Shameless plug:
http://www.geocities.com/lordsardonyx/Bands/Sardonyx.htm
and
http://www.geocities.com/lordsardonyx/evilmusic.htm
I was surprised when I learned that Ron counts Gordon Lightfoot as one of his influences. Ron's music tends to be very dark, where Gordon Lightfoot's generally does not; but in the music of "Beyond the Golden Veil" the influence is rather obvious. I particularly like the title track of the album.
At the concert, I told him that the guitar work sounded really good; after hearing the CD, I told him that the vocals on the CD were really good. Sadly, he could not get the rich sound of the guitar to come through all that well in the recordings. For a CD which literally was recorded in a basement, it sounds very good.
Anyway, at one of the Halloween parties that Ron and his wife hold every year, I heard the first track of Solitude Aeternus' "Through the Darkest Hour" and instantly liked it. I obtained a copy of the CD and every once in a while I pull it out and listen to it. The first track is titled "Falling"; but one of the best tracks on the CD is called "Pain". "Pain" has the same kind of driving bass line that "Falling" has, but they lyrics make a bit more sense; the song has an acoustic bridge which sounds like an entirely different track. On the Dolby 7.1 stereo system it has a phenominal sound.
But, like much of the music Ron really enjoys, it's not exactly the soundtrack for "Hello Kitty". That's okay, though.
Other shameless plug: If you're the kind of person who likes black metal or death metal, check out his web site (http://www.blackmetaldvds.com/) for videos of concerts and other metal-realted goodies that he has for sale.
