From the idyllic and marvellous hills of south-eastern Austria, no-one would expect a monster of Modern Thrash Metal to run you over and knock you down; but should you have had such an experience you have just got in the way of Sole Method!
Their new promo CD "Down" goes straight for your neck and will not release the tension on your banging muscles until you bleed for them! No moments for breathing and recovery will be granted to you at their live shows, so prepare for the ultimate Metal experience!
We are not trying to re-invent Metal", says Michael. "European Metal often seems to lack dynamics and is not really open-minded for new ideas and grooves. What we want to do is go the American way of mixing modern sounds and grooves and adapt that to our style of playing Heavy Metal." The result of which is a bastard of driving aggressive Thrash Metal riffs that cut into your brains just to be banged out again by groove and mosh parts breaking your neck muscles.
The way of developing the modern style of Sole Method was a rather long and hard procedure. "Michael and me have been making music together since we both started playing guitar", tells Peter. They both founded a band and started their Metal careers like most bands usually did at that time: playing cover versions by Metallica, Megadeth, etc. Soon that was not enough for them anymore, since they wanted to bring in their own ideas. After having played some gigs with their own songs,however, they both quit the band and separated from each other. Michael decided to pursue a career as guitarist in various Rock and Jazz bands and study music, whereas Peter took the bass player of the band, Jan, with him in order to found Midgard in 2001.
"Midgard has come to be a very influential part in our lives. We did hundreds of gigs and gained
insight into professional music business", recalls Peter. After a few changes in line-up, Wildan finally took the permanent position of the drummer in Midgard. Completing the band by the return of Michael in late 2003, Midgard gained quite a reputation in Austria, releasing some promo CDs and one regular album, "Born From Ashes" (2005).
But the turning point came in late 2005: Most members of the band were instantly gripped by the
spirit and energy of bands they played with. "We were simply overwhelmed by the groove, power and energy for example Betzefer or Machine Head produced, so we decided on pursuing a similar way", explains Michael. "Midgard was cool at that time", adds Peter, "It was based on Swedish Melodic Death Metal and hooklines. But we all did not stand behind this kind of music anymore. We were re-discovering our heroes like Sepultura or Pantera and finding some new musical ideas in modern bands like Killswitch Engage. So we decided that it would be the only way (the sole method) to accept our new feelings and likings and to put Midgard aside. It was difficult to decide on both,changing our name and style and also replacing our bass player with Rob." But nevertheless Sole Method has profited hugely by the new bass player, and after having released their first promo CD "Down" in 2006, and their self titled promo CD "Sole Method" in 2007, they are eagerly awaiting to get in touch with labels and promoters.
