Soulitude
DESTROY ALL HUMANS

June 2008
Released: 2008, NONE
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Chaosankh

Soulitude is a solo project of Ignacio Garamendi “Jevo”,” guitarist for the Spanish power metal band, Valhalla. DESTROY ALL HUMANS is his second album under this name, and it offers a unique version of European power metal. Distinguished by a creative use of electronic elements and a variety of vocal deliveries, most of the instruments and vocals were performed by “Jevo” himself. Ultimately, the finished product is a beast of heaviness and speed, tempered with some unusual moments to offer something new to avid power metal fans. Although the songs are never very long, the arrangements are at times rather progressive due to the unexpected places that you are taken from one moment to the next.



The album opener, “Alien Messiah,” begins in typical fashion, i.e. high octane riffing, pounding drums, and a gruff call and response verse, all of which leads up to an infectious chorus. With its sci-fi lyrical theme and song structure, this song easily reminds the listener of a band like Iron Savior. The next track, “The Wormhole,” has an even more intense vibe going for it as it opens furiously with a heavy riff and an insistent, machine-like beat. This track is really successful as it breaks into some weirdness, including a bizarre jazz-breakdown near the beginning and a pummeling chorus sung in an almost blackened-death growl, making this a good representation of the variety of the album as a whole. It also shows off some of the impressive guitar abilities of this one man band. Another interesting aspect of the album is a cool mix of electronic elements at times. “Turn Me Off” highlights this portion of the album with an almost techno-like sample in the beginning, and some interesting electronic effects below the clean guitar verses. “Clones of Mediocrity” shows another side of the project, offering a softer vibe throughout a lot of the track with some nice piano sounds intermingled with some delayed, clean guitars and electronics, all building to some dynamic heavy parts with another batch of blackened vocals that work well in this ominous track.



Ignacio Garamendi “Jevo” really shows some ingenuity with the production of this album, using some obviously cheaper tools to create something that sounds great. Clearly capitalizing on his influences, such as nineties-era Noise bands like Scanner, Chroming Rose, and Heaven’s Gate, he finishes with something that sounds fresh and original for a genre saturated with boring replicas. With a free download to be had for all at http://www.soulitude-web.com, anyone with even a tangential interest in creative, original power metal should grab it and give as much support as possible to this guy.