𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 3, 1998 — Solitude Aeturnus released their fifth full-length studio album, Adagio via Massacre Records in Europe (January 1999 via Olympic Records / Slipdisc Records / Mercury-Polygram Records in the United States). (Apple Music or Spotify)
The albums cover art was created by Travis Smith at Seempieces.
Background:
Following the bands tour in support of Downfall, Solitude Aeturnus took another unintentional break followed as the band split from Pavement Records.
During this downtime, Steve Mosley, a long time friend and fan of the band, replaced Lyle Steadham on bass. The band subsequently signed on with the German label Massacre Records in December 1997 and headed into the studio to record what was to become their masterpiece, Adagio.
This time going back to Rhythm Studios in England the album was recorded in March 1998 and released in August of the same year.
The band toured Europe in September 1998 with Savior Machine in support of the record.
Adagio finally saw a US release in January 1999 through Olympic Records. Being distributed through Polygram, the Olympic deal gave the band even greater exposure in the US.
Critical Reception:
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Jason Anderson stated;
“𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝙰𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚞𝚜 𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚁𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝙻𝚘𝚠𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚛, 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 (𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚍𝚍-𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛), 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚢. 𝚄𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛‘𝚜 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 — 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚝, 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐-𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 — 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙,𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙‘𝚜 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝙳𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖 𝚋𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚘𝚠𝚎 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚊 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚘𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚗‘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸𝚍𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜, 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚠 ’𝚗‘ 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚠𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚙𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝. 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝙳𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕, 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝙰𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚞𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 ‘𝟿𝟶𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎. 𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗‘𝚝 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚙 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚠𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝙰𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚍𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚘.”
For the record, I completely disagree with this assessment of Adagio, Robert Lowe's vocal performance, and Solitude Aeturnus in general, as this is my favorite release from the Texas Doom outfit! I guess I must have terrible taste in music... No, not really! — E.N. Wells
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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