Solitary – Nothing Changes 20th Anniversary Edition – Reissue Review

One of the UK’s best kept thrash secrets, these nutters decided to embark on a career in thrash in 1998 and couldn’t have given two shits about the sorry state of the genre as the decade drew to a close. Fuck it, they’d create their own scene if they had to! Quite simply, Solitary frontman Rich Sherrington had a dream, a dream to follow in the footsteps of his teenage heroes, UK thrash legends Xentrix – and even if Xentrix themselves had fallen by the wayside; he wasn’t going down without a fight.

Solitary’s debut release, Nothing Changes, made an immediate impact on the UK scene, reminding thrashers that the UK could still shake shit up when we wanted to and it proved to have a hit in its considerable arsenal!

By 2002, “A Second Chance” had topped the mp3 Metal Charts – having on average been downloaded four thousand times per month – and Solitary were a name to keep an eye on. With a solid ear for groove, it was the heads-down clattering of “A Second Chance” and “Twisted” that made Nothing Changes a 90’s thrash album of note, but the whole album was a shot in the arm for a genre which seemed to be living on borrowed time.

Twenty years on from its original release Solitary have revisited the album that announced their arrival on the battlefield. Nothing Changes has returned with new artwork, a host of bonus tracks and just a little injection of modern studio wizardry. Sounding heavier and more aggressive than ever before this old soldier has lost none of its fighting spirit and, in a nod to the past, this special 20th Anniversary edition of Nothing Changes will only be available on CD – and not on any digital platform – so pick up a copy while they’re around….or miss out forever!

This really is a reissue worth picking up as the sonic improvements are crystal clear to hear. Tweaked to make the whole thing meatier, faster, nastier, Nothing Changes now sounds like the 90’s thrash/groove colossus it should have always been revered as being. The added bonus of 5 demos from 1996 is just the icing on the anniversary cake! 8/10

Nothing Changes line-up:
Rich Sherrington – Vocals & Guitar
Gareth Harrop – Bass
Matthew Costello – Guitar
Simon Tomlinson – Drums