A weird album...SOLID STATE's music varies from semi-funky Pop boring moments to powerful Hard/Heavy flashes and then 'new' Rock surprises! The French quintet consists of members surely owning a high level of musicianship, that's obvious from the very first time you look deeper in the CD's tracklist, but I'm afraid the final product shall by of interest only for open-minded/eared fans of 'modern' music.

Imagine VAN HALEN and EXTREME fooling around in OFFSPRING's place while POISON and 'new' METALLICA bang down the door to let themselves in. "So Solid" probably is the band's first album and contains ten full tracks and an intro/outro duo willing to invite you to a celebration of guitar-oriented music. That's the band's 'ace' point anyway. The guitars shine all over the album, with a great production backing some excellent riffing owing a lot to the American side of Rock music, while enough leads - the faster ones, how come?!? -can set your ass on fire ("A Night At The Opera") with their crystal clear structure and playing.

The songs themselves - for the average Hard Rock fan are not something worth mentioning, I'm afraid. Let alone the times ("Sweet") that - is it a "let's have fun" atmosphere, really? - you'll listen to alien (for the Rock/Metal likes) funky or dance elements filtered through a rockin' rhythm section. OK, it's a surprise to hear it but I do not think the results in the hardrockin' world can be so encouraging. The vocals hide another secret: when they are rocking ("Solid") they bring on the non-English native language which by no means is a bad thing to happen but surely need a lot of work to compete in the (at least) European circuit. In the more 'simply Rock' parts there's no need to even argue. Still Pit has the potential, in general, if you ask me.

SO SOLID defies the 'know-how-to-do-it-but-does-not-come-out-that-way' approach. As unique personalities they have all the fonts, the songwriting needs enough improvisation to be honest, but you should focus to the main style you desire especially if you want to play/sound 'American'. SOLID STATE's album lacks balance and integrity; they can deliver but they eventually don't...