Do you love Solefald the way I love her? Yes, you heard me right -- HER. And it wasn't my idea -- papa Cornelius himself said in one of his old interviews that SOLEFALD is most certainly a girl (that very one from the cover of "Neonism"). And since she's a girl, you treat her differently, with candy and chocolate. Meaning if she's watching TV, you don't switch to football, and if she starts being capricious, you don't scold her -- you comfort her. That's why we love them, right? Because she's not a strict mother and not a silly kitten. Because she's one of a kind, your own, your beloved...
So here it is, the fourth album from the most extraordinary band on planet Earth (ja, mein Freund, I am their fan!!!) -- a band that has been called "avant-garde designer rock-n-roll," then a "wounded love orchestra," and is now announced as a reunion of graduates from the European Academy of Extreme Music. As you can understand, student radicalism has faded into the past. Along with "The Macho Vehicle," along with "Backpacka Baba" and "Pornographer Cain." In their place came a mature, at times overly serious understanding of life. The weight of problems, this and that -- fortunately, the guys haven't turned into old farts yet. For now...
Now in more detail. SOLEFALD's music was never technical, but it was always sincere. Sometimes that very sincerity went off the charts, overflowing the edges, but was it ever excessive? Hardly. It's far too rare an ingredient in today's music, whose noisy workshop increasingly resembles an assembly line for wind-up toys. So -- "In Harmonia Universali." It's hard to say that SOLEFALD betrayed themselves. No, not at all. Their music long ago lost any resemblance to black metal, becoming "red," oozing an apocalyptic crimson from within, passionate like never before. The way the saxophone weeps in "Nutrisco et Extinguo," the way pain overwhelms you in "Epictetus & Irreversibility" -- these are unforgettable, just as one cannot help but note that typically "academic" style on "Red Music Diabolos." The rapid-fire "Mont Blanc Providence Crow" is the best of the best in postmodernist heavy, as if IRON MAIDEN collided with ARCTURUS. And further -- the seemingly pompous "Dyonisify This Night Of Spring" demonstrates what THERION always lacked: a philosophically restrained charm and a sip of cognac-infused eroticism. A bouquet of unusual melodies on "Fraternite de la Grande Lumiere," a "plasticine," stretchy riff on "Buy My Sperm," a light touch of madness in "Liberation of Destiny," and much more that is captivating and intriguing. A remarkable album, conceptual and cohesive. Each song is a dedication to one of the dwellers of the borderland between a mythical "yesterday" and a technogenic "tomorrow." However, it will be far more interesting if you discover the lyrical side of "In Harmonia Universali" for yourself...