A SOLUTION .45 OF HIS OWN

If I were the dudes in Scar Symmetry I’d be a little miffed right about now. Super-vocalist Christian Alvestam leaves your band and then proceeds to join 367 other bands, many of whom sound a whole lot like Scar Symmetry, instantly making them all better and attracting new fans from all over the world. Meanwhile you poor saps are stuck with two vocalists, neither of whom are all that special and both of whom look completely lost on stage when the other is singing. On top of that, everyone called bullshit on the auto-tuned / pro-toolsed mess that was your latest album, although some of the tunes are certainly respectable thanks to the genius that is Jonas Kjellgren.

Meanwhile, Christian Alvestam seems to be on top of the Swedish melodeath world; your abilities as a skilled metal vocalist were instantly dignified when your former band struggled mightily to replace you, and you’ve gotten to cherry pick which projects your lend your voice to without the grueling, long-term commitment of touring. You’ve probably also got a normal day job so you don’t have to worry about money on a day-to-day basis.

The most Scar Symmetry-like of Christian Alvestam’s post-SS bands, of course, is Solution .45. For Aeons Past, released earlier this year, is a damn fan disc; so many of the songs could be on a Scar Symmetry album and you’ve certainly have me fooled. And from the looks of this new video for “Gravitational Lensing,” the dudes actually move around on stage.

-VN