13

A heavily demented record layered with monstrous riffs and relentless solos, Solace's 13 sounds as stomach-turning and power hungry as vintage Sabbath. And like early Black Sabbath, there's something earthy and real about Solace — when the harmonica comes in on "Loving Sickness/Burning Fuel," for example, the out-in-the-woods stoner undercurrents rise to the surface. 13 is filled with horror movie gloom ("Once Around the Sun [Deep Through Time]") and a medieval, metal vibe (Pentagram's "Forever My Queen"), but mostly Solace just all-out rocks — like Queens of the Stone Age's East Coast cousins, like the wicked heirs to Soundgarden's throne, like the band that Audioslave wishes it was. With guest guitar and vocals from Wino (Saint Vitus, Obsessed, Spirit Caravan) on the grooving "Common Cause" and even a grinding, spaced-out ambient track ("Theme..."), 13 is a textured, fully realized record that thoroughly explores the dark, dank, and propulsive side of rock & roll.