinced me to like this band. If the vocals are bad, I just can’t listen to whatever it may be. Even if the music rules, bad vocals just put me off. And something about the way the vox are handled on this one is satisfactory. There are occasional clean passages, but mostly it is just death growls and talking in a rhythmic way to the beat. Not rapping, motherfucker. Just talking like you are tough. Like that song “Where the Slime Live” by Morbid Angel. Just like that. Stop asking, that is what it sounds like.

Every song is good, but some standouts are the beautiful opener “Decamerone”, “Dancing to a Thousand Symphonies”, and that fucking “Vienna”. It is stuck in my head even now. Fuck. The whole mood of the album is well maintained. There’s definitely some sadness, mixed in with an upbeat feeling – like the drugs kicked in, then the drugs wore off, then you spark/cook up/drop/huff/snort again. A few short instrumentals transition brilliantly into the next big track – most of these bad boys are over 6 minutes long.

So buy it for a nice doom-death album with a bit of stoner thrown in that is virtually free of lameness. Though doom metal always does have a tint of lameness about it – all this shit about your feelings is not your typical extreme metal lyrical fare. Killing, Cthulhu, and vikings – that’s what I want to hear when I put on anything with “death” attached to it. But “Solar Lovers” just may be my window into the softer side of evil.

9 out of 10

Originally posted on: www.globaldomination.se

This album is still one of my favorites to this day! I'm normally not one for the stoner tone in doom, but this is quite the exception. This album is filled with sorrowful moments mixed with pure chugging doom. This album is packed with a lot of lower spoken vocals and some louder intense ones every once in awhile... not too growly, but very deep and bassy.

There are a lot of bass lines heard throughout the entire album that really stand out to me... which is not very familiar when listening to doom like this. The violins add to the emotion and flow of the music and give it a nice touch between the heavier riffs and the melodies.

Stand out tracks have to be "Soft Embalmer of The Still Midnight" and "Decamerone" for me. I also enjoy the keyboards and change of vocals on the Ultravox cover of "Vienna." Makes the original seem dull.

Overall this album is still a great listen after over 12 years of time. If you enjoy melodic doom of any kind, I believe you will like this album.

You know, I really think this album is totally underrated. I’m a great admirer of the second wave of doom metal (called also death-doom) for 12 years, and I swear you that this is one of the doom’est achievements ever, in one line of My Dying Bride’s “Turn Loose the Swans” and “Angel and the Dark River”, Anathema’s “The Silent Enigma”, and Tiamat’s “Wildhoney”. And I’m not Dutch.

So you ask me why is this album celestial? I’ll try, but as doom’s weapons are not technical or level of aggression, it’s not so easy to argue.

Their playing is ok, look as you like. Thick riffs, elegant use of instruments, rich orchestration, and deep vocals etc. And overall – the taste – this little thing is so often more important than talent and technical skills. Celestial Season perfectly manage to be loving, but not sweet, depressive, but not hurling, heavy, but not posing, slow, but not broken. Vocals are darkly calm, sometimes whispering, and this silent expression sometimes -sometimes- seems to be stronger than existential mourning of Aaron from My Dying Bride.

Celestial Season make you doomed not pushing, but haunting with tenderness. Don’t misunderstand me, the album is not soft, for it’s really heavy, but at the same time it can make you cry, and a crying metalhead is a good metalhead. Or isn’t the beauty of sorrow the target of all the second wave of doom?

Those who get their fun from being sad are welcome to join Solar Lovers.

Plus there's some great guitar work.