A heavily demented record layered with monstrous riffs and relentless solos,
Solace's
13 sounds as stomach-turning and power hungry as vintage
Sabbath. And like early
Black Sabbath, there's something earthy and real about
Solace -- when the harmonica comes in on "Loving Sickness/Burning Fuel," for example, the out-in-the-woods stoner undercurrents rise to the surface.
13 is filled with horror movie gloom ("Once Around the Sun [Deep Through Time]") and a medieval, metal vibe (
Pentagram's "Forever My Queen"), but mostly
Solace just all-out rocks -- like
Queens of the Stone Age's East Coast cousins, like the wicked heirs to
Soundgarden's throne, like the band that
Audioslave wishes it was. With guest guitar and vocals from
Wino (
Saint Vitus,
Obsessed,
Spirit Caravan) on the grooving "Common Cause" and even a grinding, spaced-out ambient track ("Theme..."),
13 is a textured, fully realized record that thoroughly explores the dark, dank, and propulsive side of rock & roll.