When Alunah released their previous album Awakening the Forest at the tail-end of 2014, I couldn’t help but feel that whilst the album was good, there was something a little lacking with it – but with Solennial, that feeling has gone and this is a powerful and memorable album that will certainly leave an impression on you.
Like I mentioned in my review of their last album, the vocals are a definite high point to the music; there’s an innate gloominess to them yet their melody adds a great element of lightness to the heavier, doomier instrumentation underneath. The instrumentation is nice and varied too, with some parts being crushingly heavy whilst others being a little gentler and melodic in their delivery.
An early highlight comes in the form of second track Light Of Winter, which is led into nicely from the introductory-style opener The Dying Soil. The fuzzy guitars that open up the song sound utterly filthy in the best possibility, and the light female vocals juxtapose really well against the sludgier undertones as a result, especially when the two different lines follow the same melody – it really hits you hard as a result! Meanwhile fourth track The Reckoning Of Time has a bit of a psychedelic vibe to it at times, which helps to mix things up a little.
Solennial feels like a big step up from Alunah’s last release and this is a truly exciting piece that will really get under your skin the more you listen to it! This is addictive, memorable and very powerful – and it’s absolutely fantastic.
9/10
