Performers: Soen / Lizzard / Oceanhoarse
Date: Friday, 9 September 2022
Location: San Dona Di Piave / Revolver Club / Italy
Soen are finally back on tour. One of those tours that came close enough to Slovenia geographically that a trip to Veneto was all it took to make for a great Friday afternoon and evening. The Swedish progressive metallers stopped off in San Dona Di Piave and its Revolver Club as part of their tour in support of the latest album »Imperial« (2021, Rockline review). They brought two bands along for the ride. First, the eclectic experimental prog and post-rock outfit Lizzard from France, and second, newly discovered Finnish hopefuls Oceanhoarse, who deal in dark heavy metal.
A gorgeous time of year and entertaining weather. Rain and sunshine trading places. But in Veneto, a massive glowing moon greeted us in the sky. Attendance was solid. Naturally, just after eight in the evening when Oceanhoarse took the stage, there wasn’t much euphoria in the air yet. Oceanhoarse operate as heavy metallers at heart, but with a serious groove and a dark, atmospheric backbone. Part of that comes from the vocal color and approach of singer Joonas Kosonen, but the rhythmic kinetics are also incredibly supple, musical, and full-bodied warm. With dynamically constructed songs that build through gradations of atmosphere and peak in catchy, dark but epically conceived choruses, the Finns quickly won over the crowd — small as it still was at that point. In that regard Oceanhoarse are seriously hungry. They made the most of the half hour they had. Sound-wise, as a support act they delivered an excellent mix, and topped off the performance with no less convincing a tight, coherent band chemistry and a deeply committed approach that properly fired up the dozen or so people in the crowd. The band released their second album »Dead Reckoning« last August, and the set was naturally filled out with material from their debut studio record »The Damage is Done-Live!« (2020). Their latest single Nail was also in the mix, and the band gave the crowd a proper jolt with their cover of Alice In Chains’ Them Bones.
Lizzard are old acquaintances from Metelkova. Years back they charmed us before a set by progressive rockers O.R.k. at Channel Zero, and we also caught them on 25 September 2018 when they played as support for The Pineapple Thief at the Szene club in Vienna. They’re a French trio who operate entirely on their own terms, in their own self-grown way — and that’s precisely their greatest appeal. On that count alone, the trip to Revolver Club would have been worth it just for Lizzard’s set. Drummer Katy Elwell, bassist William Knox, and guitarist/vocalist Mathieu Ricou — who have been playing together in this lineup since 2006 — put out a new album, »Eroder«, this year. The setlist leaned heavily on the new album. Lizzard opened with the album’s lead single The Decline and immediately made clear that their style and sound are something else entirely. An eclectic blend of multiple genres, and the band is quite happy to identify with the perfectly fitting label of art rock. There’s no shortage of energy on stage. The band can drift into moments that feel post-rock, or Lizzard can swing into stoner rock phrases that drummer Katy Elwell uses brilliantly as springboards for relentless rolling fills. She’s almost impossible to stop once she starts working out on the toms. The musical, organic intensification of the sound is driven by the groove of the bass lines, while guitarist Mathieu builds a massive wall of sound through layered guitar lines and delay effects. Just three people creating an extraordinary sonic space and stage presence that at moments borders on hypnotic. The trio is phenomenally tight, and Mathieu Ricou’s vocal character adds an alternative rock flavour to the whole thing. The trio is infectious. Mathieu alone, with that permanent grin on his face throughout the show, was winning over everyone in the crowd. But above all, Lizzard conquered the audience with a brilliant performance and their unmistakably their own setlist. Italians have always had a soft spot for progressive rock oddballs — the seventies proved that. And this time too, after Lizzard’s set, applause rained down from all sides from an enthusiastic crowd. A brilliant team and a band with plenty of pleasant musical surprises still in store in the years ahead. Lizzard have a way of wowing you with each evolutionary leap, every time they put out a studio album. »Eroded« is part of that process too. As already said. Even if Lizzard had been the headliners that evening, this trip to Revolver Club would have been more than worth it on our end.
Soen are, at their core, vocalist Joel Ekelöf and former Opeth drummer Martin Lopez. The creative nucleus. The engines. The band has been a going concern since 2010, and we first caught them in Ljubljana supporting Paradise Lost, when in October 2012 they were touring Europe with their studio debut »Cognitive«. Even back then it was clear this band had brought a fresh energy to the progressive metal map. The other three slots in the band have tended to see frequent changes. With the exception of Lars Åhlund, who has filled the role of additional guitarist, keyboardist, and percussionist with Soen since 2014, the remaining two are relatively recent additions — guitarist Cody Lee Ford (joined 2018) and bassist Oleksii ‘Zlatoyar’ Kobel (joined 2020). People were obviously here primarily for Soen. The venue filled up noticeably. Especially at the front. A nice crowd. And a good chunk of those attendees knew the lyrics to the band’s most popular songs. As expected, the band leaned heavily on the latest record »Imperial« (2021), closely followed by material from its predecessor »Lotus« (2019, Rockline review). They delivered the kind of show you’d expect — excellent tightness, great sound, impressive execution, and a hypnotic sonic backdrop. Joel Ekelöf is widely regarded as an excellent frontman. He doesn’t say much between songs, but throughout the set he stands right at the front of the stage, one foot repeatedly up on the monitor, maintaining steady eye contact with the crowd. The band opened and closed the main set with tracks from the new album — a bold and confident move, and proof that Soen are genuinely fired up about their latest record. The band has only really managed to shake those comparisons — sounding like Tool one moment, Opeth the next — in the past few years. Even as it has occasionally softened its sound, bringing more keyboards into the mix and started flirting with atmosphere-building that David Gilmour himself wouldn’t be ashamed of on his solo records. But those are influences. What defines Soen is their own distinctive groove, heavily dependent on Martin Lopez’s supremely precise and delicate drumming and the accompanying full-bodied bass lines. The melancholy Soen build through all of this is sometimes genuinely staggering. It peaked definitively in the dreamlike Lucidity. The band then jolted everyone awake with a serious shot of aggression, launching into the new Antagonist with Ekelöf’s opening call: »Fire up your guns!« — before closing out the main set more quietly with Illusion. From »Cognitive« (2012) we only heard Salvia that evening, while »Tellurian« (2014, Rockline review) was absent from the setlist entirely. The band clearly feels that with the last two albums especially, they’ve locked in a musical format they’re more than happy with and intend to follow going forward.
The concert closed out intensely. The band also reached back to »Lykaia« (2017, Rockline review) for Lascivious and Jinn. And Soen saved one of the most beautiful songs they have written in their decade-long career for the very end. The stunning Lotus. It brought to the club one more Floydian drift — floating through oceans of sorrow and the bittersweet pain of hard-earned insights. Ekelöf with supreme feeling. Gorgeous vocal delivery, with moments that pull you toward transcendence. The man has genuinely grown over the years into a world-class frontman and, first and foremost, a singer. Needless to say, his vocal timbre is immediately recognizable.
The only downside of the whole evening? Hmmmm…. All good things end quickly, and this evening ended too quickly. Part of that is down to the general trend of bands cutting their concert sets shorter. Where headliners used to play an hour and three quarters, ninety minutes is now the new maximum. In short, Soen remain a band defined by a tremendous performance fire, through which they create a powerful, tight sonic backdrop with an intense atmosphere that draws you in completely. In every sense, this is a band worth catching live. If they made it to Kranj on their last tour, let’s hope someone invites them back to Slovenia again soon.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
