Review by Sonny for Solstice (GBR) - White Horse Hill (2018)

April 2018 and English epic doomsters Solstice released their third album, White Horse Hill, a mere twenty years after their previous, the classic New Dark Age, one of my all-time favourites. Mainman Rich Walker and returning drummer Rick Budby were the only band members common to both albums, Solstice having been through a staggering number of members over the years, including nine - yes NINE vocalists. Obviously there are some differences between the two albums, but the commitment to epic doom metal and the spirit of Old Albion remains a constant. However, I cannot for a minute pretend that White Horse Hill is anything like as accomplished an album as New Dark Age. For starters the production seems horribly muddied - sometimes the guitar lead just springs up unexpectedly out of the mire - and vocalist Paul Kearns seems to be struggling against this muddiness, overstraining to be heard, at least on the more epic sections, although he comes more into his own during the gentler parts such as For All Days, and for None or the quiet section of Under Waves Lie Our Dead. Furthermore the songs don't seem as strong as those on New Dark Age, they aren't bad, but there's no Cimmerian Codex, New Dark Age II or Cromlech here and the album just doesn't flow anywhere near as naturally as New Dark Age. Another thing I miss is the lyrical wordplay of NDA and the absolute requisite of reading the lyric sheet with a dictionary to hand! Somehow WHH seems so much more prosaic, although it's lyrics do invoke an image of Olde England fairly effectively.

On the plus side Walker and ex-Lamp of Thoth guitarist Andy Whittaker seem to have good chemistry and play exceedingly well off each other, the main riff and lead interplay of the title track is worthy of the price alone. Overall I would say that White Horse Hill is a decent album that has been eviscerated by a poor sound and could have been so much more than it turned out. Yet after a twenty year wait for a follow up to such a favoured release, I've got to admit to having been more than a little disappointed.