Solar Soul

From crude black metal to finessed industrial electronics, Samael's long and not always smooth career path has left many fans upset and stranded by the roadside -- especially due to the erratic qualities of 1999's electro-metal hangover Eternal (a rude awakening after the euphoric genius of 1996's Passage) and the radical trip-hop departures of 2004's otherwise impressive Reign of Light. With their seventh long-player, 2007's Solar Soul, the Swiss quartet appeared to be striving to achieve some kind of historical balance between all of these disparate styles. As a result, numbers like "Promised Land," "Valkyries' New Ride," and the title track see the band re-injecting some of the analog metal elements of early-day efforts into its still thoroughly digital aesthetic, thus rendering those songs at once inventive and worthy of a good headbang. Unfortunately, another fair portion of Solar Soul's songs, such as the slow-poke "Alliance," "Olympus," and the Indian music-laced "Quasar Waves,"