Solar Halos-Solar Halos

Devouter Records
2014

Chapel Hill's music scene never ceases to amaze me. From punk and hardcore to alternative/college rock (and yes, even heavy metal!) this is one area of America that has given us more great music then you could ever (reasonably) expect to work your way through! It's like you could just shake the trees there or something and cool bands would just fall off like leaves! I could easily devout a week's worth or articles on Chapel Hill's music scene and it wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface of the amazing talent that has come from there! And now we have the band Solar Halos which is made up of current and former members of  Horseback, Caltrop, Fin Fang Foom, and The Curtains of Night. On their soon to released debut album (due out later in January in three different formats-digital, CD and vinyl!) this North Carolina 3-piece effortlessly draws the listener in with their mix of heavy rock, fuzzed-out doom and (melodic) stoner rock all while tiptoeing between the light and dark! Nora Rogers, who handles vocals and guitars, is easily a highlight here as her voice offers the listener equal parts enchantment and dread. With Eddie Sanchez on bass and vocals and John Crouch on drums this is much more then just the latest & greatest band to rock it's way out of Chapel Hill scene. In Solar Halos we find a band that balances heavier riffs with softer drumming and on their debut release, which features 6 tracks that (collectively) total 39 minutes and 39 seconds, the band works hard at giving the listener challenging music that is still easily digestible. When Solar Halos works it's magic just right they achieve the almost impossible by offering up contrasting tones that swirl in and out in perfect sync while still being firmly rooted in natural, garage-approved rock. For fans of heavy, stoner rock and roll (psychedelic doom-style) it won't get much better then this 3-piece or their self-titled debut and yes, I'd like to think that this is one album that would defiantly benefit from have it's fuzzy warm sound laid down on vinyl!