Solstice: Solstice (1992)

This is actually the second album by a band called Solstice I have picked up, but it is not the same band.  This is the U.S.-based thrash metal band primarily active in the early 1990's, though they have reunited (sort of) a few times and have been back together since 2006 or so, even releasing a new album in 2009.  The other Solstice is a doom metal band from the U.K.  The name "Solstice" seems to fit a little better with a doom metal band personally.  The only other situation like this in my collection is the two bands named Sabbat.  There is the Japanese black/thrash metal band and the U.K. thrash metal band whose singer went on to form Skyclad and thus primarily kick-started the folk metal genre. 

Solstice, this one anyway, is a particularly heavy thrash metal band, even bordering on death metal at times.  The riffs are down-tuned and fast, but not lightning-fast as is typical of many other thrash metal bands.  The riffs bear more resemblance to the early works of Death and Possessed when the bands were crossing the border between death and thrash metal but not full-on death metal riffs yet.  The songs are very intense due to their speed and heaviness of the riffs. 

I can not decide whether I like the Carnivore cover in the middle of the album though ("S.M.D.").  It kind of breaks things up a bit because it is a decidedly different sound right in the middle of the album.  On its own it is fine, not the best cover in the world but not bad either, it is its placement that bothers me more than anything.  Carnivore was kind of a goofy band and this song in particular is pretty odd (stands for "Suck My Dick"), and Solstice seems much more serious.

A part of that is likely due to the fact that Rob Barrett, of Malevolent Creation fame primarily and now in Cannibal Corpse, plays rhythm guitars on this album.  Barrett also lends his vocals to the band, delivering them in a harsh, malevolent bark that is much more similar to early death metal bands than anything that thrash metal bands were doing at the time.  Barrett and drummer Alex Marquez left Solstice to join Malevolent Creation soon after this album was released.

I guess the key question is which Solstice do I like better?  Well, being more of a thrash metal fan myself, it is pretty obvious and predictable that I prefer this Solstice.  I do like the other one, but this one fits in more with my preferred style of metal.