Solstice

Solstice is a major band on the Doom scene, as it is part of the formations that contributed to the development of the epic fringe of the genre. Thanks to the rare information available, we know that the story begins in 1990 in Bradford on the ashes of Crust's band Sore Throat, at the initiative of guitarist Richard Walker, also responsible for the label The Miskatonic Foundation. Solstice nevertheless remains a nebulous formation, since in eight years succeeded each other no less than fifteen different members, all veterans of English underground with for some passages in mythical formations such as Pagan Altar, Napalm Death, Anathema, My Dying Bride ... The band released five demos in four years before delivering its first effort in 1994, Lamentations , an album that will become cult with time as it pushes further the work begun by Candlemass towards a truly epic and desperate Doom Metal. Two years later, the ep Halcyon was born, followed by a split with Twisted Tower Dire, and then another demo. A second album, New Dark Age , arrived in 1998, also of high quality and which allowed Solstice to settle permanently within the British Doom scene. For more than ten years Solstice was very rare, but released a split with Slough Feg in 2001, as well as a compilation of all demos, entitled Only The Strong in 2008. It is not until 2013 that Richard Walker reactivates the project, surrounded by new musicians (more than twenty members have succeeded each other in the band since their formation) and with a new ep, self-produced, Death's Crown Is Victory.