Label: Silver Lining Music
Release date: 29. 1. 2021
Production: Iñaki Marconi
Album length: 42.05 min
Genre: Progressive Metal
Rating: 8.0/10
So what do you do with the new Soen album? It’s good. No debate there. But it’s also proof that the band has stalled creatively. There are no fresh artistic challenges here to surprise the listener, keep them busy and hold them close, especially if they’re into the more demanding stuff. So the new album »Imperial« brings no progress in terms of further artistic growth for this otherwise highly respected, top-quality band. The single »Illusion« was already hinting at that, sounding like something we’d heard from Soen on some earlier album. »Imperial« is therefore a carefully measured step into a comfort zone, though one Soen worked hard for. So the band hasn’t signaled any kind of step forward. On the plus side, after four albums Soen have finally managed to wriggle out of the claws of those often overblown critiques that they sound like Tool one minute and Opeth the next, which is great. But if part of the reason for that was trimming away the elements that sustain, nurture or build up the band’s progressive metal identity, then moves like that definitely come with some collateral damage. »Imperial« faithfully follows its predecessor »Lotus«, just a bit sharper on the metal side, since there are fewer dreamy »Gilmour-esque« guitars, even if they’re still around. »Imperial« isn’t an album by the same lineup, either. Soen switched things up again between the two records, this time on bass. The band’s new bassist is Oleksii ‘Zlatoyar’ Kobel.
On the new album the band dutifully sticks to the musical traits of »Lotus« (2019, RockLine review) and »Lykaia« (2017, RockLine review). Joel Ekelöf is of course the key factor that tips the scale on how much any given listener will like the band. Not only that, his unmistakable timbre also gives the band’s musical ID card its recognizability. His vocals are incredibly beautiful and appealing, and with their emotional depth they bring the songs to life with that blend of bittersweet sorrow and boundless melancholy that defines the distinctly dark nature of every Soen album. The new one too. But like I said, the new album, or rather the new songs, mostly move within already proven melodic territory, which Soen are this time simply recycling.
The cover art is fascinating. Totally gothic black metal, through and through. The occult, superstition, witchcraft, doom … Gloom drenched in thick fog, saturated with a sour air that chokes you and pushes you to the ground. A landscape that rays of light rarely manage to pierce. It’s there. Again and again. With »Imperial« too. Psychedelia? Not really, not much out of context.
The lower guitar tuning creates a properly massive, heavy wall of sound and speaks to the modern side, in the sense that it has more to do with what’s been happening in the world of technical progressive death metal over the last decade than with other genre spheres. That’s why it’s always been easy to imagine growl vocals in Soen. But since Soen (again and again) aren’t (old) Opeth, they have Joel Ekelöf on vocals, which gives them that sheen of retro prog-rock introspection. That rustic feel is deepened by the guitar solos, often built on the “less is more” axiom and played with old-school progressive rock inspiration (»Modesty«). In other words, the solos develop a compact melody based on fewer notes, backed by a pronounced “sustain” effect. Despite the solos flirting with the seventies, Soen stay firmly rooted in the world of modern progressive metal on the new album.
On the new album too, Soen are a band that primarily bets on the highly vibrant, gripping creation of moods. They’re very good at it, and that »drive« powers the album. Together with its excellent production, this highly atmospheric yet melancholic “drive” keeps the listener glued from the first minute to the last, giving the album the shape of a highly captivating, voltage-charged drama theater.
Anyone who doesn’t know the band’s earlier albums will fall for Soen right away with »Imperial«, because the new album stays true to a highly infectious musicality that gets under your skin immediately. Despite lead melody structures we’ve already heard from Soen on past albums, what pleasantly stands out this time is the occasional dressing of arrangements in veils that work like strings, which amplifies the dynamic swings between moods, or intensifies the contrasts between them (the outro of »Modesty«, the last track »Fortune«), and ultimately gratefully adds movement to the soundscape itself.
Once again, seasoned drum master Martin Lopez is cast as the creator of the essential progressive metal springboards. The drummer steps into the center of the action by exploiting phrases at key points and subtly underlaying them with often broken rhythmic structures. That’s why listening to »Imperial«, despite some melodies that feel »already sold«, is never boring (the opening »Lumerian«, »Antagonist«), even though the experimental side is absolutely bowing and subordinating itself to them. It’s worth keeping in mind that the members of Soen are technically extremely well-schooled musicians, so the band always has huge artistic potential. If it wants to, it can put out a seriously sprawling album. But it likes the artistic position it reached with »Lotus« and which »Imperial« maintains too. Even though it’s artistically sprawled out in its predecessor’s comfy armchair, the new album is in every way a very high-quality new Soen record. If it doesn’t entirely satisfy the pickier listeners with more demanding tastes, it will certainly satisfy all of the band’s die-hard fans.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Lumerian
2. Deceiver
3. Monarch
4. Illusion
5. Antagonist
6. Modesty
7. Dissident
8. Fortune
Lineup:
Joel Ekelöf – vocals
Lars Enok Åhlund – keyboards, guitar
Cody Ford – guitar
Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel – bass guitar
Martin Lopez – drums
