Sol Invictus

Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford were the masterminds of Crisis, one of the earliest political punk bands. Holocaust Hymns compiles the mini-album Hymns Of Faith, three singles and rarities. Pearce and Wakeford later formed Death In June. Wakeford split with his old partner and started Sol Invictus with Gareth Smith and Ian Read, ex Current 93 collaborator.

(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

The mini-album Against The Modern World (Eyes Media, 1988), whose title track remains one of the highlights of the Sol Invictus project, presents a magical and ancestral folk of Druidic origin, enriched with electronic and classical-style arrangements, devoted to themes that are depressed if not macabre. Sol Veritas Lux (Tursa, 1990) includes Against the Modern World and the EP In the Jaws of the Serpent.

The early tracks, such as the single See The Dove Fall (Shock, 1987), rely on solid foundations of noise, electronics, and mechanical beats. The single Looking For Europe (World Serpent) also showcases an anguished tribalism.

Trees In Winter (Tursa, 1990), without Smith but with Karl Blake of Shock Headed Peters, is still a transitional work. More than the monotonous chants of English Murder and Gold Is King, or their tediously fatalistic lyrics, what matters are their electronic introductions. It is only in the title track that the solemn tones of the vocals and the dark backdrop of electronics and guitar find a suggestive meeting point.

Killing Tide (Tursa, 1991), which largely revisits material from the previous album, is Wakeford’s solo record, as Read had also left the group. Wakeford changes course, focusing on atmospheric synthesizers and soothing accompaniments.

King & Queen (Tursa, 1992) employs an ensemble including cello, flute, and organ. This does not change the fact that Wakeford, a dreadful singer, manages little more than to imitate the semi-acoustic sound of Death In June.

A collaboration with Steve Stapleton of Nurse With Wound was also released: Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish (Tursa, 1992). An untitled triple release includes a Sol Invictus disc, later reissued as Lex Talionis.

Wakeford also recorded under his own name La Croix (Tursa, 1993), equally pathetic in its attempt to establish a chamber-ballad style. The long title track marks the beginning of his paranoia regarding the decadence of Europe.

Death Of The West (Tursa, 1994), a collection of unreleased and previously released material revised for the occasion, continues from there, with oboes, flutes, and cellos.

In The Rain (Tursa, 1995) stubbornly repeats the vices and virtues of the artist, increasingly constrained in his pessimistic view of modern society, ever more identified with the role of apocalyptic prophet.

Cupid And Death (Tursa, 1996), Wakeford’s second solo album, continues a parallel program of music that is more instrumental than vocal. Wakeford is now obsessed with medieval minstrelsy and attempts to transfer it into rock music, adopting the pose of a social commentator.

Blade (Tursa, 1997), by Sol Invictus, returns to the pagan themes dear to him. Flautist Sally Doherty joined the lineup.

Autumn Calls (Tursa, 1998), a collaboration between Wakeford and Tor Lundvall, offers a form of late-period new age music.

Ian Read formed Fire & Ice, which seems to have carried the torch of Sol Invictus. Gilded By The Sun (NER, 1992 – Tesco, 2004), with Blood On The Snow and Gilded By The Sun, Hollow Ways (NER, 1994), featuring Lord of Secrets, Midwinter Fires (Asafoetida, 1994), and Seasons of Ice (Asafoetida, 1997), which collects unreleased tracks and live versions, quickly established them among the leading figures of the new British folk scene. Runa (Tesco, 1996) is perhaps Fire & Ice’s best album, or at least the mature expression of their style: languid and emphatic ballads imbued with the spirit of northern fairy tales, built on acoustic guitar melodies and enhanced with elegant touches of keyboards, horns, and percussion. But Birdking (Tesco, 2000) is one too many of these semi-acoustic collections.

L’Orchestre Noire is Wakeford’s “classical” project, which debuted with Cantos (Tursa, 1997), a collection of orchestral romances dedicated to mythological themes (some sung in Latin), and continued with Eleven (Tursa, 1999), another philosophical concept album, this time devoted to war.