Release Date: August 13th 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD
Solarnaut - S/T - Tracklisting
1.Planet Earth 07:15
2.Forever Trusting Zion 11:23
3.Sad Poet 05:33
4.Chapel 06:45
5.Yog Sothoth 06:10
6.Home 08:23
7.When The World Ends 06:07
8.Far Below 14:04
Members
Ryan Kittrell
Review
Solarnaut is a one-man project from Bend, Oregon and is from the creative mind of Ryan Kettrill. Solarnaut have just released their S/T new album and it’s influenced by the same dizzying heights of Monster Magnet, Black Sabbath, OM and SLEEP. The album is quite a long journey running near 65 minutes of fantastical “Out Of This World” Spaced Out Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal.
The album the journey takes is quite interesting and varied within the confinements of Psych Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal. The vocals from Ryan are on show from the very start with the stunning opening track “Planet Earth”. A fuzzy and psychedelic tale with the usual style of Psych Metal sounds but with the added bonus of excellent Ambient sounds and groovy guitars that perhaps fall between Black Sabbath “DOOM” heaviness and The Sword “Warp Riders” Space Rock exploration.
This is the 4th album from Solarnaut and I’ve been a fan of his music since 2017’s Neptunes Frozen Eye. Ryan has been improving his musical and creative skills with each passing release and while I feel that Oceanic Titanic is a slightly better album than this, the album contains some of the heaviest and most varied work I’ve heard from Ryan to date.
I’m not going to do a song-by-song review but I will point out my favourite songs on the record with: Forever Trusting Zion, Sad Poet, Chapel, Home and Far Below. The songs with the heaviest grooves and vibrant Stoned Out Energy with very cool production values as well. The sound of the album is good and contains a consistently raw violent feeling throughout.
Ryan focuses upon other areas of music on this record and I loved when the album brings in different timelines of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal but still remembering that this is mainly a Psychedelic Domo/Stoner Metal record. So nothing gets bogged down or lost with the different themes and sounds Ryan has laid down for this album.
This record is an absolute joy to listen to and another fantastic release from Solarnaut.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
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