So, as it turns out, Lancashire’s Solitary have been going since the 90’s, and this is album number four for them. In fairness, this is my first experience with them, so if there are any fans of the Preston crew reading this asking to know if “The Truth Behind the Lies” is an authentic Solitary experience, I am afraid I’m not able to tell you that. For the rest of you though, I think I can give you a fairly good description of what you have here.

“The Truth Behind the Lies” is a good old fashioned late 90’s style groovy thrash metal album. In fact, I would go further than that and say that if you really liked the second Machine Head album (199’7’s The More Things Change), you probably won’t be far off understanding the kind of sonic experience you are in for. Production wise, this is quite a meaty beast, with the main guitar sound offering the kind of chunky goodness that would grace a tasty metal broth. I would also add that there is really nothing wrong with the playing either; drums are well drummed. Six strings are well exploited and given a thorough thrash workout. Indeed, the bass hammers the rhythm down tight, and this is clearly a band that mesh together really well.

My main complaint with “The Truth Behind the Lies” is that so much of it sounds quite generic. Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t a bad record by any stretch of the imagination, but so much of it sounds like the local bands that you see at your local metal venue for a couple of years before they drift apart and go to other bands. Take, for instant, second track “The Dark … The Resilient”. Everything here sounds eerily reminiscent of the metal of 1997, complete with stop/start groove metal riffing and post-thrash vocals. It’s not that it’s dreadful – it’s just that when you hear it, you’ll know that you’ve heard it half a dozen times before…by half a dozen other bands.

It’s quite frustrating, because at times there are some absolute ragers on here. “Homage to the Broken”, for instance, is a proper out and out thrasher. While it does have some tasty eastern-sounding riffs within it, it has enough pure grit and fire to stand shoulder to shoulder with the most muscular of the modern thrash acts. In terms of song writing chops then, I’d say that around 50% of the tracks on here are memorable, but there is an awful lot of filler that sounds pretty dated. This is a shame, because the great tracks really do stand their own ground, but as it is I think that this might actually be an EP worth of quality material stretched over the canvas of an album.

If you have a burning urge for late 90s groove-thrash, then this could well be the album for you. If not – you might find some fun moments, but you’re unlikely to be calling this a classic.

(6/10 Chris Davison)

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