Sol Invicto - Initium: Review

Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter and his side project Sol Invicto have released their debut EP for free download. Since I enjoy listening to Deftones I thought I'd check it out. I've given it a listen and I've formed my opinion of the record. Here's my review:

Uninteresting is probably the best word to describe it. It has its moments that seem to break through in some way or another but nothing close to being energetic or creative. I don't know electronica as well as a lot of people, but I'd say that whatever genre of music I'm listening to I can recognise creativity and talent, but the former was definitely lacking in this piece.

The first track starts with a mildly ominous introduction which drags on a little before a repetitive heavier guitar riff comes in which melds nicely with the preexisting electronic parts. What struck me most was the lack of any melody. The track would have had the potential to be quite entertaining if there had been some kind of part over the top to finish it off, but as it is I just find it lacking.

The second track, and indeed all the tracks, leads directly on from the previous song. Here ambient effects are introduced which I liked and found somewhat interesting. The faint effects in the background underneath the ambience remind me of rain and have a pleasant influence on the song as a whole. Towards the end of the track there's a few snatches of speech that, in retrospect, seem self indulgent and serve no particular purpose.

Each track is named simply Sol Invicto Initium followed by the track number, so Sol Invicto Initium 3.0 begins with a more confident drum beat which again combines nicely with the other effects in use. The elements of chorus introduced here sound faintly of an Air Raid Siren so you can make your own mind up about that; I actually quite like it.

While listening to the fourth track I thought: "Anyone sitting in their room with a keyboard and decent effects software could make this." This is perhaps an unfair and untrue statement since the talent is evident in the overall piece, but it does convey my frustration at how uncreative the piece is. This track is the most unmemorable of the entire piece.

There's a moment of silence in the next track which seems to form a sort of minibreak for the EP which works nicely. It doesn't quite separate the piece into two parts but just gives the feeling of an intermission which works well.

The guitar riff in the sixth song, while uncreative, sticks in your head and draws your attention back to the music a little, which I suppose is a good thing. However the drum beat in the song is not just uncreative, it is generic to a ridiculous degree.

The combination of guitar and chorus parts at the beginning of the seventh and final song spark a little interest, however the riff is the same as in the sixth track and is still as uncreative as ever. The song seems to begin to build up to something but this then dissipates and there's a feeling of lost opportunity. The song ends with twenty seconds of nothing.

Overall it was uninteresting and generic. I had pressed play with high hopes for the EP but I was in the end disappointed. It may be that because this genre of music isn't what I listen to the most I don't know what I'm talking about, but I stand by my assertion that I can spot talent in most genres. Fans of Deftones should check this out, but don't have too many expectations of it.