Florida will always be looked at as the original death metal capital of the entire fuckin' world, and with good reason. But amidst all of the top-notch death metal bands in the region throughout the 90's boom of the genre, a few killer bands got swept aside for no good reason. Hence the title of this post is twofold: On Solstice's first record in 1992, Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation, etc.) handled guitars and vocals (he was replaced by Christian Rudes on "Pray"), and the mighty Alex Marquez (Malevolent Creation, Demolition Hammer, Divine Empire, etc.) drummed on both of their records; while their second and final offering, "Pray" (1995, Steamhammer/SPV), sounds almost exactly like a 50/50 split of Cannibal Corpse and Malevolent Creation.
Now, I'm not saying these are particularly classic records or anything, but they're both excellent slabs of textbook death metal chock full of the meaty riffs and chunky thrash breaks that I so enjoy. You'd think the lineup connections alone would've gotten 'em more attention, but for whatever reason that wasn't the case. They broke up once after their first record, and again shortly after the second. There were rumors floating around that they were going to do a third album with yet another lineup around 2000, but nothing ever came of it. Here are a handful of tracks from "Pray", which is my personal favorite from their back catalog:
Solstice "All Life Lost"
Solstice "Closeminded Failure"
Solstice "Bleeding Unborn"
I didn't really discover these guys until four or five years ago when doing random research on the net, and I honestly had a bit of a hard time tracking down both of their CD's, but "Pray" at least seems a little easier to come by these days:
The core of Solstice, guitarist Dennis Munoz and drummer Alex Marquez, also played in a hardcore band called Anger sometime between the two Solstice records. They released at least one album, but I've never heard it. So if anyone knows whether or not it's any good, please let me know. My guess is that it could go either way in terms of overall quality.
Comments
It must be my lack of proper death metal education but this one sounds a lot like Obituary (I already compared one of the bands here to Obits). It’s good shit. Thanks for sharing Andrew!
9.11.2005 | By mike
kick ass stuff!
9.11.2005 | By Anonymous
I eat up that shit like Krispy Kreme donughts. The first solstice record has one of the most amzing Repka covers ever.
9.11.2005 | By Anonymous
I’m pretty sure Alex Marquez played football for the Miami Hurricanes.
9.12.2005 | By carlosNYC
ever heard of the postman syndrome? they’re kinda like a mix of ..uh, prog-y hardcore with a singer who sounds like that guy from tool. totally awesome/underrated band.
9.12.2005 | By Anonymous
oh yea..solstice rules.
9.12.2005 | By Anonymous
Yeah, The Postman Syndrome is a great band, I’m looking forward to hearing their new material.
9.12.2005 | By Andrew Aversionline
I don’t know how this band was overlooked, I guess it was the overabundance of FL bands at the time. Alex Marquez also played in Hellwitch, the mighty Disincarnate and Resurrection (more severely underrated bands). James Murphy did a couple of guitar solos on that first album, on some weird guest-appearance type shit…
I heard Anger on MP3.com a long time ago, and remember not really digging on it, but their shit is gone from there and I can’t really recall what it sounded like at this point!
9.12.2005 | By Scott
Fuck!
you must be reading my mind…we were just talking about about this band.
this confirms my suspicion they did a 2nd record although i haven’t heard these tracks yet.
also, i believe James Murphy (Disincarnate, Obituary, Death, blahblah) as well as Paul Masvidal and possibly Sean Reinert (Cynic, Death etc.) had some involvement on the 1st recording.
nice work once again.
-jxw
9.12.2005 | By jim fucking winters
These tunes are phat, I’ve already grabbed myself copies of both their records used, the debut is going for a cent on Amazon used….jokes, Postman Syndrome smoke, they got a new EP in the works apparently….
Quality post again Andrew, how about some more proggy thrash or more tough as nails hXc????
9.13.2005 | By xBenx
Ben’s right about the debut - but they seem to have it mislabeled and called “Sentencing”... That’s not the name of my copy - that shit was self-titled. It does appear to be the right album, though. Strange.
9.13.2005 | By Scott
Andrew, this is great stuff thanks again. don’t forget the west coast had some great bands that went unnoticed in their time as well.(the wonderful 90s) how about a WRENCH or EYELID blog?
9.17.2005 | By jesse
Hail Andrew! thanx for the awesome stuff as always. Well, I got a tape somewhere with the ANGER album & it’s very good, so try & get it man. It’s metallic hXc, the same flavor that used to be call “hatecore” back at the time. A lot of similarities to the first two (=the best) SICK OF IT ALL albums from what I remember… A few of the lyrix were in spain, so it kinda added to the whole Hispanic/Miami thug atmosphere. Great shit, let me know if you find the original CD somewhere man!
10.3.2005 | By Panos
Oh and btw Andrew, do yerself a favor & pickup “Lamentations”, the debut full-length by SOLSTICE, the UK band. One of the best epic doom metal records ever!
10.3.2005 | By Panos
Hey all, this is Dennis from Solstice. It’s great to hear that some of you really enjoyed our work. The Florida death metal scene sure was a crazy one back in the early 90’s, just about everybody in the bands new each other, hence all the band hopping.
We (Alex and I) are actually still thinking about putting together another Solstice record, and have a few tunes written but usually shit gets in the way and it gets put off. We definitely still have the love for the music.
Well, it was cool reading all the comments…I’m glad I had this link forwarded to me. C-yas.
BTW, Alex didnt play football for the Hurricanes, he played for a semi-pro team for a couple of seasons.
Dennis M
10.6.2005 | By misterdmz
fucking great!
10.15.2005 | By Anonymous
Solstice started out as a band called Violent Works of Art before Rob joined the band. band was Alex Marquez (Drums), Dennis Munoz(Guitars), Shawn Rogers (Vocals), Dave Smith (Bass) and another young guitar player whose name I cant recall. Rogers and 2nd guitarist was replaced by Rob Barret and the band became Solstice. The first CD was called “The Sentencing”. It was given to my by Alex himself. Anger put out one CD caleed “Miami, Fla” and it was total hardcore. They recorded several demos for a second CD but it never came out. I have these recordings as well. Both Solstice and Anger were great bands that were extremely underated and never got the attention they deserved. I’ve been listening to the demos from the new band that Alex and Phil from Malevolent Creation have formed. It’s real old-school metal and totally kicks ass. If you thought Alex was an amazing drummer, wait till you hear him sing. And be sure to check out Alex and Dennis’ other band “Apocolypse Rising”. More old-school metal!!
Mike Smith
Dallas, Texas
1.13.2006 | By MetalMike
HEY ALL ALEX MARQUEZ HERE.I AM PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT WE INDEED ARE GONNA DO A THIRD SOLSTICE ALBUM.WE HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO FIND BASS PLAYER GARRETT SCOTT.HE WAS THE BASS PLAYER ON PRAY.IF YOU GUYS WANT MORE INFO DROP ME AN EMAIL.MA EMAIL IS .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE.CHEERS
6.12.2006 | By ALEX MARQUEZ
Yeah, that sounds great. Keep us informed….
6.16.2006 | By Sagt.Rectum
Hey everyone, this is Brian Harris. I played on the latest Solstice album called “To Dust” that came out in 2009. If you haven’t heard it, go get it now! You can get it on http://www.cdbaby.com There originally weren’t plans for tours or shows, but things changed and the band is now playing some shows. However, Alex Marquez is now back in the band because I don’t have the time to dedicate to touring. I wish Solstice all the best! Now…..go get “TO DUST”!! Cheers!, Brian
12.5.2011 | By Brian Harris
Solstice is Sheer Talent that needs to be appreciated by the masses both of their albums dominate
12.31.2011 | By Derek
Alex and Dennis’ hardcore band released one album “Miami,Fl” through Armagedden/SPV. This album sold really well in Europe and is considered a classic , a second album was recorded “Prone To Violence” but it remains unreleased. There was also a 3rd Solstice Album ” To Dust” but Marquez did not play on this recording. I am now a member of Marquez’s band Anger if anyone is interested in hearing some mp3’s hit me up at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We released a 4 song EP “To The Death” last year and we are working on a new album as I write this.
9.9.2012 | By Chria Messina