What does Grace Solero sound like?

A heavier and more mystical Skunk Anansie for a new generation.

The review of Grace Solero – Metaphorosis

As a child of the 90’s, there are several bands that were linchpins for me for pushing music forward. Skunk Anansie was one of those musicians because she always felt like a voice that couldn’t be contained inside the normal constructs of a grungy rock band. Flash forward to 2022 and Grace Solero’s fourth album has me in a similar emotional state. Not only is her voice passionate and dripping with emotion, but it’s also housed and showcased with some superb rock too.

Grace Solero is a four-piece London-based rock band who go hard on a lot of their music. When you have a vocalist like Grace who is happy to scream, wail, bellow and wring every drop of emotion out of every word, the other instruments have to come prepared. Delightfully, they do. Whether it’s the 90’s grungey hooks of “Lucid Dream” or the title track, or something more mystical and sedate, the bass, electric guitar and drums are on point.

The album kicks up the energy with the two aforementioned tracks that took me back to the best of 1996 rock. The bass-led “Love and Addiction” evokes a Soundgarden vibe in the verses and then rock witch for the chorus. The hooks on the opening trio of tracks were made for rock radio anthem hours and the energy is contagious. “Awake” nails a hard-hitting note bend alongside an Eastern-tinged three-chord riff that lands so satisfyingly every time. As a listener, I get swept away and can’t help but at least nod my head to it.

This kind of energy stays throughout but Grace Solero and her band start to fan out into different ideas. It’s clear that mystical dark folk is something the band enjoys. They also want to also pump it full of electric rock. The second half of the album leans into this idea more. In “Time Waits for No One” we get a dark bridge of brooding guitar solos and swirling vocals as if Grace is calling forth the final solo and big chorus finale. “Till You Return” is a smoky ballad with violin and a folksy feel to it under the rock. “Ocean Star” wears its Eastern chord structure on its sleeve and lets Grace just enjoy the darker side of grungy rock. “Shaman” then closes the album out with a seven-and-a-half-minute rock incantation. It is one of those slow-build songs that play out like tendrils of an emotional trip. Methodical, quirky and with Grace Solero converting her voice into a choir of sirens, it is a distinctive way to close out an album.

Full of power, emotion, grit and some absolutely superb melodies, Grace Solero’s “Metamorphosis” is a superb album. If you enjoyed peak 90’s MTV rock music but wanted to see where all that chaos, emotion and new world curiosity would have taken that cohort of bands, look no further. Grace Solero has you covered. This is definitely an album to play loud.

Recommended track: Lucid Dream

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