Solstice Rider - Suffer to Glory

Melodic death metal is a weird beast in itself.  On paper it's something that really shouldn't work.  It seems like there shouldn't be much of a middle ground between the crushing brutality of traditional death metal and the soaring dramatic waves and uplifting vibes of power metal, but there is this sweet spot where it just works. 

And that's the sweet spot where you'll find the band behind our chosen track this week.  Building on the sound forged in the late 90s and 2000s by bands like Dark Tranquility, Children of Bodom, In Flames, Insomnium and many more, Solstice Rider seem to pick and choose the best elements of the genre and truly refine it down into something raw and beautiful.  You'll hear the elements of the aforementioned bands floating around in there for sure, and they're definitely not hiding their influences, but rather than just borrow stuff there's definitely a personal touch there that seems to be missing from a lot of modern metal.  Of course, that's just the opinion of an aging metalhead touching on the topic of modern music in general (and I can hear the collective groans of the rest of the RSOTW staff hoping the next words out of my mouth aren't, "The thing about music today is...") but this band just hits me right in the feels in a way not a lot of bands do these days.

So for our pick this week we're going with the epic title track of their (as of writing) only full length album, Suffer to Glory.  Get ready for a wild ride!