Solefald "Pills Against the Ageless Ills" red vinyl LP

● 150 transparent red vinyl Abstract Emotions reissue

Simply amazing. In “Pills Against the Ageless Ills,” Solefald use the tale of two American brothers, Pornographer Cain and Philosopher Fuck, to present their commentary on modern society. In this brilliantly presented album, Solefald show off their intelligence and talent without coming off as pretentious. The music is incredibly catchy and well-written. None of the songs sound the same, none are boring, and none are filler. Solefald create this atmosphere of modernism, much like other post-black bands, with their cleaner production and usage of electronics.
The vocals have to be one of my favorite things about Solefald. Lazare provides the clean singing with a somewhat soft and tranquil voice which sounds great when accompanied with the music, whereas Cornelius does the black vocals as well as the raspy-sounding “old man” vocals. Both suit the music well.
Compared to “Neonism,” “Pills” has much better production. The improved production is one of the things I like the most with this album. Solefald doesn’t sound their best when their production is a bit off. A bit blacker and less experimental than “In Harmonia Universali,” I find “Pills” to be a bit less accessible, but much more accessible to the listener than raw black metal or anything else harsh. I suggest this album to anyone who has enjoyed anything else by Solefald, fans of other post-black bands like Arcturus, or anyone who is slightly interested in expanding their metal tastes and don’t object to harsh vocals.

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