{"id":774748,"date":"2026-07-02T04:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/774748\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T04:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:34:11","slug":"solace-fading-failing-ruin-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/774748\/","title":{"rendered":"Solace – Fading Failing Ruin Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Asbury Park, New Jersey\u2019s Solace observes their thirtieth anniversary this year, and to celebrate it, the quintet emerges to share fifth full-length, Fading Failing Ruin. After dropping debut Further in 2000 and follow-up 13 in 2003, Solace has adopted a lax release schedule, doling out two more platters in 2010 with A.D. and 2019 with The Brink. Between those two albums, Solace welcomed vocalist\/keyboardist Justin Goins, drummer Timmy Gitlan, and bassist Mike Sica, leaving guitarists Tommy Southard and Justin Daniels as the threads of continuity. Despite the band\u2019s longevity, Fading Failing Ruin is my first encounter with these Garden State stoners and their hypnotic grooves. Seven years after stepping up to The Brink, can Solace\u2019s Fading Failing Ruin reach new highs, or does it just go up in smoke?<\/p>\n

In my estimation, stoner metal simultaneously sprawls over an expanse of possibilities while often being limited by an overdrawn subject matter and blending into a cloud of faceless fuzz tones. Luckily, Solace has honed a singular identity and stands apart from contemporaries and genre-mates. Though they hail from Jersey, Solace adopts the southern charm of Corrosion of Conformity<\/a>, instilling a folksy swagger to Fading Failing Ruin that feels genuine and expressive. Besides CoC, Solace rubs elbows with Kyuss<\/a>\u2019 mellower rhythms and Cathedral<\/a>\u2019s riff-heavy trudges without ever risking confusion with them. Over nine tracks, Fading Failing Ruin guides listeners through \u2018apocalyptic, infernal, and end time themes\u2019 by way of ponderous riffs (and track lengths) drenched in delicious, southern-fried stoner doom.<\/p>\n

\ufeffFading Failing Ruin by Solace<\/a><\/p>\n

Picking up where The Brink left off, Solace smacks you in the gob with their doleful guitar duo and slow-burn song structures. \u201cSpiral Will\u201d kicks off with a defiant lead that gives way to anthemic verses and a chorus I can\u2019t seem to shake. \u201cBeyond Below\u201d and \u201cMalengine the Scaffold\u201d operate in a similar space, beginning with fuzz-soaked guitars that construct sullen layers as tension mounts until Solace unfurls slick variations and solos. \u201cA God Changes His Plans\u201d and \u201cCulling the Herd,\u201d the shortest songs on Fading Failing Ruin, afford opportunities for Solace to cut loose, pushing tempos higher and putting a heavier emphasis on guitar theatrics, which Southard and Daniels excel at. Goins, meanwhile, croons with conviction, landing somewhere between Live\u2019s Ed Kowalczyk and Pepper Keenan. His vocals are a critical piece of Solace\u2019s sound, and where original singer Jason\u2019s vocals fit the band\u2019s style early on, particularly the punkier forays of their first two albums, Goins adds a renewed vitality as the band focuses more on controlled pacing. Lastly, Gitlan and Sica\u2019s rhythm section supports the band well enough, supplying the right backing without ever stepping into the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Through sixty-seven minutes of stoner metal, Solace crafts distinctive songs that crackle and pop. Unfortunately, one glaring issue saps my enjoyment every time I listen, and its name is \u2018bloat.\u2019 Fifteen-minute \u201cWraths Object the Big Fall\u201d is the biggest offender, and each time the song comes on, I find myself checking whether the music accidentally stopped, as it takes twenty seconds or so for any music to be heard. From there, Solace dithers for over six minutes before starting the song in earnest. I can\u2019t for the life of me explain this build in a way that justifies the time, but after a handful of listens, I eventually began fast-forwarding the track to start at 6:43 or skipped it altogether. The rest of the song is solid, though still overlong, and similar issues creep into Fading Failing Ruin\u2019s other compositions. Ultimately, Solace delivers under an hour of extremely strong riffs and music, yet in its current form, the album\u2019s length extends past the quality of the product they peddle.<\/p>\n

Still, Solace cultivates an engaging listen for the majority of Fading Failing Ruin, and thirty years in, they still have plenty of gas in the tank. Despite my complaint about bloat, I recommend giving Fading Failing Ruin a spin, whether you\u2019re a fan of the genre or not. Big riffs and impassioned clean singing may sound like basic building blocks, but when they\u2019re done this well, they stand out. So if your world goes to shit and life seems like a Fading Failing Ruin, go look for Solace.<\/p>\n

Rating: Good
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Magnetic Eye Records<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: July 3rd, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asbury Park, New Jersey\u2019s Solace observes their thirtieth anniversary this year, and to celebrate it, the quintet emerges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[43409,976,10734,49,48,260257,246757,25321,75,274835,54031,274836,274837,3008,246759,341,208,209,274838,46194],"class_list":["post-774748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-43409","tag-3-0","tag-american-metal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cathedral","tag-corrosion-of-conformity","tag-doom-metal","tag-entertainment","tag-fading-failing-ruin","tag-hard-rock","tag-jul26","tag-kyuss","tag-live","tag-magnetic-eye-records","tag-music","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-solace","tag-stoner-metal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}