Well… as I rubbed out my eyes to check the mail I found a nice little package on the floor. Hmm…Solarisis? Never heard of these guys before. Let’s give it a try, shall we? Oh boy, how surprised I was when I quickly shoved this disc into my stereo! Solarisis are a Dutch death metal/thrash metal five piece who were started in 1996 by bassist/vocalist Gijs van Ouwerkerk. The band already have one full length album under their belt, released in 1999. The record was entitled Holland Is Made Of Tofu. Kind of a strange title for a death metal record, but all that aside, this band knows how to destroy! With this demo Towards Extinction, Solarisis come in with a full arsenal and start blasting away with an incredible combo of thrash metal/death metal in the vein of The Haunted, Cannibal Corpse and even a little bit of Marduk! Every single song on this (5 song, including outro) demo is a brutal masterpiece itself. They all feature blasting drum work, incredible guitar riffs and solos, grooving bass lines, not to mention the brutal vocals by Gijs.

Something that surprised me were his lyrics. Unlike many death metal grunters, his lyrics actually make some sense! I give two big thumbs up to the production as well. It all sounds great and very thick. All instruments can be heard as well as the cool effects used here and there. My personal favourite on the disc is Solar Metal, a tribute to all the great metal bands in the entire world. Never have I heard such an awesome tribute that sounds so good. The song just created a big grin on my face! To sum up, Solarisis proved their worth with just 4 full length songs and keep on surprising me after almost a week of listening to this incredible disc! If you’re sick of the usual melodic metal/death metal Solarisis is one band you cannot miss in your collection. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to push the repeat button on my stereo again…