This is Solsikk’s debut album. If you’ve seen that they have a female singer, you might be assuming that this is going to be symphonic rock/metal. Well if you are then you’ve got it totally wrong – this is proper powerful heavy metal, with perhaps a hint of punk thrown in. Solsikk are Vykki Turner (vocals), Chris Webb (Guitar), Matt C (drums), and Mark Mulcaster (Bass). Chris and Matt were formerly in the band Biomechanical.
Solsikk have been playing some of the album tracks in their live shows for some time, where they sound great, so I’ve been looking forwards to this album for a while, and it certainly doesnt disappoint.
Four of the tracks on the album also appeared on their Volatile territory EP from 2008 – ”Cut a little deeper”, ”Razored cell”, ”Volatile territory” and ”Your blistering tongue”, but I cant really criticise the decision to include them since the EP was self released and not widely distributed so there will be a lot of people who haven’t hear the songs before, and the songs have also been re-recorded for the album and sound much better with more power and better production quality.
The production of the album is excellent – its kept that slightly raw edge that suits the music, rather than making it sound too polished and losing that raw brutal feel.
”Cut a little deeper” is a rarity on the album – a slow track which gives Vykki a chance to show a different side to her voice. This song starts as an acoustic ballad which shows Vykki can sing gentle ballads as well as any other singer and as the song picks up pace and power and the electric guitar kicks in she is able to handle the more powerful vocal parts of the song with equal ease.
Elsewhere in the album Vykki spits out the lyrics in a rapid-fire manner, or screams like a banshee
This is an excellent debut album from Solsikk – superb guitar work from Chris Webb, and the great rapid-fire vocals from Vykki Turner are backed up by powerful bass lines from Mark Mulcasterand pounding drums from Matt C to create a great metal album that is best played loud. Go out an d buy a copy now !
Track listing:
1. Relish in Nervous Delights
2. Viridescere
3. Keep Pushing Me
4. Freefall
5. Cut a Little Deeper
6. Your Blistering Tongue
7. Needles and Pins
8. Razored Cell
9. Volatile Territory
10. Bloodlust
