Japan's SOLITUDE history started in 1996, two ex-members of SACRIFICE (Japan)*, the founding member and main composer Akira Sugiuchi and the bass player on two of their albums Toru Nishida. In 1998, they picked up "SOLITUDE" as the name of the band, and they played live for the first time in March 1999. In September, Shingo Ida (ex-BARTOLOMMEO) joined the band, and his distinctive style of melodic guitars has brought a new blood into the band. In November, they recorded two songs, "Virtual Image" and "Eagle Fly". This recording was used for promotion as "SOLITUDE Demo '99". The album was mixed and mastered at Pama Studios in Sweden, by Magnus "Mankan" Sedenberg and Magnus "Maxe" Axelsson respectively, who had worked with such bands as BULLET and CRUCIFIED BARBARA. The stunning artwork was painted by the Italian artist Velio Josto, who had done covers for WARLORD, MEDIEVAL STEEL, OSTROGOTH among others. This album "Reach for the Sky" was released from SPIRITUAL BEAST in June 2015.
