UMUR
"To Dust" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Florida based death/thrash metal act Solstice. The album was released through CXD Media in November 2009. Solstice was formed in 1990 and released their eponymously titled debut album in 1992 before they disbanded in 1993. They reunited shortly in the period 1995-1997 and released their second full-lengh studio album "Pray" in 1995. After that they had a few short reunions, but it wasn´t until 2006 they reunited again on a more permanent basis. "To Dust" is the fruits of the reunion. Considering the many years between "Pray (1995)" and "To Dust" it´s actually a bit impressive that there has only been one lineup change as drummer Alex Marquez has been replaced by Brian Harris.
Stylistically the material on the 11 track, 41:47 minutes long album is a brutal type of death/thrash metal not far removed from the output of an artist like Malevolent Creation. Sometimes closer to death metal than to thrash metal and sometimes the other way around. It´s fast, it´s heavy, and it´s brutal. Lead vocalist/guitarist Christian Rudes has an aggressive snarling delivery which suits the powerful and raw death/thrash material perfectly (he sounds a lot like Brett Hoffman from Malevolent Creation).
The material is relatively well written and very effective if you crave a fix of brutality and aggression. It could have been a bit more hook laden and the tracks could have prospered from more variation between them, but those aren´t major issues, and overall "To Dust" is a solid effort when it comes to the songwriting. The sound production is for the most part also well sounding and suits the music, but there is an issue with the way the bass is produced. It´s placed relatively high in the mix and features a metallic clicky sound, which really isn´t that pleasant on the ears.
The musicianship is on a high level on all posts and you´ll be treated to tight precision playing throughout the album´s playing time. So upon conclusion "To Dust" features many assets which make it a pretty strong death/thrash metal release, but also a couple of issues which means it doesn´t quite reach the excellent mark. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.