Label: Spinefarm Records
Release date: 11/11/2014
Production: Joakim Platbarzdis
Album length: 53.13 min
Genre: Progressive Rock / Progressive Metal
Two and a half years after their studio debut “Cognitive,” Sweden’s experimental Soen, one of the most exciting prog-metal-leaning bands around (though given all their quirks, let’s call them art metal instead), are back with the follow-up, “Tellurian.”
Plenty of music critics met the debut “Cognitive” with mixed feelings, and the band fell victim time and again to relentless comparisons with Americans Tool. The band cites Tool as an inspiration, but the original take is clearly far removed, which gives Soen a pedigree of unmistakable sonic and stylistic identity! “Tellurian” is a new step in which Soen dig even deeper into what makes them tick.
On “Tellurian” (which translates as “earthly”) the band has loosened up the arrangements even more and beefed up the progressive streak of their experimental, exploratory vein, which was already clearly noticeable and front and center on the debut. The contrasts between the legacy of Scandinavian melodic death metal and the ambient, cerebral drifting, generated by the mellifluous calm passages, with Joakim Ekelöf’s starkly melancholic, coolly detached yet always “gently caressing” vocals at the center, are pushed even further. The ever-busy bass guru Steve DiGiorgio had to pass on working with Soen this time, and his shoes have been filled by Swedish bassist Stefan Stenberg, who did a great job, and you really can’t feel the absence of the otherwise outstanding DiGiorgio.
The melancholic atmosphere is darkly brooding! In the calmer passages it likes to evoke the moods of bands like Poland’s Riverside, thanks to singer Joel Ekelőf’s choice of lead melodies, especially in the quieter moments, like the opening chorus melody of Tabula Rasa. This kind of link in Ekelöf’s musical sensibility, in how he builds his vocal lines, can also be compared to Steven Wilson’s solo work, while the tie to the band’s “mother ship” Opeth is felt throughout. The imprint of inspiration from Tool is still there, but you can’t pin the dismissive charge of “copycatting” on these guys by any means.
“Tellurian” is basically a jazzed-up, metalized upgrade of the artistry on the band’s debut. Soen build on their recognizable stylistic sound, which can be traced back to the final era of Lopez’s time in Opeth. So it’s a radically “softened” and “loosened” version, derived in spirit from Opeth’s musical legacy of ten years ago. Somewhere around the release of the album “Ghost Reveries.” Which also explains why Lopez actually had to leave Opeth: unlike the occasionally extreme, bristling barbs of riff-driven takeover of Soen’s sonic space (an element taken naturally from Scandinavia’s death metal tradition), Opeth have over the past three years become purists of prog-rock revivalism, with a completely different musical direction.
On “Tellurian,” Soen have added some things they haven’t tried before. The backdrop is especially enriched, with added keyboard arrangements in the background. Worth singling out are also the ambient veils of Mellotron sounds (The Words), which push the contrasting shifts of mood even further, dictated by the experimental fusion of heavy structures and a drift through cerebral, soft and mellifluous passages. The interplay and sensitivity of the musicians are outstanding, and the album has the clear character of a finely crafted musical artistry. The production is exquisitely detailed, the building blocks of the sound sit in a cunningly defined balance within the sonic picture and are crisply highlighted throughout. In contrasting the sound picture on the new album, Soen made good use of space especially within the calmer passages, which they effectively filled with organic-sounding acoustic layers, while Lopez’s role as percussionist at such points is the expected temptation of prog-rock adventures.
“Tellurian” is an album written in highly sensitive artistic brilliance, created by seasoned musicians with a fully formed musical direction and vision. It’s a new, ambitious evolutionary step forward for the band, unfolding through a cascade of unexpected atmospheric turns. This provocative surging of motifs and swinging of moods rests throughout on the progressive polyrhythms of Martin Lopez’s jazzy exploration. Ekelöf remains the central magnet, whose appealing and distinctive voice instantly pulls the listener into the band’s musical vision. “Tellurian” is a gorgeous album full of polished melodies, ambitiously loosened up in an experimental spirit with the exploratory value of progressively and technically complex musical figures. This approach will surely thrill all you music purists and gourmets out there who are after musical perfection, unusual expression and the allure of artistic challenge.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
Track list:
1. Komenco
2. Tabula Rasa
3. Kuraman
4. The Words
5. Pluton
6. Koniskas
7. Ennui
8. Void
10. The Other’s Fall
Line-up:
Joel Ekelöf – vocals
Kim Platbarzdis – guitar
Stefan Stenberg – bass
Martin Lopez – drums, percussion
