Artist: Solution .45
Title: Nightmares In The Waking State Part 1
Label: AFM Records
Cat #: AFM4472
Release Date: 2015
Duration: Album 
Format: CD
Packaging Type: Jewel Case

Solution .45 formed in late 2007 as a conceptual entity, but never blossomed into fruition until fall 2008, when Christian Älvestam (Unmoored, Miseration, Torchbearer, ex- Scar Symmetry), Jani Stefanovic (Miseration, Essence Of Sorrow), Anders Edlund (ex-Solar Dawn), Rolf Pilve (Stratovarius, Essence Of Sorrow), Tom Gardiner (Essence Of Sorrow, ex- Mors Principium Est), and Mikko Harkin (ex-Sonata Arctica, Kotipelto) recorded an 8-track demo with Thomas "Plec" Johansson (Scar Symmetry, Watain) handling production-duties.

Being impressed with the unfinished demo songs, Germany's AFM Records and Japan's Marquee/Avolon Inc signed the band to record deals in 2009. With these in place, SOLUTION .45 went back to “Plec's” Panic Room Studios to finally record their debut album. Entitled "For Aeons Past", and released in March 2010, SOLUTION .45's first full-length effort was unanimously praised by critics and fans as a triumphantly infectious, yet meaty release that the metal scene needed.

In late 2011, SOLUTION .45 were invited to play the legendary ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, Georgia. The band flew over to the USA to play its first show ever in September 2012 — some had flown in from as far as Japan just to see the performance.

At the beginning of the process of writing the new material, the band desired to develop their sound from “For Aeons Past”, but the end result turned out to be so much more. After hearing the final results (19 songs written and recorded), the band quickly realized what they had accomplished. The new direction contained all the ingredients “For Aeons Past” was known for but with added groove, aggression and darker elements. A dynamic journey from soft moody parts to soaring aggressive, darker elements. The end result was something that older fans would find familiar, with a heavy dose of “and then some”.

The collaboration with Thomas “Plec” Johansson/Panic Room Studios remained strong. And still now, with the release of “Nightmares In The Waking State - Part I” the team seems to work successfully. Even though the line-up has changed over the last five years, the aim to produce high class metal music is still the main requirement on themselves, due to the effort of Jani Stefanovic and Christian Älvestam.

“Nightmares In The Waking State - Part I” is again a lesson in modern metal taught by the same people that helped write the book on the genre: crushing mammoth riffs, melancholic passages, infectious hooks, and blistering solos.

Recommended if you like: In Flames, Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Mercenary, Scar Symmetry, Nightrage, Dark Tranquillity, The Haunted, Insomnium, Children of Bodom, Mors Principium Est

Track Listing:
01. Wanderer From The Fold
02. Perfecting The Void
03. Bleed Heavens Dry
04. Winning Where Losing Is All
05. In Moments Of Despair
06. Second To None
07. Targeting Blaze
08. Alter (The Unbearable Weight Of Nothing)
09. Wield The Scepter
10. I, Nemesis