CEBU CITY, Philippines— Flashing lights, energy to the roof and speakers blasting. This is the usual night scene for one of Cebu’s best known metal band vocalist, Carlo Solidum.
But before he gets his rock mode on, Solidum works in the morning by selling luxury cars.
Carlo Solidum outside his rock and roll lifestyle.
From gentle smiles and assurances to customers to make a sale, Solidum morphs into a metal rock vocalist at night.
He’s been doing this for 17 years.
Since then, he has been rocking with his band Tremors, one head bang at a time.
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Solidum started playing in a band back in high school. For him, it was just for fun and for the love of music, but through time, music has been his outlet to release stress and to feed his soul with passion through music.
Why death metal or deathcore genre?
For Solidum, it has to do something with the intensity of the music, that made him fall in love with this genre.
“The complex guitar riffs, fast drumming, and guttural vocals of metal music can be a way to release pent-up emotions or anger in a healthy way, eye opener for the current events. The intense and powerful music can provide a cathartic experience for listeners,” he said.
This kind of music genre in the Philippines is usually in the underground scene. But when it steps on the mainstream stages, you would be surprised at how many would find solace in loud music, screams, and head bangs.
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Death metal music scene in Cebu
For someone like Solidum, who has been in the scene for more than a decade, it is safe to say that this genre has been active in Cebu.
A place that breeds talented artists from singing to dancing to creatives, there’s no surprise that this genre is also thriving in the music scene in Cebu.
“Death metal/Deathcore music scene in Cebu, the metal music scene in Cebu, was relatively active and vibrant. Cebu has a strong underground music scene with various genres being represented, including metal. There were also local bands and musicians in Cebu who were actively involved in playing and promoting different genres,” said Solidum.
Carlo Solidum
With this, Solidum is about to live every band vocalist’s dream to be performing yet alone touring abroad.
This coming September, Solidum will be touring Japan with one of the Philippines’ most talked about death metal bands, “August Mayhem. “
This opportunity came when his band the Tremors, crossed paths with the August Mayhem during their Cebu tour.
They were one of the opening acts.
Solidum told CDN Digital that this opportunity was a big one and that he was very excited as to where music had gotten him and was taking him.
“[A] lil bit nervous at the same time excited since this will be a huge step up game for me playing outside the country,” he said.
With this success in his musical career, Solidum thanks the bands he has played with before like The Perpetual Fear, Disetriment, Barang, Tremors and his bandmates from Falsegraveyard, Terror and Hubris.
The band Tremors.
Solidum and his band Tremors are also making a name of their own in playing out of town like their gigs in August 16 and 17 in Bacolod and Iloilo.