SOLOTHUS from Turku in Finland have been unknown to me so far even though they return with their already third full-length after four years. The opening track ‘Father Of Sickness’ is Doom / Death at its best. It took me a while to get into the deep grunts which are not common in this kind of style and are more used in old School Death Metal like INCANTATION but their sound is clearly Death / Doom somewhere between PARADISE LOST and CANDLEMASS but more in direction of the first mentioned band from the UK during their mighty “Gothic” era. ‘The Watcher’ continues the doomy direction and has some CROWBAR vibes in it before the vocals turn into Black Metal screams. ‘The Gallows Promise’ starts with some silent strings and has this good guitar work appearing which makes PARADISE LOST so unique as the melancholic melodies drive you through the track and really spread sadness and despair and as the track is slower, the deep grunts fit a little better. ‘Last Breath’ is a stringed, KATATONIA influenced interlude before ‘Below Black Waters’ continues slowly and thick and very intense again. The next little highlight is ‘Chasm Of Shattered Blood’ which has some really good lead guitars in the middle and again reminds me of the guitar work of Greg Mackintosh. The last track ‘A Rain Of Ash’ again is pure despair and very slow and doomy. Only little weakness in my eyes are the vocals which are a bit monotonous overall and could serve their brilliant songwriting far better as SOLOTHUS easily can reach the level PARADISE LOST have achieved with “Medusa” or “The Plague Within”. I am curious how they will develop their style in the next years and “Realm Of Ash And Blood” is definitely worth to check for fans of good old Doom / Gothic Death Metal. For more information, please check one of the following sources: www.facebook.com/solothus, www.20buckspin.com