Solitary Confinement
Skyline E.P Single
Released 25th April 2014
Out now!
Solitary
Confinement – Wallasey, Merseyside
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Solitary-Confinement
Listen
here:
Genre:
Progressive Metal Djent
In depth Biography:
All of the original members went to school with one another. They
met up at their local (and current) rehearsal space and started jamming out
various covers. It was in the spring of 2011, when they were in year 10 that
they decided to form a legitimate band under the name 'Solitary Confinement'.
They began gigging in the summer of 2011, debuting as the opening
act at a small open air fest in their hometown. Not before long they
familiarized themselves with smaller Liverpool venues such as the Zanzibar and
the Masque and throughout the autumn and winter of that same year, exposed themselves
to a broader fan base across the pond and to promoters alike. Nine times out of
ten with them being the youngest band to perform at showcases as most of them
were just 15 years of age at the time.
Solitary Confinement adapted to new styles throughout 2012, taking on board a far more
progressive, experimental approach to songs than previously with their progressive
debut 'The Blackened' featuring extensive acoustic section transitions and
articulation, reaching a play time of roughly eight minutes. After performing
this song live only on a few occasions, they soon realized its high physical
demand for performance and difficulty to execute live, so decided not to perform
the song live but to continue writing in the same style regardless.
With the Summer of 2012 drawing to a close and the members soon
leaving school, they marked their one year anniversary performing at the same
open air festival of their debut, however this year, the festival was
magnitudes greater than the previous year, much larger stage/area and far more
people.
The autumn and winter months of 2012 saw them gigging extensively
around Liverpool, playing with bands such as Oceanis, Grind Horizon, Immortal
Conspiracy and Lazarus Syndrome, their fan base growing by every performance.
This time also marked the era of them incorporating one of their signature
traits, 'Djent'. With bands such as Hacktivist, TesseracT and Carcer City
inspiring them to combine progressive metal with Djent. They have stayed with
this hybrid genre ever since. Debuting their first song to combine these two
musical elements 'Parasites', being the first.
Shortly after Christmas, the band were discovered by Promotion Company
'I Love Live Events', who gave them their Picket debut in mid-January. Ticket
sales went well, making a good impression of them to the promoters, and as a
result were given The Picket headliner just a few months after.
The next few months, they wrote an EP's worth of material for
recording. Booking two sessions at Vulcan Industries, recorded a three track EP
entitled 'Crack the Sky' featuring the single of the same name. All of which
happened just in time for the headliner. Come the day, they had the honour of
playing with acts such as 'Arcane Addiction' and 'Beneath the Depths' who the
band have kept in close contact with ever since.
After following a few gigs post-headliner, they decided to change
their name to something more fitting for the Prog/djent style, settling on 'Skyline'.
In the summer of 2013, they decided to take out a multi-month interval from
gigging to construct their very own recording studio and to write a further EP.
The now completed studio resides under the name 'Solitary HQ', of which they
plan all of their future recordings to take place.
Following into the autumn months of 2013, a combination of band
issues and in-differences drove to the and to an unfortunate break-up. They did
however, all remain friends throughout this period regardless of the band
situation, but putting an end to a career of three years. This however was only
a short-lived event, February 1st, 2014 marked a brighter time for the band as
they decided to put their differences aside and having time (five month
interval) to clear their heads, they reformed, back under the name Solitary Confinement, to continue from
exactly where they left off.
Shortly after reforming, the band page jumped 250 likes in a matter
of days, which say the band - astonished them all, but no surprise – people know
good metal when they hear it!
The band are currently writing/preparing material for the studio,
featuring studio session Vlogs and teaser demos coming soon, with other bright
aspirations on the none-too distant horizon.
Solitary Confinement did at one point change their name to Skyline but since then
decided to revert back to their old name.
“The single is powerful and shows great imagination with meaty
anthemic lures, the elements working perfectly well together - it just goes to
show that you are never quite alone where Solitary
Confinement are concerned!”
‘Skyline’
This is one highly exciting track that has breathed new life into
the lungs of a band that I have certainly missed seeing live. The mesmerising
weighty grooves of metal riffery, can still be experienced through-out the
track by Lash and Pat as well as a captivating vocal from Ryan.
It comes together exceptionally well and highlighting the changes
the band have gone through since its hay day and humble beginnings.
This sound is meatier and hosts a more imposing musical texture with
stronger bass hooks from Connor and offering a good slab of robust drumming from
Lewis into the mix too!
To Sum up:
Solitary Confinement have really blossomed since performing live as young kids at my Helrazer event back in 2011, and they
were pretty epic then! Now just as the band have matured, so has their music,
but without losing the raw side of what makes them an interesting band to
experience.
Solitary Confinement have experimented with sounds such as thrash, metal core, hard
core, and groove and finally decided that with the bands maturity and varying
musical tastes to settle on progressive with hints of Djent.
It has proved to be the right direction for them and will no doubt
gain the band further recognition as they start gigging again and get out there
once more.
The single is powerful and shows great imagination with meaty anthemic
lures, the elements working perfectly well together - it just goes to show that
you are never quite alone where Solitary
Confinement are concerned.
I can thoroughly recommend this band and if you have never seen them
live before then that treat awaits you. It’s all for the taking and Solitary Confinement know just how far
to take it and that’s all the way! Superb!
A comeback gig is in the offing for the summer, so I am informed –
Can’t effing wait!
10/10
Members:
Ryan Merrall - Vocalist
Lewis Murphy - Drums
Danny 'TheLash' Lashbrooke - Guitar & Backing Vocals
Patrick Ruddy - Lead Guitar
Connor Smith - Bass