Black metal! It can be so many things! And today I'm going to dive down in one of the most interesting releases of all time. Solefald might not ring bells with everybody, but it should! This is one of their early albums that raises fundamental questions, both philosophically and musically. It came as no surprise that Cornelius (vocals) went on to study philosophy and kept his musical aspirations to a minimum. But they have done some gigs recently, Inferno in Oslo one of them.
Solefald -the Linear Scaffold (1997)
This album is so diverse, it crosses into many genres. Even classical music. It kicks off with "Jernlov" a straight foward flirt with the headbanging horde. Powerful and playful and it has been one of my favourite tracks since I heard it first time. It continues into "Philosophical Revolt" that has the same tendencies and gets even more intense with the following track "Red View". Then everything changes and the listener is thrown into a simple classic piece "Floating Mangenta", which is a quiet track with a piano, some synth and muted vocals. The quietness gets disturbed by the next track "The Macho Vehicle" before it slows down again on "Countyside Bohemians" which is accompanied with classical guitar. "Tequila Sunrise" that follows is another piece accompanied by a piano and spoken words. In norwegian, I might add ;-) The last track, "The moon is On The Wave" is a mishmash of all the different styles you have encountered so far and serves as a conclusion that -yes, you can add all styles on an album and still get away with it.
This release has avant-garde written all over it. And I love it for it's diversity and different instrumentation. And raising fundamental questions while keeping the listener surprised as the scenery it paints in it's various stages, certainly makes it one of my favourites of all time. And it could serve as an entry for the inexperienced listener as well.
I think it has been re-released and available. When I bought it, I had my share of luck to find a copy through a bulletin board.
Previous entries to this series (They need some upvotes, peeps):
@funkit/album-of-the-day-15-astriaal-renacent-misanthropy
@funkit/album-of-the-day-14-russian-circles-memorial
@funkit/album-of-the-day-13-gehenna-first-spell
@funkit/album-of-the-day-12-the-vintage-caravan-voyage
@funkit/album-of-the-day-11-apocalyptica-inquisition-symphony
@funkit/album-of-the-day-10-suma-let-the-churches-burn
@funkit/album-of-the-day-9-burzum-filosofem
@funkit/album-of-the-day-8-soundgarden-badmotorfinger
@funkit/album-of-the-day-7-witch-s-t
@funkit/album-of-the-day-5-storm-nordavind
@funkit/album-of-the-day-5-kyuss-welcome-to-sky-valley
@funkit/album-of-the-day-4-motorpsycho-demon-box
@funkit/album-of-the-day-2-om-electric-wizard-dopethrone
@funkit/album-of-the-day-2-om-variations-on-a-theme
@funkit/album-of-the-day-1-impaled-nazarene-moetoerpenis
