Suffering in Solitude – A Place Apart (Review)

Coming from the US, Suffering in Solitude play Depressive Black Metal/Post-Black Metal.

This is their début album and it’s clear a lot of time has been put into these songs. Every second is designed to wring out the maximum emotion and melancholic feeling in the listener.

Wistful feelings of melancholy pervade all aspects of this release with the band going for a beautifully tortured delivery through their chosen musical medium.

The first song Inside Out sets the scene with plaintive tones and a droning, Shoegaze, ambient feel. Purely guitar, it relaxes you in and promises nothing but exquisite loneliness. The full band experience joins for the next song Entrance and the joyous feeling of surrendering to the worst is realised.

When the vocals make an appearance on the third track Exit (Time Lost) you’re already absorbed in the instrumental sound the band have created so far and it’s almost surprising to hear them. The vocals are high pitched emotive shrieks, reminiscent of Deafheaven. The final track Placed Apart even offers some ethereal cleans, used sparingly to great effect.

The songs offer a timid, fragile Post-/Depressive Black Metal sound full of woe, hopelessness and grief. It’s done with style and obvious talent.

The band hone the build-and-release nature of Post-Metal and give it a Shoegaze Black Metal covering. It works exceptionally well and makes for a compelling, emotive album.

Relatively short at 27 minutes, this is nonetheless a worthy release to sink your negative feelings into. At the end though catharsis is achieved and there is almost a feeling of hopefulness remaining. Almost. For who knows what will come next?