SOLUTION .45 is a side project made up from musicians who are or were currently in bands SCAR SYMMETRY, MISERATION, SONATA ARCTICA and STATOVARIUS. The band released their debut album in 2010, with guest musicians Mikka Haarkin (ex-SONATA ARCTICA) and with Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQULITY) providing the lyrics. Following some line-up changes over the past five years, the band presents their second full-length album here which contains ten tracks.

"Wanderer from the Fold kicks off the album. It has a fast paced, get-up-and-go sound, and an almost futuristic quality to the balls-out chorus. If I didn't know any better, I might mistake the song for a track from SOILWORK. There are also some nifty key changes and lightning fretwork from the lead guitar. The clean vocals in "Protecting the Void" are just sublime, and are in sharp contrast from the overall brutality of the remainder of the sound. The diversity of the vocals is also duly noted. Adding in some acoustical complexities and more subdued harmonic singing in "Bleed Heavens Dry," the track also features a really strong chorus that seems to beam light straight into the dark skies above. "Where Losing is All" could go either way in terms of anger or pensive introspection, and it seems to encompass both. Once again the vocal harmonies are the highlight of the song in my opinion.

"In Moments of Despair" is the breezy, ethereal song on the album, akin to "Lethean Tears" from their first solo outing. The subtle use of piano augments the emotional passages marked again by the beauty of the voice of Christian Alvestan. When the electric guitars, bass and drums hit the ground together, the magnitude of the moment could be heard on another world. It's almost enough to reduce you to tears. "Targeting Blaze" is another undeniable winner, alternating between warm, playful melodies, and the crushing inevitability of death. You can listen to this with an enormous smile while pounding your fists and feet at the same time. Artfully alternating the method of impact that the album delivers to you is the song "Alter the Unbearable State of Nothing," which features spacy, zippy sounding keyboards over a spiked bed of uncompromising Death Metal. This song is like an oversized asteroid beaming towards Earth, bouncing and knocking off of everything in its path without wavering in speed or force.

Closing the album is the over-eleven minute closer "Nemesis." What a solidifying and all-encompassing way to display the bevy of sounds and techniques that they have on masterpiece of an album. It has a slow, grinding intensity and a well of darkness that knows no depth. You can definitely sense growth in the band from the line-up changes and additional time together to compose since their first album. Though there is plenty of heavy, bottom end meatiness and Death Metal punch, I find the moments of beauty, harmony, emotion and soul-bearing vocals to be the best part of this cornucopia of auditory bliss. If they made this their full time gig, all the other bands in this style just got put on notice.