The History of Solemnity...

...follow the Axe - this is Metal!

Out of the ashes of the last millennium, deeply influenced by the metal scene of the 80s there rose like a phoenix out of nowhere Solemnity in the winter of 1998/99 to further on reign from the throne of metal.

Soon the band made itself an unforgettable name while playing together with acts such as METAL CHURCH, THUNDERHEAD, ANGEL DUST, SACRED STEEL or WIZARD.

To survive a SOLEMNITY concert means to be chosen and to carry out their name in glory into the world and to be a thane to the call of HEAVY HORROR METAL, a genre which the band nearly holds alone.

The music of SOLEMNITY shows a wide spectrum of influences, for instance you can hear the spirit of the early MANOWAR, OVERKILL, IRON MAIDEN or HELLOWEEN in it. You can hear as well the sound of the underground in the music of the five-piece-band which was influenced by cult acts such as MANILLA ROAD, CIRITH UNGOL, DEATH   SS or WARLORD.

2001...

...saw the light of REIGN IN HELL which brings you eight songs of total metal mayhem of the first league, which once heard will forever convince you! An exclusive artwork by the fantasy-master himself KEN KELLY was bought for the front cover of this record and of course he is known to every metalhead for his great drawings for artists such as MANOWAR or KISS. The album was mastered at the world's famous Eroc Mastering Ranch, where bands as JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH, URIAH HEEP, NAZARETH or ROSE TATTOO got their fundamental sound from. For that reason REIGN IN HELL has the most powerful sound you could wish to your favourite metal album.

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2003...

...was followed up by the gigantic masterpiece KING OF DREAMS and with that one they finally wrote metal-history. Again they have written eight new tracks of perfection which were even crowned by SPIRITS OF THE DEAD – a cover tune of the legendary MANILLA ROAD. The mighty STEVE SYLVESTER of the Italian horror-occult-band DEATH SS joined forces on the ten-minute epic track VAMPIRE´S DANCE and they simply made an unforgettable outstanding album.

As in the 90s the entertainment factor of so called heavy metal bands was reduced to the minimum SOLEMNITY like to give the addicted fan everything of his inner delights of what he likes to see at a concert. There are countless costumes , flying axes, burning swords and crosses, hankers, vampires, chalices full of blood, tons of explosions and pyrotechnics that all satisfy the eyes of the deserving metalhead, plus a four-piece-band that rips your bones out of your corpse.

This was demonstrated as a headliner at the favourite Headbangers Open Air where the band was slinging their axes 2002 amongst acts such as SLOUGH FEG, TWISTED TOWER DIRE, VORTEX, IRON CROSS or HOLY MOSES and left a totally enchanted crowd. Moreover they headlined the first ever Keep It True Festival 2003 among underground stars such as OMEN, BROCAS HELM, KILLER or KILLERS and they advanced huge glory both by fans and international press.

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2004...

After rumbles in the band about the direction to take in the future, main songwriter and icon of the obscure live-spectacle SVEN THE AXE reformed the line-up in Spring 2004 to work furtheron on one of the best albums humanity has ever seen. New songs like AXE ATTACK, MEPHISTO, QUEEN OF HADES or RED MONK let former stars like IRON MAIDEN or MANOWAR freeze their faces in humility and they look up to Solemnity aware of the fact that they can´t build classics of this quality today anymore.

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2005...

SHOCKWAVE OF STEEL was released in the Summer of 2005 and yes you will name it in one breath together with all your other favourite metal-albums! Though this milestone was majorly ignored in Germany like a prophet in its country it gained huge success in Eastern Europe, Russia (thanks to a cover tune of ARIA), Asia, North & South America and some countries in Europe which you wouldn't believe to have such a strong metal-scene. The album sold already 17.000 times which is enormous for a band that releases everything on its own label which is ignored by the dumb major-press which seems to be controlled by a handful of distribution companies.

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2006 & 2007...

Nevertheless the success is the only thing that counts (!!!) and ANOTHER BLOODY SABBATH brought you another SIX songs on the base of a mini-CD in 2006. A combination of unreleased, live, cover tunes and bizarre bridged the time till early 2007 which sees the light of ONE RODE TO ASA BAY, the project that took most of the time in 2006. Solemnity have recorded live on 64 tracks at the Ulmer Münster, Ulm, Germany- in the highest church on earth - a cover tune of the legendary song by Bathory together with members of the Bamberg Symphonic Orchestra. Moreover the first video clip of AXE ATTACK was produced and the band recorded a song for the upcoming science-fiction-movie CAPTAIN RIDICULOUS which will be aired in summer 2009.

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2008 & 2009...

Late 2008 saw the light of LORDS OF THE DAMNED the bands finest masterpiece to date. 13 exceptional songs that blast you away to the kingdom of steel. With the new members and long-time friends Frank Pané on guitar and Harry Reischmann on the drums Solemnity reach a higher level of perfectionism. Malmsteen-like solos are marching through thrashing thunderous hymns such as THORN IN THE EYE. Two choirs with in total 60 people were recorded to give the midparts of KISS OF CHAOS, HAIRFÜHRER or KINGDOM OF THE FLAMES never heard before epic drama in catchy metal songs. Strange instruments like sitar, violin or horns are webbed into pounding metal hymns which show you a new spectrum of one of your favourite bands. In the last quarter of 2008 Solemnity finally toured for the first time all of Eastern Europe which was a neck breaking success though in their home country people still fear their fire shows, but as Christmas 2009 will see the light of their first LIVE-DVD "other bands play... Solemnity slay!!!" people will hopefully realize what they have been missing in the past years. Check out the shocking horror from the Bavarian Barbarians!

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2010 & 2011...

After the release of the DVD Sven & Harry put some time on their side-project DORIAN OPERA together with some former friends and brought out the CD "Crusade 1212". Harry was extensively touring as a live-drummer with his band GREGORIAN all over the world. Sven and the former live-drummer of Solemnity PT Lerf put some time into making audio theater in the form of DRAGONBOUND and even composed a great mid-age influenced song called "Tanz in den Tod" which was released in the Dragonbound series by SONY/BMG. In the mid of 2011 SOLEMNITY entered then the studio to record their fifth album to date. Friends such as Andrew Roussak (Dorian Opera) and Ferdy Doernberg (Rough Silk, Axel Rudip Pell, etc.) contributed some original hammond sounds to the songs and the typical SOLEMNITY sound and songs were added this time by two covertunes. "Tower" is a 70s tune by the great New York band ANGEL which was always understated, probably like we are. The second song hails from the White Metal Gods SAVIOUR MACHINE which has always been a favourite of Sven and in contrast to our own show we think it is a great choice. In times of uncountable downloads we searched for the first time for a record company to help us out this time as things are getting too difficult without support in the corrput music biz, but you guess it probably: "We are too old and probably too wise!" to sign a contract with demons...

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2012...

So here we stand ALONE again. On Walpurgisnight 2012 "Circle Of Power" will be released and will close the pentagram forever. We will play a few final shows (wherever there is NO pay-to-play) and close this chapter of musical experience for all eternity. Thanks for the past 15 years!!! "Circle If Power" is our final gift to you!!!

FEEL THE MAGICK FOR THE LAST TIME!!! UNTAMED IT STRIKES!!!!

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