I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as Courtney Love puts into maintaining the appearance of being sane.

First up today we have the video for “Breakdowns Breakdowns Breakdowns,” from Bury Your Breakdown. Because original vocalist Mat Breakdown has returned to the fold, some people are calling this “the comeback of the year.” Those people need to listen to the new Decapitated album. Although I suspect they may not enjoy it do to a severe absence of breakdowns. Because people who love Bury Your Breakdown really break down breakdowns. I mean, they can’t breakdown with break, d’own? Breakdown breakdown breakdown, breakdown downbreak break down breakdown! HA! Breaky breakdowns.

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If I were the dudes in Scar Symmetry I’d be a little miffed right about now. Super-vocalist Christian Alvestam leaves your band and then proceeds to join 367 other bands, many of whom sound a whole lot like Scar Symmetry, instantly making them all better and attracting new fans from all over the world. Meanwhile you poor saps are stuck with two vocalists, neither of whom are all that special and both of whom look completely lost on stage when the other is singing. On top of that, everyone called bullshit on the auto-tuned / pro-toolsed mess that was your latest album, although some of the tunes are certainly respectable thanks to the genius that is Jonas Kjellgren.

Meanwhile, Christian Alvestam seems to be on top of the Swedish melodeath world; your abilities as a skilled metal vocalist were instantly dignified when your former band struggled mightily to replace you, and you’ve gotten to cherry pick which projects your lend your voice to without the grueling, long-term commitment of touring. You’ve probably also got a normal day job so you don’t have to worry about money on a day-to-day basis.

The most Scar Symmetry-like of Christian Alvestam’s post-SS bands, of course, is Solution .45. For Aeons Past, released earlier this year, is a damn fan disc; so many of the songs could be on a Scar Symmetry album and you’ve certainly have me fooled. And from the looks of this new video for “Gravitational Lensing,” the dudes actually move around on stage.

-VN

Melodeath fans! Have you heard about Solution .45, the new kinda-sorta supergroup featuring Christian Alvestam (ex-Death Jovi Scar Symmetry) on vocals and Miseration’s Jani Stefanovic on guitars? Clearly this band is gonna get a lot of attention – as if their all-star line-up wasn’t enough, Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne wrote all the lyrics for the group’s debut album, For Aeons Past.

Our bestest buds over at Metal Injection have an exclusive download of a new song by the band, entitled “Gravitational_Lensing.” If you like bands like Scar Symmetry and DT, it’s really, really hard for me to believe you won’t dig this.

Download the song here, then let us know what you think in the comments section below!

-AR

While Scar Symmetry have been busy making music with two new singers that sound like their old one, that old one — Christian Alvestam — has been busy with a ton of new projects of his own. Among them is the very promising Solution.45, a band that also features Mikko Härkin (Cain’s Offering, ex- Sonata Arctica, Kotipelto), Jani Stefanovic (Miseration, Essence Of Sorrow), Tom Gardiner (Hateform, ex- Mors Principium Est), Anders Edlund (Angel Blake), and Rolf Pilve (Miseration).

Solution.45 are currently in the studio recording their debut album. According to an update sent by the band exclusively to MetalSucks, the music is “just about done” and Christian is currently finishing up his vocals. The record will be completely finished and mastered by the end of December, and should see a release this Spring via AFM Records and Marquee/Avalon. The cover artwork will be done by Pär Olofsson, the artist behind the latest Immortal and The Faceless album covers. The album will also feature a few guest appearances, including a few vocal spots by Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity. Neat-o!

Check out a 7 minute teaser of demo material at Solution.45′s MySpace page. It’s good stuff.

-VN