Christian Älvestam Is All Over The Studio!

Christian Älvestam (Ex- Scar Symmetry) one of the best, if not the best alternating vocalist out there, is all over the studio lately. Christian has been insanely busy recording with a handful of bands. Here's a little about some of the projects he's involved with lately:

The Few Against Many

You can now find two new songs on the band's Official Myspace, "Skapelsens Sorti" ("The Fall Of Creation" in English) and "Bränd Mark" ("Burnt Ground" in English), from our upcoming debut album, entitled "Sot" ("Soot" in English). Six out of eight songs are sung in Swedish, while
the remaining two are in English

"Sot" was recorded in the mighty Panic-Room studios, together with production-oracle Tomas "Plec" Johansson and features lyrical contribution from Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility) and Jonas Renkse (Katatonia, Bloodbath). Cover artwork was done by no other than acclaimed artist Dan Seagrave (Morbid Angel, Entombed, Dismember, Suffocation, etc)l!

The album, which will be promoted by Sure Shot Worx in Europe and Earsplit in the US, will be released by Pulverised Records, in the fall of 2009.

Solution .45


"After charting all over the world with Scar Symmetry and shortly before departing from the band, vocalist Christian Älvestam and Miseration/Essence Of Sorrow’s Jani Stefanovic return with a new solution - Solution .45! Joining them in this epic force to be reckoned with, are Tom Gardiner (Hateform), Anders Edlund (Angel Blake), Rolf Pilve (Miseration, Essence Of Sorrow) and Mikko Härkin (ex-Sonata Arctica, Kotipelto).

Solution .45 formed in late 2007 as a conceptual entity, but never blossomed into fruition until fall 2008, when the band recorded an 8-track demo with Tomas "Plec" Johansson (Unmoored, Scar Symmetry) handling production-duties. The band’s musical goal however, was quite daunting in its simplicity: mix in brutal riffs with unparalled melancholic atmosphere and epic, progressive song structures. Fortunately, with such top class musicians at the helm, meeting this goal was easily achieved. Solution .45 ushers forth some of the heaviest material any of the outfit’s members have ever previously worked with, but yet also some of the most complex and sophisticated as well.

Solution .45 will enter the studio in September 2009, to record its debut full length, for a February/March 2010 release, via AFM Records."

Solution .45 is similar to Scar Symmtery in song formulas. They also signed a management deal with Pivotal Management. Lyrics will be handled by Dark Tranquillity's Mikael Stanne, here's what Christian had to say about someone else writing handling the lyrics:

"Hi all!

Some S.45 news for you out there:

I'm happy to announce that no other than Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility will
help us out conducting lyrics for our coming debut album. He recently wrote
some additional guest-lyrics for another band of mine, called The Few Against
Many (in which Jani can also be found) and since he did such a great job on
that one (and also being a great lyricist in general), we thought we'd ask him
if he'd be up to making a lyrical contribution to the S.45 album as well. After
some discussion between us he agreed to the proposal of not only writing some
parts, but to write all lyrics for the album. We couldn't be happier man! I've
personally been a huge fan of his earlier work and writing skills, for quite
some time now, so it's a great honour and privilege to have him aboard.
However, I will still compose the vocal arrangements and melodies for the
album, so do not fear in that regard.

Why don't I write the lyrics myself, you may wonder! Well...for starters, I do
intend to write some for the album, but mainly just bits and pieces, here and
there. The thing is, over the years I've kind of lost the spark, or the driving
force (or whatever you'd like to call it), needed in order to write lyrics good
enough to satisfy my inner critic. However, on an impulse, I can still write
some decent stuff every now and then, but unfortunately these occasions have
grown further and further apart over the last couple of years. Therefore I
rather delegate this duty to more suitable people nowadays, who I know can
deliver the goods so to speak. As for the lyrics on the "promo 2008", they are
all draft ones, so you should definately take them with a pinch of salt!

More news as it happens!

/Christian, on the behalf of S.45"


Christian is also involved with:

Miseration (lead vocals)
Torchbearer (rhythm guitar and backing vocals)
Unmoored (lead vocals and rhythm guitar)
Incapacity (rhythm guitar)
Quest Of Aidance (rhyhtm guitar and backing vocals)