Granted, there were a slew of compilation-type releases along the way, but UK doom metallers Solstice‘s last studio release was 1998’s New Dark Age, and in case you’re refusing to do the math on how long it’s been because of some mental block you don’t want to admit to yourself, that was 15 years ago. So the new Death’s Crown is Victory — which offers four tracks of battle-ready metallurgy — is something of an event in the life of the band. The word “epic” has been bandied about in relation to the release, and while it’s hard to think of anything that only lasts 26 minutes in those terms, Solstice certainly make a run at it, be it the build-into-fistpumping-solo of the title-track or the cask-worthy chugging of “I am the Hunter.” Both of those songs top nine minutes, and each comes accompanied by a cut under four minutes, so that opener “Fortress England” and instrumental closer “Aequinoctium II” bookend Death’s Crown is Victory while also leading to and from the more extended cuts that, okay, yeah, they’re pretty goddamn epic.

Vinyl and tape releases are coming — both make sense based on the structure of the EP, which splits easily into two sides — but I don’t know when or if Solstice plan to follow-up Death’s Crown is Victory with a new album, and with as long as it’s been since the last one, maybe we don’t want to rush it on the speculation.

Here’s the band’s announcement:

So here it is, the new mini-LP from our good selves, 27 minutes of skull crushing epic heavy metal. Composed and performed by Paul Kearns, Rich Walker, Andy Whittaker, Ian “Izak” Buxton and James Ashbey. But none of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for these three fine men and their hard work in support of ourselves –

Kerry Hughes at GN Studios, Huddersfield, England (Recording & Engineering)
Richard Whittaker at FX Mastering, London, England (Mixing & Mastering)
Chris Smith, of Grey Aria Design Studio, USA (Sleeve artwork)

You can listen to the title track on Gluetube, and once again we would encourage everyone to spread this video and a link to this page around facebook or whatever (Anti)social media they choose to do so –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id73aXnhOM4

And for those of you wanting to have something for your ipods in advance of the physical release date, the digital version is now available to download for a modest fee on our bandcamp page. We’ll be announcing details of the Vinyl and Cassette in the next week or so as the final touches are made to the sleeve designs for both. As well as listing distributors around the globe where you will be able to purchase this release from

http://solstice-englander.bandcamp.com/album/deaths-crown-is-victory

Until then, we hail you all for your support, but especially we hail those valiant enough to stand strong and stand proud, NEVER SURRENDER!!

Solstice, Death’s Crown is Victory (2013)

Tags: Death's Crown is Victory, Solstice, Solstice Death's Crown is Victory, UK

This entry was posted on Monday, October 21st, 2013 at 7:46 pm and is filed under Whathaveyou. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.