If you cast your mind back to my Raise A Little Hell review, you may recall me commenting that every odd numbered album from The Answer is great, implying the even numbered ones are lacking something. Whilst this will always be open to debate, I believe no album simultaneously supports and destroys my claim better than this one. Solas is not your typical Hard Rock revival album by The Answer. In fact, it's the complete opposite of their last release which, regardless of personal taste, is admirable from a creative point of view. However, on a less positive note, Solas could well be The Answer going through their experimental phase, which is never a good sign.
Unlike the majority of tracks by the band, Solas lacks the powerful riffs and well-crafted solos that you'd expect a Rock band to produce. Instead, it sways more towards the Alternative side, populating the album with softer acoustic material that have swapped out the screeching fenders for delicate mandolins. The heaviest track on the album is the album opener, lead single and title track "Solas" but even that's not your typical upbeat tune from The Answer. It's darker, smokier, more ambitious and fundamentally different.
If you judge an album by its title track (which you're supposed to), it telegraphs the change in direction straight away and kills any hope of safe and tepid familiarity that bands can find themselves in danger of welcoming after four or five albums. If the rest of the album carried on with the mystical sound, I'd be in love with it. Unfortunately, things go from Alternative to Folk within about three tracks and once the first one's out of the way, they just keep on coming. I was afraid that "Beautiful World" signalled The Answer's transition into self-inflated, pretentious Muse territory. Turns out it's much worse.
The softer sound and instrumental choices result in music that resembles Mumford & Sons or some other name-droppable Indie barnyard shite peddlers ("Battle Cry", "In This Land"). It's too flimsy for a band of this calibre and whilst I can accept a band changing and adapting their sound over the years, this isn't the right way to go about it. The best songs on this album are the acoustic ones that have a bit of an edge to them, whether it's a Southern twist that gives fans something new but still rocks ("Demon Driven Man") or more of the aforementioned gritty Blues ("Tunnel").
On the other side of this are the odd filler tracks with a few watts pumped into them designed to remind listeners of what Hard Rock sounds like. Sadly, these sound as artificial as your average chart-based tween Rock outfits ("Left Me Standing", "Untrue Colour"), only providing brief moments of levity in this slog of an album. Again, my opinion on these tracks my improve over time but for now, I don't feel like they gel well with the album The Answer are clearly going for.
However, my personal favourite that I believe I'll still enjoy listening to years from now is "Light In Darkness", a bonus track and a demo version of a tune that may or may not be featured as a B-side or song on an upcoming album. Either way, it sounds like a perfect blend of soulful Folk-Rock that the album often misses the mark on and riff-based melodies that The Answer first hooked me with when I started to get into them about five or so years ago. As far as demos go, it's good enough to be a completed track in my eyes and it's nice to hear that Rory Gallagher's touch hasn't completely vanished from their sound just yet.
Solas is a good quality album if you're listening to it without any context about The Answer; in fact, it's a pretty great one if you're just listening to it as an album. However, as far as Rock albums go, it's a risk. The band are possibly trying to redefine themselves or maybe Cormac Neeson is just going through a rocky patch in his life right now. Either way, they took a chance in writing something noticeably different from what we're used to and I'm inclined to say it paid off.
Sure, it's not perfect and hopefully the next album will develop the tracks that do work whilst shitcanning the ones that belong on quirky American TV comedies. For now, I'm giving them a 7/10 as an act of generosity. Again, that rating could change as I rounded up a 6.5 to get that score but at least the album has some really strong tunes, unlike New Horizon. If any of you have heard the first three songs on this album and aren't sure if you should continue both with Solas and the band's career, my recommendation is to stick out both of them. The best songs are on the second half of the record and musically speaking, there's still a need for The Answer.
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