Solitude Aeturnus – Not Alone

The two big names in melodic doom metal have long been Sweden's Candlemass and the US's Solitude Aeturnus, so it was no big surprise to hear that Solitude vocalist Robert Lowe is to sing on the Swedish band's upcoming release. With a new album called "Alone" released a few months back, we though it was time to speak with band founder John Perez, to speak of things past, present, future, and all else that is heavy.

Hey John, first congratulations on the new album, first, when was it released?

Thanks very much Alon! Our new album Alone, was released on Massacre Records in November of last year. It’s just now coming out in the United States via Locomotive Music.

Why did you choose Massacre as the label?

After we released Downfall through Pavement Records here in the United States, it was apparent to us that our main fan base was located in Europe and especially Germany. So it really just made sense for us to look for a label that was well established overseas and make the best of our potential with our base in Europe. We have many great fans and friends all over the world and the United States as well, but for us to push the sales a little higher – we need to focus on our core market.

Why is the album called "Alone"? How does that relate to the rather grim cover artwork?

The title represents the feelings that Robert went through over the last several years. Many of his lyrics relate to this as well and yes the cover is a representation of the title as well. You see people in the background, but sometimes you can be alone even with people around you .

How would you describe it musically?

The HEAVIEST AND MOST DISMAL record we have done. It brings together the early epic workings of our sound and incorporates a strong sense if heavy songwriting. By that I mean we make sure the song itself is heavy and not just the sound. You don’t have to tune down to “A” to be heavy – it’s all in the song. Of course you have to have a doomed sound to go along with the song. And I think we got that on this one more so than any other recording we’ve done.

Why such a long time with a new album since "Adagio"?

Two members left the band (Edgar Rivera, John Covington) and that set us back quite some time. We’re really particular about who we can or want to work with and it wasn’t easy finding the perfect members to fit in with us. We did take a small break after Adagio anyway and then Edgar left first, then a year later Covington left. After this, Robert went through a divorce and had no place to live and was just out of touch for quite some time. It’s just been a struggle to get to where we are but I’m really glad we stuck it out.

Now back in history, you're a veteran in the metal scene, what was your first band?

Rotting Corpse. Total Exodus styled trash. Formed it in mid 1985.

How did you join Ripping Corpse?

I was looking for members to team up with for nearly two years but my interests in metal at that time were very underground and extreme. All I could find was guys that wanted to play like Ratt, Judas Priest, Scorpions or Van HAlen! I needed to find real metal heads that wanted to wage total mayhem like early Exciter, Motorhead, Saxon, Angelwitch, early Savatage, Hellhammer, Venom etc… After nearly two years, Walt Traschler answered an advert I had up at a local music store and we hit it off right away.

Why did you decide to leave then and create Solitude Aeturnus?

Thrash metal was just to limited a style to continue with. I wanted Rotting Corpse to lean in more death metal styled direction a la’ Celtic Frost, Obituary, Death but Walter was heading in a more crossover direction, which I hated (although I loved the old punk stuff from the early 80’s). After we butted heads I decided to start a metal band that played timeless metal with depth and above all HEAVYNESS!!!

I remember when "In The Depths Of Sorrow" came out, me and my friends were struck by how powerful were Robert's vocals, how did you recruit him to the band?

Lyle, our original bassist, had known Robert for years and played in one of the earliest punk bands around our scene called the Holy. When Lyle first joined Solitude he was actually on drums! During this brief time we then were in need a vocalist as Kris Gabehart decided to leave. Lyle suggested Robert and said that he could sing better than anyone else around town and he was right! I was blown away by Robert and I knew that the songs that I was writing were perfect for what he sounded like. Robert had similar musical tastes and ideas and we just hit it off together very well as songwriters.

Apart from you two, the rest of the line up is different, what happened to the other guys?

Lyle left in 1996 to pursue different musical avenues. He now fronts Ghoultown, a great band and very successful around here. Covington quite drumming for a few years but is just now getting back into it with a local band called Kung Fu Preacher and I haven’t spoken to Edgar in nearly two years! There’s no problems at all with the old members it was just time for them to move on and I totally respect that.

There has been somewhat of a resurgence of metal, and doom lately, was that something that helped you in deciding on making another album?

Well, we had planned on recording and releasing this back in the year 2002. It’s taken us that long to get everything back together after our line up changes and other things. We never stopped just slowed down to a crawl for several years!

You released an LP in 2000 called "Justice For All" which definitely doesn’t look typical of the band, what is it?

This was a limited collectors release of our first demo tracks from 1987 and 1988. It was limited to 1000 copies but they are really hard to find now. I hated the cover that was used for this! But Rob Preston from Doomed Planet is a cool guy and I like this release.

You played in a band called "Liquid Sound Company", what kind of music does the band do, how did that take form?

It’s total psychedelic acid rock. I just do it for fun as I love this kind of music just as much and metal. I’ve done two records with this, Exploring the Psychedelic in 1996 and Inside the Acid Temple in 2001. We’ll release some new stuff this year as well!

You started out in thrash, but went into doom and Psychdelia, do you still listen to thrash, or consider playing it?

I don’t listen to much thrash but I do listen to a lot of black metal. I’ve always liked the more extreme versions of metal and to me black metal pushes itself more than most other types of metal. Inquisition, Countess, Dark Funeral, Marduk, Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Belphegor, Faustcoven, the list goes on! I may record a black metal project soon as well. It’s something I”ve been wanting to do for years but never have the time.

What does next year hold for Solitude Aeturnus?

We’ll play a few festivals I think and maybe a short tour of Europe in the fall. Steve and Robert have an album coming out called Concept of God and it was recorded back in 2001! IT’s metal very much in the vein of SA and I think everyone will like it. We’ll work on new material for another album to record early next year. We’ve already 4 songs ready to go and I’m looking forward to creating an even heavier record next year!