Solar Soul

They Say...

Review by Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide

From crude black metal to finessed industrial electronics, Samael's long and at times arduous Passage (pun intended, and that's the one time their defining masterpiece will be mentioned here) along their career has left many fans upset and stranded by the roadside -- as much due to the radical nature of that musical transformation, as the mixed quality of albums like 1999's Eternal and 2004's Reign of Light. Now, with their seventh long-player, 2007's Solar Soul, the Swiss quartet appear to be striving to achieve some kind of historical balance by re-injecting the analog metal elements of early days efforts into their still largely digital aesthetic, and coming up with several, inventive and energetic offerings ("Promised Land," "Valkyries' New Ride," the title track), that are in fact quite reminiscent of that masterpiece not to be mentioned again (damn it, too late!). And yet Solar Soul's prevalent offerings don't come anywhere close to matching those results, comprising surprisingly turgid, unmoving material, instead. Too slow to dance to -- never mind slam-dance to -- loping, slow-gaited tracks like "Slavocracy," "Olympus," and the Indian music-laced "Quasar Waves," tread a mid-paced nowhere path that leaves one questioning just where Samael intend to take this whole electro-trip of theirs, after all. The similarly deliberate, and once again Eastern accented, "Western Ground" narrowly avoids a similar fate only because of its incremental use of symphonics and choirs, while the female-voice-enhanced "Suspended Time" delivers the album's most trip-hoppy moment, but not trip-hoppy enough to sound any more convincing, either. Ultimately, it's that lack of conviction that may truly be the cause of Samael's ongoing dilemma, and until they draw their creative line in the sand for all to see, controversy, confusion and unfulfilled expectations are likely to keep plaguing them and their fans.