With their fantastic debut album ‘Spectral Devastation’ (2020), Seattle’s Sölicitör proved itself as one of the most promising new acts of the international old school heavy metal scene. But while their debut was mainly focused on raw, aggressive heavy and speed metal, their new album ‘Enemy in Mirrors’ sees the band branching out a little. Singer Amy Lee Carlson and guitarist Matt Vogan shed some light on broadening their scope, and the advantages of a DIY approach to recording an album and touring.

“I think our goal from the outset was to push the limits of what people expect from us”, Carlson says. “Yes, we love speed metal, thrash metal, and traditional heavy metal, but we do not necessarily want to be typecast as such. We initially drew our influences from bands like Liege Lord, Helstar, and Mercyful Fate, but we are a band of musicians with varied influences and tastes.

It can almost feel like a waste to not explore those additional elements to shape our songwriting and compositions. This album takes a more melodic approach, and we wanted something darker, something more sinister and atmospheric, but not necessarily extreme.”

“I think the last thing any of us wanted to do was to release ‘Spectral Devastation’ part II”, Vogan adds. “The elements in our sound come from a variety of influences in both metal and reaching out into many other genres and styles.

After everything that’s happened between when ‘Spectral Devastation’ was released and now, it certainly contributed to our goal of writing a darker and more explorative album. As musicians, all of us are adaptable to a variety of styles. So bringing something specific that’s needed for a particular song flows very naturally for everyone.”

Building Momentum Again

“To be quite frank, five years is a long time”, Carlson says. “After releasing ‘Spectral Devastation’ under such a rushed deadline to coincide with our scheduled debut EU performance at Keep It True in 2020, ultimately rescheduled due to the pandemic and all of its related uncertainties, we had to pause like everyone else.

When we were finally able to perform live again, and begin touring around the first album and the following EP (‘All Debts on Death’, 2022), we had to reestablish ourselves and build our momentum again. Touring and live shows put a stop to writing, and that’s besides any personal life changes, interpersonal disagreements, or questions of dedication to this project. It hasn’t been easy at all, but despite all of that, we have stayed together, and we did eventually pick up writing and rehearsing new material.

It’s easy to overthink the balance between an established sound and moving forward as a band. It’s very limiting to think we can only write and perform one style, one way, forever. Why would we want to hobble ourselves so completely? We will always sound like Sölicitör as long as our line-up remains the same.

We have so many ideas and influences to draw from, it would be a disservice to ourselves to phone it in or paint by numbers, even if we do have a formula or established process to writing. We are a heavy metal band, sure, but that can be – and should be – so much more than one niche genre or sound.”

“Whatever we write will always sound like us”, Vogan nods. “I don’t feel compelled to stick to any one thing. I don’t want that kind of limitation to get in the way of writing good songs, and flowing with wherever that inspiration is coming from. I just try to follow it in whatever direction it takes me.”

Augmenting the Energy

“‘Spectral Devastation’ was recorded almost live”, Carlson explains. “And so was ‘All Debts on Death’, the following EP. However, we weren’t entirely excited about the drum sound on either release. We made it a point this time around to book a studio that has an excellent room for natural reverb and acoustic quality.

We chose Jack Endino’s Soundhouse. The very same place all of the great Seattle bands of the nineties recorded their breakout records in the grunge and indie rock scenes. One of Patrick’s (guitarist Patrick Fry) student is an intern there. Ultimately, this was a very hands-on approach.”

“We wanted to spend some more time getting things how we wanted them on this album”, Vogan says. “There was such a long gap between our last release and this one that we didn’t want to deliver something that sounded rushed. We wanted to focus on the rhythm section, and we wanted to have the time to layer more intricate guitar and vocal parts.”

“Even if we aren’t playing together, we want to sound as close to what you would hear live as possible”, Carlson emphasizes. “We don’t want or need an overproduced sound. But that doesn’t mean we want to sound like some nineties basement demo either. Maybe there are other ways to approach that, but we want to present ourselves as you would hear us. This record has more overdubs and layers to certain elements than previous releases, but we certainly don’t want to overcomplicate things.”

“Exactly”, Vogan nods. “First and foremost, we are a live band, so capturing that energy and immediacy on record is vital to us. Even with the addition of more overdubs and layering, it’s only meant to augment the overall feeling and energy of the song.”

Conquer, Destroy, and Leave Nothing Standing

“Not a whole lot changed equipment-wise, to be honest”, says Vogan. “I am using an EVH 50 watt now instead of my Randall. We spent so much time on tour that we had more time to dial in what we have.”

“Right, not much has changed at all”, Carlson agrees. “Minimal gear, minimal changes. Maybe a few new pedals or something, but for the most part, everyone’s playing the same equipment as before. We’re not overly complicated in that regard. We don’t use a ton of effects or care much for tone.

We have only recently started using a looped intro track, taken from the ‘All Debts on Death’ EP, for festival appearances. We just want to set up and play and sound exactly the same regardless of where we are playing.

For this record, the songs have not been road-tested at all. We will be debuting many of these live for the first time on our upcoming runs. That isn’t the norm for us, but we took 2024 off completely. So much of this will be played live in front of an audience for the first time this year.

We have had some really great responses to the stuff we have debuted so far, and we like that we are leaving the party metal behind for now. We live in dark times, and these songs reflect that. We can leave the uplifting sentiments to our friends in power metal bands. We are here to conquer, destroy, and leave nothing standing.

That said, you can’t have a relentless wall of sound. There has to be a push and pull in the feel of the set, to bring you up and pull you back down. I feel we execute that exceedingly well with our new material, alongside our previous work.”

“The new songs have worked really well to broaden and complement our live show”, Vogan agrees. “They are adding a sense of dynamics that wasn’t there before.”

Singing What Feels Good Physically

Carlson’s powerful, gruff, but still quite melodic vocals are a very defining feature of Sölicitör’s music. Vogan emphasizes that he is open to alterations to facilitate Carlson during the writing process, but that is hardly necessary: “Either myself or Pat will bring a song to the table, and the vocals will be written on top of what’s there. We may alter some of the structure to accommodate vocal ideas, but usually, they remain as written. Since Amy’s vocals are quite a focal point, we are flexible with anything that needs to change to bring them out.”

“We do have a long-running joke that when Matt brings riffs to the table, I chop them in half”, Carlson smiles. “And oftentimes what the guys write to be a chorus end up becoming a verse, haha! But we don’t write with my vocal range in mind at all, to be honest. To be fair, I don’t use my full range often enough, nor have I put much thought into keys or key changes or anything like that.

I sing what feels good to me physically. But that might change as we continue to produce new songs and material, and introduce other elements into our writing. To bring this back to balancing our established sound: I really think it’s an evolution of the band to be able to explore such a loose approach. We really just try to write what feels right, what serves each individual song. If it makes you move, if it makes you feel something, we know we’re on the right track. And we can go from there.”

A Sudden and Violent Release of Energy

‘Enemy in Mirrors’ also shows a slightly altered lyrical approach from Carlson: “This time, I decided to write several stories told from the first-person perspective rather than a broader third-person view, as I’m exploring multiple points of view through some of these songs. I have attempted to expand the lore around our Speed Tyrant character. I really wanted to delve into what that villainous creature would be thinking or feeling or justifying within themselves as they move through this fictional apocalyptic world of conquest we have built.”

Carlson is also responsible for the artwork of ‘Enemy in Mirrors’, which is quite a departure from the more hand-drawn style of their previous releases. “After some serious hurdles in the original art approach, we began to run out of time”, she admits. “Nothing was sticking. We weren’t happy. So we dialed it back to square one, and I went ahead and came up with a mock-up of that image while in the studio, ran it by the guys, and there we have it.

A shattered mirror, a broken window, a sudden and violent release of energy, a quiet and lingering reminder of something gone wrong. It reminds me more of the kind of thing you would see in a dream than an actual event. I don’t want to wax poetic on it forever; I just wanted a simple, hard graphic that expressed some finality.”

Narrative within a Narrative

Musically, Sölicitör has always been very riff-heavy, both Vogan and Fry providing those riffs. All their releases so far, however, have also featured some spectacularly old school soloing from both guitarists. “Sometimes, the solos are divided in the room”, Vogan explains. “And sometimes, a song is written with a specific place for each of us to take a solo. It’s not an integral part of the songwriting process, though. If a solo doesn’t fit in a song, we won’t try to force it.

As far as solo composition, I can only speak for myself, but I usually let the song develop to an almost finished state before I write a solo on top. I want it to fit the overarching sound and idea of the song, so I strive to be adaptable. I tend to feel it out and compose the solo according to how it reacts to what’s already there. Sort of a narrative within a narrative.”

A Lot of Places to Knock Off the List

Following the release of ‘Spectral Devastation’ and ‘All Debts on Death’, Sölicitör has had the chance to play live in Europe as well as North America. “Hands down, Europe has better funding for music and art”, Carlson states. “You are treated extremely well, and the fans are grateful to have you there. In the United States, it’s very difficult to tour unless you are either incredibly well-connected in the underground so you break even on a DIY tour, or at the level of support band for larger tour packages that you don’t have to pay to play.

We have toured almost exclusively DIY in the US, and we have managed to break even every time, with the exception of 2022, when we lost our van mid-tour and had to purchase a new vehicle. We are still breaking through in Europe, but I expect we’ll be returning sooner than later, and more often.

I want to see us play out of the country more often. I want to return to Canada, I want a full EU tour, from Portugal to Poland, and everywhere between. I want to play Greece, I want to see us play the UK for the first time ever. I want to play Japan, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. I want to play Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. We have a lot of places to knock off the list.

I want to continue to dial in our live show, and find those bands and promoters that we vibe best with. I want to expand our horizons and bring our band to every stage possible, and interface with every fan we can.”