Review by Jack on July 8, 2002.

There is some great material from oddball duo, Lazare and Cornelius on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, the sort of good stuff one would lump into the same category as Finntroll for their mad-cap antics on giving black metal a new, fun and wholesome image.

So in essence Solefald at their grass roots are born and bred black metal. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, is a concept album about two fellows; Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain, maybe two alter egos for Cornelius and Lazare... who knows? Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain are two brothers suffering in the world because of a tragic destiny for which they must fulfill.

Musically, this album bounces around like it has been locked in an asylum for some twenty years. Can you imagine how you would feel if someone locked you away for twenty years for no good reason? Would you be pissed with the world, would you feel queer and maybe you would have a different take on life? Now imagine you have a black metal background like these two lads and had been locked away for those twenty years? “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is the product of a warped mind and jilted transposition of how a person or persons see the world.

Vocally, Lazare and Cornelius both chew through the twisted lyrics of “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” with alter egos. We have a rather standard non-groundbreaking black rasp/roar, which is a little too guttural for normal black metal but still works quite compellingly; on the other hand we are treated to some goth-vocals that seem to be capped with a hint of a cropped English accent.

My problem with “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is while it is all well and good to jump around the black metal stage like some infatuated teenage lass, it would help to have an ounce of clarity within their grasp. There are some wonderful moments on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, but I honestly get a headache every second song, this is coming from someone who goes through metal records everyday like an Eskimo goes through matches trying to light a fire in a blizzard.
So much is attempted on Solefald that after a while it becomes boring and actually quite irritating to listen to. Lots of people have claimed “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” to be an intelligent and thought provoking record, personally I believe this to be a load of crap, all Solefald come across to me is contrived and dull.

Bottom Line: I was, initially, really interested in hearing this album from Solefald, but unfortunately it shoots wide of the target. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is too vague and overly eclectic to be a real eye-opener.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 6
Originality: 5
Overall: 3

Rating: 4.8 out of 10

Review by Jack on July 8, 2002.

There is some great material from oddball duo, Lazare and Cornelius on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, the sort of good stuff one would lump into the same category as Finntroll for their mad-cap antics on giving black metal a new, fun and wholesome image.

So in essence Solefald at their grass roots are born and bred black metal. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, is a concept album about two fellows; Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain, maybe two alter egos for Cornelius and Lazare... who knows? Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain are two brothers suffering in the world because of a tragic destiny for which they must fulfill.

Musically, this album bounces around like it has been locked in an asylum for some twenty years. Can you imagine how you would feel if someone locked you away for twenty years for no good reason? Would you be pissed with the world, would you feel queer and maybe you would have a different take on life? Now imagine you have a black metal background like these two lads and had been locked away for those twenty years? “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is the product of a warped mind and jilted transposition of how a person or persons see the world.

Vocally, Lazare and Cornelius both chew through the twisted lyrics of “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” with alter egos. We have a rather standard non-groundbreaking black rasp/roar, which is a little too guttural for normal black metal but still works quite compellingly; on the other hand we are treated to some goth-vocals that seem to be capped with a hint of a cropped English accent.

My problem with “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is while it is all well and good to jump around the black metal stage like some infatuated teenage lass, it would help to have an ounce of clarity within their grasp. There are some wonderful moments on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, but I honestly get a headache every second song, this is coming from someone who goes through metal records everyday like an Eskimo goes through matches trying to light a fire in a blizzard.
So much is attempted on Solefald that after a while it becomes boring and actually quite irritating to listen to. Lots of people have claimed “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” to be an intelligent and thought provoking record, personally I believe this to be a load of crap, all Solefald come across to me is contrived and dull.

Bottom Line: I was, initially, really interested in hearing this album from Solefald, but unfortunately it shoots wide of the target. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is too vague and overly eclectic to be a real eye-opener.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 6
Originality: 5
Overall: 3

Rating: 4.8 out of 10

Review by Jack on July 8, 2002.

There is some great material from oddball duo, Lazare and Cornelius on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, the sort of good stuff one would lump into the same category as Finntroll for their mad-cap antics on giving black metal a new, fun and wholesome image.

So in essence Solefald at their grass roots are born and bred black metal. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, is a concept album about two fellows; Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain, maybe two alter egos for Cornelius and Lazare... who knows? Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain are two brothers suffering in the world because of a tragic destiny for which they must fulfill.

Musically, this album bounces around like it has been locked in an asylum for some twenty years. Can you imagine how you would feel if someone locked you away for twenty years for no good reason? Would you be pissed with the world, would you feel queer and maybe you would have a different take on life? Now imagine you have a black metal background like these two lads and had been locked away for those twenty years? “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is the product of a warped mind and jilted transposition of how a person or persons see the world.

Vocally, Lazare and Cornelius both chew through the twisted lyrics of “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” with alter egos. We have a rather standard non-groundbreaking black rasp/roar, which is a little too guttural for normal black metal but still works quite compellingly; on the other hand we are treated to some goth-vocals that seem to be capped with a hint of a cropped English accent.

My problem with “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is while it is all well and good to jump around the black metal stage like some infatuated teenage lass, it would help to have an ounce of clarity within their grasp. There are some wonderful moments on “Pills Against the Ageless Ills”, but I honestly get a headache every second song, this is coming from someone who goes through metal records everyday like an Eskimo goes through matches trying to light a fire in a blizzard.
So much is attempted on Solefald that after a while it becomes boring and actually quite irritating to listen to. Lots of people have claimed “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” to be an intelligent and thought provoking record, personally I believe this to be a load of crap, all Solefald come across to me is contrived and dull.

Bottom Line: I was, initially, really interested in hearing this album from Solefald, but unfortunately it shoots wide of the target. “Pills Against the Ageless Ills” is too vague and overly eclectic to be a real eye-opener.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 6
Originality: 5
Overall: 3

Rating: 4.8 out of 10

Review by Fran on November 17, 2020.

This EP premiered just a bit ago and I’ve got to say I’m delightfully impressed with the upgrade on the band’s sound compared to the demo. While it’s exactly the same idea, death/doom with scandinavian influences and cavernous production, it’s better executed here. The atmospheric and drone dimension of their trademark sound is still present but the songwriting is way more dynamic; the riffing is fairly simple and old school but interesting to the ear because songs get a resolution now, with the intense parts that are technically a little bit more demanding on the strings. Even though the main themes of the songs develop over slow and mid paced tempos, there are more blast beats or aggressive and fast tupa tupa beats, the use of the cymbals is a little bit more prominent and classy, the same with the rolls and the breaks. The double hammer on the bass drums is barely required and scarcely used.

The bass guitar’s distortion can be noted more as an individual instrument but it never really drifts away from the rhythmic guitars, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The raw tone of the low end is so rotten that it adds an awkward but satisfactory, flatulent and crunchy texture. The vocal play is probably the best part of the record and the band in general, not because of how br00tal the gutturals are but for the clarity of the diction and the easy flow of the vocalization, that give the music a human soul rather than sounding inhumanly deep (The effect it provokes is very deep though). They have three vocalists, the bassist and the couple of guitarists.

The rhythm section of the band is simple but effective and with such a good mix every instrument can be fully heard individually. The guitar tone is very acid and thin, like the shadow of a ghost... if something like that actually existed. Despite having an elusive edge inherent to the excessive and dismal reverb, the processing is so nitid and solid… I read Dan Lownes was in charge of mastering duties, so probably he has a share of responsibility for that. I recommend this to anyone wishing for a slow death, which is guaranteed.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Fran on November 17, 2020.

This EP premiered just a bit ago and I’ve got to say I’m delightfully impressed with the upgrade on the band’s sound compared to the demo. While it’s exactly the same idea, death/doom with scandinavian influences and cavernous production, it’s better executed here. The atmospheric and drone dimension of their trademark sound is still present but the songwriting is way more dynamic; the riffing is fairly simple and old school but interesting to the ear because songs get a resolution now, with the intense parts that are technically a little bit more demanding on the strings. Even though the main themes of the songs develop over slow and mid paced tempos, there are more blast beats or aggressive and fast tupa tupa beats, the use of the cymbals is a little bit more prominent and classy, the same with the rolls and the breaks. The double hammer on the bass drums is barely required and scarcely used.

The bass guitar’s distortion can be noted more as an individual instrument but it never really drifts away from the rhythmic guitars, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The raw tone of the low end is so rotten that it adds an awkward but satisfactory, flatulent and crunchy texture. The vocal play is probably the best part of the record and the band in general, not because of how br00tal the gutturals are but for the clarity of the diction and the easy flow of the vocalization, that give the music a human soul rather than sounding inhumanly deep (The effect it provokes is very deep though). They have three vocalists, the bassist and the couple of guitarists.

The rhythm section of the band is simple but effective and with such a good mix every instrument can be fully heard individually. The guitar tone is very acid and thin, like the shadow of a ghost... if something like that actually existed. Despite having an elusive edge inherent to the excessive and dismal reverb, the processing is so nitid and solid… I read Dan Lownes was in charge of mastering duties, so probably he has a share of responsibility for that. I recommend this to anyone wishing for a slow death, which is guaranteed.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Alex on August 5, 2020.

Rarely a day goes by without some new death metal band living up to the promise of delivering old school mishaps. Tell me 'Do you know the way to San José?', you might want to go there sometime after you're done hearing The Lower Levels of Sentience. Astriferous hail from Costa Rica (as you have probably figured by now), and they play a pulverizing style of traditional death metal. However, woven deep in the fabric of this quartet is a death/doom metal flicker that raises every now and then for the duration of The Lower Levels of Sentience.

Crossing paths with Incantation and Cannibal Corpse on their way to The Lower Levels of Sentience, Astriferous borrow some of the bands traits and give them rigid incorporation. NOT to be fooled, Astriferous arrive with their own penchants aiding the fluent formation of the record. At the glance of an eye 'Ghost Universe' takes the listener on a somnambulic journey through the ethereal with a collage composed of pinch harmonics, diverse breaks into thrash metal and blast beats scattered throughout the track.

Astriferous then through their nocturnal soundscapes, take things up a notch on 'Exercises in Tantric Sorcery', arguably their best moment on The Lower Levels of Sentience. A death/doom metal session of therapy spiraling into the groovy realms of the subgenre with a gloomy overcast of stygian vocals hovering atop the combative thunderstorm of lethal drumming and riffing in both doom laced and blazing sections.

At this juncture no doubt persists that Astriferous are more than fucking competent at what they do, but to reinforce that feeling of absolute impression, 'Myraid of Grotesquerie' and 'Necrohallucination' cast down the band's most execrable embrocation. 'Necrohallucination' primarily amplifies everything pleasurable on The Lower Levels of Sentence. Jumbling together doom metal movements with those of devastating death growls and frantically played blast beats to conjure an atmosphere summating the album.

Only 20 minutes yet colossal in totality, The Lower Levels of Sentience is inescapable all the while transfixing.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Alex on August 5, 2020.

Rarely a day goes by without some new death metal band living up to the promise of delivering old school mishaps. Tell me 'Do you know the way to San José?', you might want to go there sometime after you're done hearing The Lower Levels of Sentience. Astriferous hail from Costa Rica (as you have probably figured by now), and they play a pulverizing style of traditional death metal. However, woven deep in the fabric of this quartet is a death/doom metal flicker that raises every now and then for the duration of The Lower Levels of Sentience.

Crossing paths with Incantation and Cannibal Corpse on their way to The Lower Levels of Sentience, Astriferous borrow some of the bands traits and give them rigid incorporation. NOT to be fooled, Astriferous arrive with their own penchants aiding the fluent formation of the record. At the glance of an eye 'Ghost Universe' takes the listener on a somnambulic journey through the ethereal with a collage composed of pinch harmonics, diverse breaks into thrash metal and blast beats scattered throughout the track.

Astriferous then through their nocturnal soundscapes, take things up a notch on 'Exercises in Tantric Sorcery', arguably their best moment on The Lower Levels of Sentience. A death/doom metal session of therapy spiraling into the groovy realms of the subgenre with a gloomy overcast of stygian vocals hovering atop the combative thunderstorm of lethal drumming and riffing in both doom laced and blazing sections.

At this juncture no doubt persists that Astriferous are more than fucking competent at what they do, but to reinforce that feeling of absolute impression, 'Myraid of Grotesquerie' and 'Necrohallucination' cast down the band's most execrable embrocation. 'Necrohallucination' primarily amplifies everything pleasurable on The Lower Levels of Sentence. Jumbling together doom metal movements with those of devastating death growls and frantically played blast beats to conjure an atmosphere summating the album.

Only 20 minutes yet colossal in totality, The Lower Levels of Sentience is inescapable all the while transfixing.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10