THE ANSWER: Solas (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

For those who know the Irish well, Solas, which means "light" in Gaelic, responds to the particularly trying period that the singer, Cormac Neeson, lived through recently, spending many months at the side of his prematurely born son, who almost died. This painful experience permeates the entire sixth offering, not by plunging it into the darkness of despair, but on the contrary, by giving it a saving and luminous force as well as a maturity that its authors were slow to show, despite a series of records, each one more solid than the last.

Without renouncing this writing as generous as warm as illustrated by a 'Demon Driven Man' with a swaying rhythm and which remind us of 'Led Zeppelin III' or this pleasant and quiet 'Untrue Colour', although without surprise, It seems obvious that the classic rock that The Answer has been forging for the last fifteen years has gained, if not in gravity, at least in thickness, to the point of revealing us a metamorphosed - better, transfigured - band.

The first three tracks aren't only the most inspired, they are also the ones that embody the most precisely this mutation, this greatness finally reached, between the eponymous 'Solas' that launches the listening with an unprecedented emotional power, slow and rocky pulsation haunted by Cormac's deep voice, which gives a heart-rending shiver at the end of a final irrigated by a vibrantly beautiful guitar solo, a surprisingly melancholic 'Beautiful World' and an energetic and percussive 'Battle Cry' whose Celtic accents also hide a certain fragility.

With the exception of the energetic 'Left Me Standing', probably the weakest track of the lot even if it proves to be very pleasant, emotion is the keyword of this opus which it wraps with tenderness like a vaporous veil ('In This Land'), making it a miraculous work which has heart and soul. 'Thief Of Light', rooted in this warm Irish land, and 'Tunnel' are two delicate breaths, bucolic for the first, cathartic and full of seventies hues for the second, which sum up the essence of this album touched by grace. This owner's tour would not be complete without mentioning the amazing 'Real Life Dreamers', a bluesy pearl that sees Neeson sharing the microphone with singer Fiona O'Kane for a very Irish charming result.

We knew it was solid, we discover with this almost resurrectional "Solas", streaming life through every pore, every note, that The Answer has become (very) great. - Official website

THE ANSWER

SOLAS

NAPALM RECORDS

ROCK