A band can’t help but gain street cred when DARKTHRONE’s Fenriz rants and raves about them. After one listen to Uppsala, Sweden’s IN SOLITUDE and you will know exactly how Fenriz was thinking and feeling.

To put it succinctly, the band play classic metal from the late 70’s/early 80’s with twin guitars, beefy riffing, charismatic vocals, and driving tempos. Band’s such as Paul Di’Anno-era MAIDEN, MERCYFUL FATE, and KING DIAMOND are all clear influences on IN SOLITUDE’s second album, The World. The Flesh. The Devil. But the band also inject their own style among this backdrop with distinct melodies, a great sense of feel in not only the playing but in the atmospheres, and tasty tempo shifts.

The production, courtesy of death metal legend Fred Estby (ex-DISMEMBER), screams classic metal. The mix is natural sounding, organic, and perfectly balanced.

Vocalist Hornper may be tired of hearing it, but he sounds a lot like the almighty King Diamond. Specifically, his vocals sounds like King’s “default” vocals sans the falsettos and theatrics. But hey, Hornper sounds great in his own right.

The World. The Flesh. The Devil appropriately starts off with its fastest, uptempo songs and then transitions into, arguably, more substantive songs that showcase the band’s talents of building a strong atmosphere and feel. Listeners looking for instant gratification during the second half of the record will be disappointed as this is where IN SOLITUDE really takes off and take the listeners on a journey with longer songs. “Demons” is a great example of a song with a long instrumental section with plenty of dynamics that really demonstrates IN SOLITUDE’s talents. “To Her Darkness” simply has awesome, memorable vocal lines that really brings the song home. The 13:44 “On Burning Paths” ends things in dramatic fashion.

The World. The Flesh. The Devil forgoes flash and goes for substance above all, and that’s exactly why it’s the strong album that it is. Enter the fire. (Metal Blade Records)