Solution .45
Nightmares In The Waking State Pt. 1


2.5
average

Review

by XfingTheSullen USER (61 Reviews)
December 18th, 2015 | 43 replies


Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

Review Summary: If Solution .45's debut album sometimes straddled the penumbra of boring, Nightmares in the Waking State, Pt. 1 takes a bold leap into the shadow proper.

So, what has the legendary Christian Älvestam, the person who in the opinion of many single-handedly carried the Scar Symmetry stable - been up to? Well, obviously, him being Älvestam and all, he can't go wrong with anything he does... Or can he? Is the hype behind the man really enough to turn anything he touches into gold?

Oh, hardly.

The first part of the Nightmares in the Waking State duology will be a sore disappointment to anyone who expected something top-notch, and even the most die-hard Christian fanboys are bound to lose interest after ten spins tops. Why is it? It's because this album contains very little in terms of ideas, instead it comes across as half-hearted, if robust, craftsmanship - the writers just going through the motions. Just another eleven cookie-cutter songs based around riffs come up with in 20 seconds. Any notion of dynamics within the songs is practically nonexistent, there is never any tension buildup leading to a release, hardly any change of pace. Instead we simply get unremakrable chorus after tired verse, ad infinitum. One of the lowest points of this release exemplifying aforementioned faults is the track "Wield the Scepter". The chorus of this track seems to have been modeled after Soilwork's most radio-friendly era choruses, which is that band's laziest and blandest period - it's beyond me why anyone thought looking there for inspiration was a good idea in the first place.

But probably the biggest issue of this album is its Metallica Syndrome - songs that have no business at all being any longer than 3:30 end up clocking in at over five minutes. The whole album could afford to be at least a third shorter and nothing of essence would be lost. Everything about Nightmares in the Waking State, Pt. 1 reeks of forgettability. The only noteworthy stuff I remember from listening through it are maybe three choruses and one other random section. It has about as much staying power as snow at +20 Celsius.

The outing is not at all without its redeeming qualities, though. The vocals are obviously well-executed. Some choruses are actually pretty catchy, such as the one in "Winning Where Losing Is All". The token ballad, "In Moments of Despair" is very pleasant and reminescent of the previous album's "Lethean Tears", and for what it's worth it's less sugary than that one - it however suffers probably the most of all the songs of being way too long and too safe in terms of structure and arrangement. And last but not least, the final track "I, Nemesis" - its arrangement and experimentation with electronics along with a tasteful ending make its 11-minute runtime more than bearable and paradoxically more justified than the runtimes of those other overlong songs. Still, it comes across as nothing more than a semi-decent Disarmonia Mundi tribute at best. You'd be better served listening to those guys any day.

Overall, the heavily hyped Pt. 1 is the epitome of so-so and even its finest moments rather than astound, only remind you of other, more interesting songs and other artists who have done the same ideas better. This album is the definitive proof that having a superior singer in the band doesn't autmatically mean you're gonna write good material. For dedicated fans of S. 45 only.



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user ratings (68)
3
good

Comments:Add a Comment 
FrozenVain
December 18th 2015


3043 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Great review, man. Totally agree. I was kinda baffled by the inclusion of "djentish" riffs on certain songs, as well, like on Perfection the Void. I must say though that I personally wasn't very impressed by Älvestam's vocal performance on this, but that might not be all his fault in this case.

Read some comments on youtube and on some forums how happy they were over this release since Scar Symmetry sucks so much. Just wow. Per is like one of modern metal's most competent guitarists. Obviously way more competent than these guys.

XfingTheSullen
December 18th 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Saying Scar Symmetry is worse than these guys as of today is just being stubborn, willfully ignorant or childishly bitter at Christian departing from Scar Symmetry. This album is unremarkable.

FrozenVain
December 18th 2015


3043 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Yeh, dude. Well said.

zaruyache
December 18th 2015


27750 Comments


new scar symmetry is decent [3]

InFlamesWeThrash666
December 18th 2015


10584 Comments


nice review,won't bother with this

EvoHavok
December 18th 2015


8089 Comments


Too bad about this... Scar Symmetry with Alvestam was rather awesome.

XfingTheSullen
December 19th 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

The best chorus on this is like a lite version of Soilwork's "Shining Lights" chorus, another reason this album was never needed

drewkar
December 19th 2015


130 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I was so disappointed with this. After a 5 year gap and they come with such a lackluster release, it's not even funny.

ComeToDaddy
December 19th 2015


1851 Comments


Well this is disappointing to read, I'm a sucker for Alvestam but guess I'll give this a miss. Nice review though! Pos'd

XfingTheSullen
December 19th 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

It's not unlistenable, you can give this a spin. But I suspect one spin is all it'll be, there's simply not much to come back to

Dizchu
December 19th 2015


616 Comments


I always considered these guys a pretty lackluster melodeath band. Christian's been in much better bands, like Unmoored and Torchbearer (and Scar Symmetry, obviously).

XfingTheSullen
December 19th 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

^ Unmoored and Torchbearer kick ass, love both of these bands.



Miseration is mid tier.



This is the bottom of the barrel.

Dizchu
December 20th 2015


616 Comments


Miseration suffers from many of the same problems Solution .45 does, really. Overall a pretty decent sound but once a song of theirs is over I can't remember a god damn thing about it.

Darkwatch025
December 21st 2015


432 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

I was a little disappointed overall when I first listened to this album, but it is nowhere near as bad as this review makes it out to be. It has actually really grown on me and I think it's a good album. Bleed Heavens Dry, Winning Where Losing is All, Second to None, and I Nemesis are all great songs.

XfingTheSullen
December 21st 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Four great songs is a little bit short of a great album

Toondude10
December 21st 2015


15263 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

My god was this boooooooooooooring



was literally considering to put this on my worst of the year but it does have it's moments on occasion and the instrumentation for the most part is decent. But dear god the songs just drag on and on and on and it just puts you to sleep.

Darkwatch025
December 22nd 2015


432 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Those four songs I listed are just my favorites. I like all of the songs on the record, but the album as a whole did not meet my expectations. Now the newest Scar Symmetry album on the other hand blew me away. The Singularity is on another planet from other metal music in my opinion. Neohuman and Technocalyptic Cybergeddon are fucking amazing. I never thought I would even listen to Scar Symmetry after Christian left, but I actually prefer the new vocalists now. The problem with Solution .45 to me is that the instrumentation is weak. If it weren't for Christian's vocals, Nightmares in the Waking State would be nothing.

XfingTheSullen
December 22nd 2015


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Yeah new Scar Symmetry eats this for dinner easy

TheTripP
May 5th 2016


4670 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

I have hopes for Part 2... I spoke to Alvestam about the quality of the album and he didn't seem to happy about that xD

XfingTheSullen
May 8th 2016


5366 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

About the quality, or about you speaking to him?



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