ALBUM REVIEW: SOLSTICE BY A.A. WILLIAMS
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 5 June 2026
A.A. Williams (aka Alex Williams) is an acclaimed British songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is an accomplished pianist, cellist and singer and seems to have a love of heavy metal music. She uses the heavy metal and classical genres with real skill to create music that is sweeping, atmospheric and melancholic. Her blending of musical elements from rock, dark folk, classical, and heavy metal delivers songs full of emotional lyricism and heavy grandeur as she seeks “a saviour from herself” and from “going under”.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, A.A. Williams created two albums, 2020’s ‘Forever Blue’ and the stunning 2021 album ‘Songs From Isolation’ where she covered songs by The Moody Blues, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails and the Deftones with the most spectral and powerful arrangements you will ever hear. Then, she followed those albums with music focused more on heavy rock soundscapes in 2022’s ‘As The Moon Rises’ and on her newest album ‘Solstice’.
The album ‘Solstice’ opens with ‘Poison’, and as soon as those first chords hit, the music makes you want to sit still and listen. The tone of building tension is like watching and listening to a fuse burn. The piano key being hit and the electric guitar riff have a creepy dynamic before the soaring chorus hits with the steady drum beat that mirrors a heartbeat. It’s a captivating start as it takes you “to the very edge”. The following song ‘Wolves’ has the guitar delivering an insistent but delicate riff underpinning the incredible rock vocals before the drums join, and the song swells to a climax. The image of being “tethered to a place” you don’t belong and where it does not matter what you think or believe is disturbing. Then, ‘Little By Little’ has a dead flat synth line with drum and bass distortion that tells a narrative tale of “becoming undone” and love “withering to ash” as time and “luck runs out”. There is a huge breakdown in the middle of the song that metal fans will love. It’s classy and controlled, and fits the atmospheric mood of the album and encapsulates the tone.
“Overwhelmed and Unprepared” leads in to the piano melody of ‘Hold It Together’. The song is an album highlight, and it’s truly spooky and beautiful. The vocals are superb and crystal clear. The songwriting is next level. ‘Outlines’ has the listener “stepping into the light” of chiming mournful electric guitar sounds and those ethereal vocals. The piano dominates again in ‘I’ve Seen Enough’, and is a world-weary ballad full of intensity that hits hard. Then, the song ‘The Veil’ is wrapped in layers of ethereal melancholy with a clawing, brooding atmosphere.
The next album highlight is the threatening ‘Just A Shadow’ with vocals delivered with a “poisoned tongue” as spellbinding lyrics are spat out with measured control. The soft-loud vocal dynamic moves between delicate and soft before it unleashes in the chorus “like a gathering storm”. It’s beautifully heavy as the soundscape “crushes”. Then, ‘It Won’t Rain Forever’ has “beauty in the dark” as it offers a faint glimmer of hope in a doom-laden atmosphere. ‘Breathe’ has a dreamlike sense of “peace” as the lyricism crafts “inside crumbling” and “outside shining” and a request for “serenity”. The album closes with the stunning ‘The Gentle Harm’ that almost collapses under the weight of emotion.
‘Solstice’ is an amazing album, the ethereal voice, the confessional lyricism, the divine melodies with heavy breakdowns and crashing climaxes. It’s classy, clever, and controlled with slow-burning heavy tension and soundscapes that are filled with space and claustrophobic dread. Wondrous!
