Solitude Aeturnus


Solitude Aeturnus is an American doom metal">Doom metal">doom metal band from Arlington, Texas. Founded by guitarist John Perez in 1987, the band has released six studio albums. Their original name Solitude was chosen to pay homage to Black Sabbath and Candlemass, both of whom had songs bearing the name "Solitude".
The band's vocalist, Robert Lowe, was also the singer for the doom metal band Candlemass between 2007 and 2012. Former drummer and bassist Lyle Steadham is now the guitarist and lead vocalist for the band Ghoultown.

History

Formed in early 1987, the lineup began as John Perez quit his former thrash metal band Rotting Corpse in early 1987. Already a veteran in the metal scene, Perez had begun to tire of the limitations of thrash and sought a new sound. Already a longtime follower of the early 1980s classic doom groups like Witchfinder General, St. Vitus, Black Hole, Nemesis and the like, Perez decided to adopt a doom metal sound. He assembled a group of musicians over the next year, namely Brad Kane, Kris Gabehardt, Tom Martinez, and Chris Hardin. After writing songs and rehearsing up until December 1987, the band entered the studio in January 1988 to record a five-song demo entitled And Justice for All... This title and demo preceded the Metallica's ...And [Justice for All (album)|album of the same name] by some seven months. The band's name at this time was Solitude; it was two years later that the band were forced to change the name to Solitude Aeturnus.
After the release of the demo, various gigs around the local area followed. In late 1988, changes started to occur within the band, finally settling on a lineup that consisted of Perez on guitars alongside Robert Lowe, Edgar Rivera, Lyle Steadham, and John "Wolf" Covington. This lineup lasted for the next seven years until 1996 and recorded the second official demo of the band containing two tracks, "Mirror of Sorrow" and "Opaque Divinity".
The two-song demo tape caught the attention of the independent label King Klassic. The band entered the Dallas Sound Lab in January 1990 to record their debut album, Into the Depths of Sorrow. The whole album was recorded for a sum of $3,000 and done in seven days including the remix. Shortly after the album was delivered, it suffered a delay due to King Klassic not having the money to put it out. After some shopping around, the album eventually caught the attention of Roadrunner Records, which led to Solitude Aeturnus signing with the label. After numerous other delays, the album finally saw the light of day in July 1991, a full year-and-a-half after the album was recorded. No tours followed, although by this time the band had already written enough songs for a second album.
In March 1992, the band entered Sound Logic recording studios to begin the sessions for the second album, Beyond the Crimson Horizon. The budget for this album was much greater and as a result the sound was improved. The album was released in July 1992 and eventually a U.S. tour was set up in late November with Paul Di'Anno's band Killers. It lasted six weeks and was a success for the band. Shortly after, in February 1993, the band were dropped from Roadrunner. In December, they signed a new recording contract with up-and-coming label Pavement Records.
The band decided to get away from their familiar surroundings and took off for England to record their third album, Through the Darkest Hour. Recorded in late March 1994 at Rhythm Studios, it showed a simpler and heavier direction. Through the Darkest Hour received positive reviews upon its release in August 1994. After a few months of negotiating, the band went on the road with Mercyful Fate for an extensive U.S. tour. The tour lasted six weeks, and shortly after, the band embarked on their first tour of Europe with fellow doom band Revelation. After the tour, the band went through a long break that would last until April 1996 when recording for the next album commenced. During this time, Perez started his own label Brainticket Records as well as recording a solo album under the name of The Liquid Sound Company.
The next album, Downfall, was recorded in Dallas, Texas. Although it received favorable reviews, the band expressed dissatisfaction with the final product, citing issues with the production quality. They eventually underwent their first major lineup change. Lyle Steadham left the band shortly after the recording of Downfall, primarily because he was tired of the group's sound, and eventually formed the punk band The Killcreeps. Solitude Aeturnus continued on enlisting the services of Teri Pritchard in as temporary bassist. It was this lineup that toured Europe in April 1996 with Swedish power metal band Morgana Lefay. Another unintentional break followed and a split from Pavement Records eventually occurred. During this time, new bass player Steve Moseley, a longtime friend and fan of the band, replaced Steadham.
Solitude Aeturnus signed with German label Massacre Records in December 1997 and recorded their fifth studio album, Adagio. This time going back to Rhythm Studios in England, the album was recorded in March 1998 and released in June of the same year. The band toured Europe in September 1998 with Saviour Machine in support of the record. Adagio finally saw a U.S. release in January 1999 through Olympic Records. Being distributed through Polygram, the Olympic deal gave the band greater exposure in the native country.
The band went on hiatus in 2011, but reunited in 2023 when they announced they would be playing at the Hell's Heroes festival in March 2024.

Members

;Current members
;Former members
  • Kris Gabehart – vocals
  • Tom Martinez – guitar
  • Brad Kane – drums
  • Chris Hardin – bass
  • Teri Pritchard – bass
  • Kurt Joye – bass
  • James Martin – bass
  • Steve Nichols – drums
;Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:100 top:30 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1987 till:01/01/2024
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1987
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1987
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals
id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:album value:black legend:Studio_album
BarData =
bar:Kris text:"Kris Gabehart"
bar:Robert text:"Robert Lowe"
bar:John text:"John Perez"
bar:Tom text:"Tom Martinez"
bar:Edgar text:"Edgar Rivera"
bar:Chris text:"Chris Hardin"
bar:Teri text:"Teri Pritchard"
bar:Steve text:"Steve Moseley"
bar:Kurt text:"Kurt Joye"
bar:James text:"James Martin"
bar:Brad text:"Brad Kane"
bar:Lyle text:"Lyle Steadham"
bar:John2 text:"John Covington"
bar:Steve2 text:"Steve Nichols"
LineData =
at:07/01/1991 color:album layer:back
at:07/21/1992 color:album layer:back
at:11/17/1994 color:album layer:back
at:07/29/1996 color:album layer:back
at:08/03/1998 color:album layer:back
at:11/10/2006 color:album layer:back
PlotData =
width:11
bar:Kris from:start till:06/01/1988 color:vocals
bar:Robert from:06/01/1988 till:07/01/2011 color:vocals
bar:Robert from:07/01/2023 till:end color:vocals
bar:John from:start till:07/01/2011 color:guitar
bar:John from:07/01/2023 till:end color:guitar
bar:Tom from:start till:06/01/1988 color:guitar
bar:Edgar from:06/01/1988 till:12/01/1998 color:guitar
bar:Edgar from:07/01/2023 till:end color:guitar
bar:Chris from:start till:12/31/1989 color:bass
bar:Lyle from:01/01/1990 till:12/31/1996 color:bass
bar:Lyle from:07/01/2023 till:end color:bass
bar:Teri from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/1997 color:bass
bar:Steve from:01/01/1998 till:06/01/2004 color:bass
bar:Steve from:06/01/2004 till:07/01/2011 color:guitar
bar:Steve from:07/01/2023 till:end color:guitar
bar:Kurt from:06/01/2004 till:06/01/2005 color:bass
bar:James from:06/01/2005 till:07/01/2011 color:bass
bar:Brad from:start till:06/01/1988 color:drums
bar:Lyle from:06/01/1988 till:12/31/1989 color:drums
bar:John2 from:01/01/1990 till:06/01/2005 color:drums
bar:Steve2 from:06/01/2005 till:07/01/2011 color:drums
bar:John2 from:07/01/2023 till:end color:drums

Discography

Studio albums