Only rare few bands manage to combine the heaviness and slow, brooding sound of the Doom genre with the melodic touch and aspects of straight-up Heavy Metal. And definitely none can do it better than SOLITUDE AETURNUS does. Their career might not exactly have gone like planned due to a variety of business problems and line-up changes, but at least they always managed to deliver quality. And this is no different on Alone. Not only their first release in eight years, but also definitely one of the best metal albums of 2006, and one that deserves to be in everyones collection!
From the amazing cover artwork, which just screams out pure desperation, to the first notes of the opening track Scent Of Death, you just know that you are in for something special. And the band delivers on all fronts. It doesn't matter if it's in the songwriting, John Perez's amazing guitar work or Rob Lowe's equally brilliant vocal performance, with Alone SOLITUDE AETURNUS simply manages to raise the bar for future melodic doom releases to stellar levels. Even the two new members, James Martin (taking over bass duties from Steve Mosely -  who, since Adagio, apparently switched to guitar) and Steve Nichols manage to fit in perfectly and sound as if they were born to play in this band.   
Summing up highlights really is a bit unnecessary. Every song in itself manages to convince, and it is astonishing to hear the amount of love and heart that every bandmember brings to the music. You just wish other bands (especially certain big names with overhyped, but incredibely dull and by-the-number albums} would put this kind of dedication and fire into their songs again. Personal favorites on Alone include the already mentioned opening track Scent Of Death, Is There, Essence Of Black and Waiting For The Light. But it really could have been any other track as well. And that's the beauty of Alone. There's not a single weak moment in sight.
So might SOLITUDE AETURNUS finally make it big-time with Alone? Probably not. Since bands like this generally manage to get overlooked in favor of the current hype of the moment. What it might do however is finally give their career that much needed boost, and here's to hoping that for once John Perez and co. get the recognition they so rightfully deserve and will be able to deliver plenty more killer releases in the future. For me at least Alone deserves it's top spot in my personal ten favorite albums of 2006. A must-buy!