Pills against the Ageless Ills

Pills against the Ageless Ills is the third full-length album by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. It was released on September 19, 2001, their first album under the Century Media label. The album is a concept album, following the story of two brothers, Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain.

Much of the experimental concepts off their previous album, Neonism, was eschewed for a more straight-forward, guitar-heavy metal approach, though still retaining quite a bit of the band's now trademark experimental nature. The style ranges from extreme black metal to jazz arrangements to traditional rock and metal. Vocally, Lazare is again over-the-top with his clean voice, while Cornelius' style can shoot from gravelly narration (a style used again on the In Harmonia Universali album) to black metal growls and screams.

Concept

Pornographer Cain (1951-1998): American citizen, producer of pornographic films. Philosopher Fuck's little brother and well-known in jet-set circles. Observed at the site of Kurt Cobain's alleged suicide. Pornographer Cain is found guilty of Kurt Cobain's murder, and consequently electrocuted in the state of California in 1998.

Philosopher Fuck (1943-1999): Former American citizen exiled in Europe, erring between various religious and mental institutions. Half monk and half performance artist, he gave his life to thinking. Exhaled from a French hospital bed in 1999.

Pornographer Cain tells you about the pleasures of life. Philosopher Fuck tells you about the suffering of existence. Pornographer Cain tells you to desire. Philosopher Fuck tell you to repent. These two extremities of human life are separated by their stories, but united in the confusion of their feelings. There is lust in all repentance, and remorse in all desire. Cain may tell you that you are an animal. Fuck may tell you that you are a machine or a god. But both Cain and Fuck are subjects who speak from their own black hole solitude. They intend to know what is good for you. They say they can solve your problems. They pretend to heal you if you are ill. There is no way to find out if any one of the two is right. The universe knows nothing. You choose and refuse.

Track listing

1. "Hyperhuman" – 4:02
2. "Pornographer Cain" – 6:04
3. "Charge Of Total Affect" – 6:27
4. "Hate Yourself" – 5:26
5. "Fuck Talks" – 5:08
6. "The Death Of Father" – 4:45
7. "The U.S.A. Don't Exist" – 4:49
8. "Anti-City Strategy" – 4:32
9. "Hierarch" – 4:56

Credits

• Cornelius (Sturmgeist) - Vocals, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar.
• Lazare (Borknagar, Age Of Silence, Ásmegin, ex-Carpathian Forest) - Vocals, Synthesizers, Drums.

Session Musicians

• Violin interventions in "Hyperhuman", "Pornographer Cain" and "The USA Don't Exist" by Silje Ulvevadet Dæhli.