Reviews: Solace, Muse, Haserot, Soulburn (Rich Piva, Matt Bladen, Cherie Curtis & Mark Young)

Solace - Fading Failing Ruin (Magnetic Eye Records) [Rich Piva]

Solace will forever have a place in my heart, not just because Tommy and Justin are some of the best dudes you will ever meet, but because their 2019 record The Brink was a pivotal point in my music listening life. 

The record opened up this whole heavy rock underground thing I had been ignorant to for so many years, and got me knee deep into what is one of my favorite times to be a heavy music lover. 

So here we are in 2026. Solace is a different band then they were 30 or so years ago when they began, and 25 or so years from when they dropped their other classic, Further. 

A lot has happened since then as a band and as humans, so it makes sense that their new record, Fading Failing Ruin, is Solace but sounds so much different than Solace at the same time. It also is perfect.

Why, you say? Because Solace rules. You want more details? OK, sure. First off the guitar work on Fading Failing Ruin can only be described as killer. Tommy and Justin have more riffs they have forgotten then most people have put on to tape, and some of those best ones show up on Fading Failing Ruin. 

That’s not surprising to anyone who has been a fan of the band. What has really made this band move into the direction they have is lead singer and primary lyric writer Justin Goins, who has injected both these deep lyrical themes and a sense of melody that was always lurking, on The Brink (see what I did there), but show up loud and clear on Fading Failing Ruin. 

The amount of earworms on this record was the biggest surprise for me. Solace songs that stick in your brain and you can hum along to while still being filthy dirty? I love 2026 (for the music, at least). 

Don’t get me wrong, Solace has not gone all Cheap Trick on us (I love Cheap Trick) but this is by far the most melodic output we have heard from these guys, and I love it so much. 

While the keys are still there, they are way more behind the scenes, less a driving force and more an atmosphere builder, and it works perfectly with these songs. Also Solace is still fucking heavy, while perfectly incorporating the melody I have been blabbing on about. Also, Solace rules.

Look, me going song by song on Fading Failing Ruin is not going to do this record any kind of justice. Dive in and immerse yourself in it. Heavy, melodic, riff filled, killer stuff over nine tracks by dudes who have been at it forever, seen and been through it all, and are here still to tell us all about it through their music.

I love Solace and I love this record. 10/10

Muse - The Wow! Signal (Warner/Helium-3) [Matt Bladen]

Named after the 1977 narrowband radio signal that was purported to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life, epic cosmic rockers Muse return with more space operas, after spending time delving into dystopian nightmares. 

Recently Muse have been able to consolidate all of their previous style experiments into one album, creating a jukebox of everything that's great about the band.

The Wow! Signal continues in this vein with the epic orchestras/choirs of the terrific The Dark Forest along with church organs coming on the mega ballad on Be With You. 

There's the electro dance of Nightshift Superstar, Hexagons and Unravelling, forcing you into some awkward prog dance moves as Chris Wolstenholme's grooving bass the major rhythm of the Muse sound as with tracks such as Hush, which features Ellie Goulding.

Dominic Howard I feel is always underrated as a drummer, but he's such a huge part of the Muse sound. His ability to blend the acoustic and electronic drum styles, comes from the same school as Phil Collins, his symbiotic relationship with co-producer, co-writer, live member Dan Lancaster, is why these shifts in genre are just so seamless.

Matt Bellamy though is a true rockstar, his vocals are so unique and recognisable but with The Wow! Signal his guitar playing takes a lot of credit as Cryogen throws it right back to Origin Of Symmetry/Absolution, while The Sickness In You & I could be the heaviest Muse have ever been.

Inspired by scientific mysteries and by Bellamy's unexpected split with partner Elle Evans, The Wow! Signal is a personal and powerful musical statement from Muse. 9/10

Haserot – Advent Of Suffering (Redefining Darkness Records) [Cherie Curtis]

Haserot has been around since 2020. That's around 6 years of gigs and experience on the scene but they’re still considered to be relatively new. 

With just one other album, their newest- Advent Of Suffering brings us some dark and bitter death metal. This one is brooding, mysterious and very atmospheric with mythical and twisted themes and a strong sense of story. 

This does mean it's not going to be an album for everybody but if it happens to be a genre or style you like then you will love it.

On the first listen I was surprised to find that these guys are relatively new to the scene because they sound so refined. 

They clearly know their stuff and execute it well, each track is thick with texture, we have layers of riffs and different vocal inflexions and subtleties to create a dense level of richness that can be hard to catch at first on the first listen but as you work your way through it, you’ll pick up on some amazing stuff. 

What’s great about Haserot is that they don’t pull punches, they build slowly before delivering sheer ferocity. They’re passionate and demanding but not daunting.

The breakdowns are well timed and meticulous and the riffs are creative and feel quite classic in an Iron Maiden sort of way; very sharp, scribbly and anthemic but the vocals are harsh and raw and often incoherent, so it blends uniquely and works well. 

To me it comes across as very well researched, they have an audience in mind and they're playing to them.

This album serves to amp you up and knock you down, it's impactful but fun. You don't find yourself getting bored which can be easy to do with 10 tracks, the run times are standard 4 to 5 minutes for their longer more pivotal songs like Advent Of Suffering and Tears In Bethlehem and then 3 minutes for the rest, it’s a blast throughout. 

Overall, they are worth the listen, they’re very professional and memorable. The mixing is great and the cover looks good, if it was in a shop or on a market stall you will pick it up and have a look. 

It’s a lot of fun which I feel like is very important even though it does come across as dark and gritty, it’s not it’s not a downer. 

You can hear from how well that they play that they work hard and that they are well practised and it shines through. 6/10

Soulburn - Quantifying Cosmic Doom (Testimony Records) [Mark Young]

Now, this intrigued me. The title hinted at the great wonder of the unknown, coupled with a bit of the old ultra-apocalypse (that could just be me). Album art looked suitably wondrous, and the song titles themselves suggested that this was going to be a cracker.

It didn’t quite tun out like that. Quantifying Cosmic Doom is their 5th album, from a band that has, in one form or another been in existence since the mid 90’s. 

It is an album that on the whole disappointed me, to the point where I was ready to tap out and say no more, I’ve reached saturation within extreme music and I’m off to listen to 60’s psychedelia. I didn’t, but that disappointment remains. 

I’ll start with the most niggling aspect of this, the album length. I am firmly of the belief that they could have introduced the editing scissors to the songs here and made it a more immediate and impacting release than what we have got here. 

There’s 11 songs that seem to stretch time itself and I found myself wondering when it would end. I appreciate that this sounds undeniably sarky, and I’m not normally like this but a combination of the hot weather and the ice cream running out at the local shop has left me in a foul mood.

I’ve mentioned previously that I do a lot of my reviewing in the car. The commute is long enough to get an album or two in and for a lot of cases there’s time for a repeat listen. 

It’s a useful barometer because if I won’t listen to it in the car, I’m 99% not likely to listen to it anywhere. It starts off with blasts, and frenetic guitars on The Braveheart Of Nightmares, so far, it’s doing its thing. Melodic lines are there, but the backbone is what I’d come to expect. The guitars sound mint and then clean singing comes in and kills it dead. 

Now, I want to make something clear here: I am not against cleans in death metal, or in extreme metal. Its not preferable to me (that is my opinion, hopefully yours will vary from mine) but I can see the validity in it, especially as a counterpoint to the standard harsh tones. 

The style here doesn’t work for me, but as soon as the guttural kicks in its like ‘game on’. The harsh vocals suit this down to the ground, the cleans do not. I’m so annoyed that I cannot get past it and I ended up skipping to the next track. 

On the second play through, I didn’t skip forward, but I didn’t change my mind. The music side of things is exemplary, everything is just right; the heavy parts are monstrous, the gentle parts around the 4 minute 30 mark and onwards are great, it’s the singing style that has done me. 

Powehi, The Embellished Dark Source Of Unending Creation starts on that positive, moving forward style and then bang – it happens again. 

Same as track one; the extreme vocals are just locked in with this music, the cleans are not. In a lot of ways, this shares a similar build as track one, and its just as frustrating.

Moving through the songs, as I’ve said you cannot take anything away from the music that is on display here. They show great control of how things should be put together, knowing just when to ease back on the heavy side and when to step it up. 

The extreme side flies along and is as good as anything in that blackened style you might have heard this year. They marry the melodic to the brutal really well, and when it’s the harsh vocals things move. As good as this music is, its hamstrung by a reliance on the cleans and by having one or two songs too many on here. 

What I would say is this: if you lean into your extreme music with a healthy respect for clean singing sharing the stage with the harsh, then give this a go. There are some stunning moments on here, of heaviness and of gentle refrain. 

For me, the die was cast on the first song and I never recovered, no matter how hard I tried. 6/10