Solitude Aeturnus

T

he brainchild of guitarist John Perez, who had freshly quit his former act, the thrash metal team Rotting Corpse he formed Solitude Aeturnus and recruited Brad Kane (drums), Kris Gabehardt (vocals; previously with Satanic death metal band Death Tripper), Tom Martinez (guitar) and Chris Hardin (bass). After writing songs and rehearsing up until December of 1987, the band entered the studio in January 1988 to record their legendary 5-song demo entitled Justice For All. It should be noted that this title and demo preceded the Metallica album of the same name by some 7 months! Also of interest is that the band's name at this time was Solitude. It would not be until two years later that the band would be forced to change the name to Solitude Aeturnus.

The line-up was reset for various reasons, for Perez recruited Robert Lowe (vocals), Edgar Rivera (guitar), Lyle Steadham (bass) and John "Wolf" Covington (drums) to create a second demo titled Mirror Of Sorrow (1988). The act played a kind of doom/death metal much in the style of Cathedral and influenced by the heavy sounds of early 1980s groups like Witchfinder General, St. Vitus, Black Hole, Nemesis and the like but delving even deeper into the realms of mysticism. They then signed to 'Roadrunner' in 1991 to release their debut set, Into The Depts Of Sorrow and benefited from the increased budget. The follow-up set Beyond The Chrimson Horizon appeared in 1992 before they switched to 'Bulletproof/Pavement Music' to release their next set recorded in England, Through the Darkest Hour in 1994, and followed it with a US tour before releasing Downfall (1997). This latest album would see the backside of Steadham who left to form punk act Killkreeps. In his place they recruited Teri Pritchard (of Last Chapter) to temporarily replace him until Steve Mosley took the spot permanently.