LYKAIA

Review #47. For those who aren't familiar with the name of Soen, I should tell you that is a band with experienced and very gifted musicians, that all of them participated in other famous bands before gathering up and form Soen. So, here you can find ex-members from Opeth, Amon Amarth, Iced Earth, Testament etc. Their discography consists of 3 studio albums, with Lykaia, being their brand new one. Since I found out very recently about them, I am not familiar with their previous works, so I cannot get into any comparisons. When I listen to some "new" Prog Metal bands, every time I found myself thinking how big influence was the music and the style of Tool, and Soen is not an exception. Their style - to my ears at least - sounds like a mix of Tool with Riverside. The truth is that Lykaia is a good album, but it simply feels like a lot of their ideas are redundant. The guitar playing, for example, is top notch, but on the other hand, we have many Prog Metal bands that can play equally well. But there are some "magical" moments that the bands "shines" and there you realize how good musicians these guys are. The album is a very good one, with nice compositions, great guitar solos, powerful riffs, clean vocals, but no new ideas unfortunately. In many cases, I found myself wondering, "Where do I know this from"? The main problem that this band is facing is the bitter reality that great musicianship does not equal great songwriting, and although they might have some very solid ideas to develop, they don't really have the ability to capture the listener for an extended period. But despite all those things, Lykaia is a good album. The fans of Prog-Metal will definitely enjoy it, not to mention the fans of Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal. I think I will give 3.0 stars.