Bridge to Solace debuted in 2003 with the album "Of Bitterness and Hope", a blast of hardcore intensity with fast, intricate riffage and harshly shouted vocals - standing with one foot on hardcore soil, and the other treading on metalcore territory. This EP, their second release, has more or less taken the step over to full-out metal-core, loading up on layered guitar riffs of the Gothenburg school and sharpening the production of their material.
"Kingdom of the Dead" is an extremely competent and on the verge of being ground-breaking in some aspects. First of all, I myself am not used to hardcore/metalcore of this caliber coming from Eastern Europe - I certainly don't mind it, because the more diversity, the better. Secondly, while being anything but wussy, they don't rely on a tough-guy attitude, and they're not afraid to break hardcore taboos; how about having operatic, female vocals on two out of five tracks? Alright, so I cheated a little bit there. One of those two tracks is actually the instrumental, mood-setting prologue "Enter the Gates of the Living Dead", but the other song featuring an opera singer - "Will You Rewrite History With Me?" - might very well be one of the best songs recorded in 2004 (or rather, re-recorded, as a different version of it appears on 2003's "Of Bitterness and Hope" ).
What strikes me when I listen to this album is, apart from the crystal clear production and precision of the instrumentation, is how well-written this album is. Every song has a load of riffs, break-downs and tempo-changes that all accentuate their respective part of the song very well. Another thing is the relentlessly shouted, throaty vocals of lead singer Zoli. It is with equal parts urgency and emotion, aggression and passion, that he belts out his lines atop the next-to-immaculate metalcore foundation.
The official statement says, "think Unearth meets Iron Maiden meets Nightwish meets Newborn", and that's a pretty accurate description, only it's better than what that may lead you to believe. American metal/hardcore like As I Lay Dying and Darkest Hour has some cogent competition coming from Europe. Check out "Will You Rewrite History With Me?" if you don't believe me.
