For some strange reason I initially thought these guys were Finnish but they are actually from Birmingham, UK. A project of two very talented musicians, Dan Benton (vocals, guitar), Amit Luther (orchestration, piano, guitar), aided by Dan Dean (bass), Solemnity combines heavily orchestrated composition with fierce death metal on this short debut EP evoking such names as Insomnium (Pray For The Light), Dark Tranquillity, Swallow The Sun (So It Ends), Dimmu Borgir (Our Demise), and even Paradise Lost (Invierno).

I have to say that the music on "Through Endless Darkness" is positively breathtaking. From the instrumental opener "Invierno" which recalls Paradise Lost’s "Enchantment" through the "Since The Day It All Came Down" Insomnium of "Pray For The Light" and onto the favorite "So It Ends" combining "Haven" (Dark Tranquillity) and "Hope" (Swallow The Sun", then through a brief prelude concluding with the sprawling "Death Cult Armageddon" (Dimmu Borgir) of "Our Demise" the Brits show themselves to be a power to be reckoned with and so let all of the aforementioned icons fear.

But Solemnity has one significant flaw: it is too neoclassically focused, that is, they seem to spend more time on the way the songs look than the way they feel and sound. Thus already after the 2nd exposure the once fantastic tracks begin to show their cracks and, kind of sameness throughout.

The potential is there, the songs are there and Solemnity sounds hungry, angry and fresh, plus they can stir the emotions like "Forever Failure" "Emptier Still" or "Doomed To Walk Thr Earth" once did but they need time to grow and come up with a mindblowing debut album they seem quite capable of gracing us with.

https://solemnity-music.bandcamp.com/releases