IMPERIAL

SOEN is the Swedish super-group with its own sound; he has been working in progressive metal, in post-metal experimental since 2004 and released his first album in 2012, a mix of prog, dark, doom clearly indicating their repeated listening to PINK FLOYD and other SEPULTURA, surely also those of ANATHEMA , TOOL for a melodic, heavy, complex and singular sound. SOEN that I have known since 2012, this "Cognitive" with a doom-dark-heavy prog sound that had pleasantly struck me, his unprecedented alternative-metal experiment, SOEN who comes to tell us a covid and distressing slice of life. SOEN which is not in the lace.

"Lumerian" begins with a heavy rhythm, metal and the soft voice of Joel which buffers at first, then an instrumental passage with energetic riff and the drums that go with it; soaring atmosphere, return to the basic tune and this catchy chorus, final with a soothing synth. "Deceiver" for a more poised and nervous track, built on the double pedal put forward, a melodic track called stage in my opinion because there is nothing extraordinary just the musical fishing that transcends you. "Monarch" and its end-of-the-world siren bringing a strong rhythm again, letting the voice round off the angles, a bit of KATATONIA to explain the approach of this group starting from an agreed metal sound and injecting it with progressive components like this melancholy violin which can be guessed at the end of the course; violin that can make you think about the merits of compassion and kindness in this world. "Illusion" for the melancholy-depressive rhyme ballad, a title that passes without realizing it, which may make you think about this ramshackle world we live in, I hope that is not the goal though! Note the greasy solo that will melt the brutes and other followers of the blind-blind society, solo that reminds me by its texture that of "Rough Boy" of ZZ TOP, it is so.

"Antagonist" returns to a more soenesque, stormy rhythm, the drums seem to indicate the direction to take; the vocals are higher here, the guitar riff more chiseled; we could stop there and say that it's a good hard rock band but the break arrives delicate aerial, Lars keyboards give in the emotional, the beauty, the spleen, the intimate. 6 minutes to remake the world is worth it. "Modesty" and a synthetic rhythm that changes, vintage and monolithic keyboards, ah here is in my opinion THE solo of the album, enjoyable, squirting on the speakers; the sound brings a depressive sound that risks slipping you under the duvet to wait for the end, end of pandemic, end of violin which amplifies this state? "Dissident" and the return to a wild rhythm, an animal riff, an almost spoken voice, the drums remind us who it is, break spleen which surprises you and makes you want to listen to the title again, the more plaintive voice of a knock; the final returns to the same frame giving an almost surprising melodic air given the initial flood. "Fortune" and the romantic title which would have passed in the last millennium like a slow; Obviously, the 2nd most beautiful solo takes place here during the progressive declination, slow descent ululated by Joel, the keyboards, the group who bow down here. Strange title because releasing a sound that hammers at the ears.

SOEN sets musical notes to make us reflect on our perceptions of life, our world and our place in it with the highly significant double impact artwork, living without thinking? temptation or fighting against this dehumanizing society. Songs yes, well-structured songs that denounce this world tortured by the pandemic; a much more metal album whose progressive stops further amplify the singularity of this tortured sound in the image of today's world. An album mixed by the genius of the controller Kane Churko, powerful therefore, poetic in the dark side of humanity, accomplished, SOEN.

Imperial is Soen's second release in just under two years. While it is tempting to explain this seemingly short album churn time as the result of the band spending more time in lockdown than on the road in 2020, Soen is actually one of the few bands in metal today that has consistently released new albums almost every two years. Indeed drummer, founder, and principal songwriter Martin Lopez has confirmed that most of the music on Imperial was written shortly after the release of Lotus and before the China virus lockdowns.

Given the condensed time frame of song composition, I am not surprised by the music on Imperial sounding very much like another reiteration of the same Soen formula originally conceived of on 2017's Lykaia and perfected on 2019's Lotus. In fact, its easy to view this release as a B-Sides project from the previous two records. Of course the Soen formula, with its emphasis on punchy groovy riffs, moody vibes, and big melodic choruses, is an effective one. And Imperial certainly lives up to the potential inherit within the formula.

Soen is usually regarded as a progressive metal act not a standard heavy metal one. While I don't care much for gatekeeping, I genuinely feel Soen's music is best characterized as solid and well-grounded heavy metal proper. In all likelihood, the progressive moniker took hold owing to Martin Lopez having been an ex- Opeth member as well as the group's propensity for sounding like Tool on their earliest releases.

Ultimately, whether or not a fan will consider this a great record or "merely" a good record will depend on what extent they're expecting a band to evolve its sound. You can certainly count me a someone who very much sets that standard for the bands I like. And as much as I believe the chorus on "Monarch" to be the best the band has ever put to tape - a truly impressive feat when you consider just how many great choruses this band written and performed - I still would have liked Soen to explore some new territory in their post-Lotus output.

Well, here I am, in the first week of February, already holding in my hands what is very likely to become my Album of the Year in 2021: Imperial, Soen's fifth album, is an amazing record that has haunted my CD player since its release ten days ago and will very likely continue to do so for at least a few more weeks. I must have listened to this album at least 50 times already, and I still do not seem to get enough of it. Yes, it is THAT good!

Packed with smashing grooves, soaring guitar solos and incredibly catchy melodies, this is easily the strongest album released by the band so far. And I am not saying this as a newcomer to Soen's sound. I have been following the band since their second album, 2014's Tellurian. Their blend of groovy progressive metal - built in equal parts of technical proficiency and emotional intensity, intricate riffs and melancholic melodies - is right up my alley, given how I feed on a diet of dark, atmospheric prog metal in the vein of Katatonia, Leprous, Riverside, Opeth and Anathema. Yet, until today, my attitude towards Soen has only been lukewarm, at best. I dug what they have been trying to do, but until now I have always had issues with the end-result of their albums, be it for a subpar sound production (their third album Lykaia was literally butchered by the sound engineer), or for a songwriting approach that has always sounded to me as in need of a good injection of dynamics and a healthy dose of fat trimming to craft songs with nothing but their strongest parts.

Imperial is exactly the album I was hoping one day Soen would write. It takes the best parts of their sound and condenses them in to eight, strikingly lean, gloriously dynamic, and instantly impactful tracks, where nothing is superfluous and every single instrument truly plays only for the song. In interviews, Soen's main man and drummer Martin Lopez (ex-Opeth) hinted that this has partly to do with the involvement of Grammy-nominated sound engineer Kevin Churko, who mixed and mastered the album and encouraged the band to remove any superfluous elements that were getting in the way of the song. The choice of Churko may surprise Soen's fans, given his previous involvement with acts that sound quite different than Soen, such as Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, and In This Moment. But they need not worry: although Imperial does sound more modern, more immediate and punchier than Soen's previous records, the album still retains the classic Soen sound. The intricate but groovy riffs and drum patterns are still there, and so are Joel Ekelöf's soaring vocal melodies and Cody Ford's emotional bluesy solos. Yet, everything sounds more compact, leaner, and more exciting than anything the band has every written before.

Ultimately, the strength of Imperial comes down to its truly brilliant songwriting. Its eight songs strike that perfect balance between (dare I say it?) pop accessibility and progressive complexity that elevates the album above most other modern rock/metal releases, not unlike Leprous 2019's masterpiece Pitfalls. It is an extremely difficult achievement to accomplish. Writing hooks and catchy refrains that have an immediate impact on the listener is relatively easy. Combining them into compositions that retain artistic depth and remain interesting after repeated listens is much more difficult. On Imperial Soen miraculously achieve this by packing each song with a myriad of great ideas - be it a clever riff, a groovy drum fill, a cathartic guitar solo, or a memorable hook - without lingering too long on any of them, but moving quickly to the next one, in an breath-taking tourbillion of sounds that leave the listener astounded by its musical richness. This approach gives the songs an unpredictability and spontaneity that keeps them fresh and relevant even after multiple listens.

Soen are also very clever to avoid as much as possible formulaic song structures, by continuously varying the way Imperial's eight songs are constructed. Take, for instance, Cody Ford's solos. How many bands have you listened to where, in every song, the guitar solo falls invariably after the second repetition of the chorus? Too many to count. Cody's solos are instead all over the place: after the chorus ("Deceive"), but sometimes after the first verse ("Illusion"), or between verse and bridge ("Modesty"), or in the middle of the middle-eight ("Antagonist"). It's like Cody is playing whack-a-mole with the listener: you never quite know when to expect his poignant, Gilmouresque lead solos to pop up next. This is generally in line with the compositional manifesto that Soen seem to have followed on this album: to keep the listener guessing what new sound will come up next. Subtle variations to melodies and arrangements, countermelodies played with varying intensity in the repetitions of the chorus ("Antagonist"), eerie, mellotron-like string arrangements ("Modesty", "Fortune"), sudden breakdowns where only Ekelöf's voice and Lopez's emphatic tom fills are left ("Antagonist", "Dissident") - Imperial has it all.

Amazingly, despite their complexity, the songs sound infectiously simple and immediate, partly due to the production but also thanks to the sensational vocal melodies that Ekelöf sings on the album, which contains what is easily his best performance to date, by far. But there is more to this: Ekelöf's voice soars and impresses because the other instruments allow it to do so. There is such a tasteful restraint and subtlety in the other four musicians' performances on this album that was not present on Soen's previous records, where the band was instead following a "more is more" approach. This may disappoint some, as Lopez's drumming is for instance less flamboyant and off-the-cuff than on previous records, but the songs have gained immensely from this newly-found discipline.

Imperial is a terrific release but, if I were to nitpick, the first half of the album is slightly weaker than the second half, which is more varied and contains the most inspired songs ("Antagonist", "Modesty", "Dissident", "Fortune"). Part of the problem is that the first three songs of the album ("Lumerian", "Deceive", "Monarch") sound just a little bit too similar to one another (same tempo, similar structure, similar vibes). I would have perhaps dropped "Deceive" from the trio, as it is probably the weakest song of the record anyway. Another minor complaint I have is that some songs ("Lumerian", "Monarch") do not so much come to an end as simply stop, without fully giving the listener that sense of resolve which is instead achieved on tracks like "Modesty" (that gorgeous line Ekelöf sings in the coda of the song gets me every single time). And, yes, Churko does occasionally exceed with modern production touches that feel a tad forced in the context of Soen's sound (for instance, the processed, hard panned guitars that surface on a couple of songs, or the echoes on Ekelöf's vocals that are perhaps used one time too many).

But these are really minor complaints. Imperial is an impressive piece of art that I consider the highest-point in Soen's career so far. It is as inspired and inspiring as Lotus, but it is leaner, better arranged, and more immediate than that album, and it sounds much better for this. It is one of those records that it is really hard to put down because it sounds so fresh, so dynamic, so exciting that it just compels you to keep pressing "Play" again and again. At times, I have the impression that Imperial contains the material of twenty potential hit songs, just condensed into eight. It is a stunning achievement, which brings Imperial as close to perfection as only a handful of albums I have encountered in nearly 25 years of listening to (progressive) metal do.

[Originally written for The Metal Observer]

For this album, Soen have nearly shed off their progressive moniker and have created an album of melodic, mainstream heavy metal, ableit very good heavy metal at that. Good music is good music. I can listen through this entire album and enjoy it thoroughly. Although, at one point in the album I thought I had somehow changed to a Nickleback song (Illusion)! Twangs of their roots live on in songs such as Dissident, Antagonist, and Deceiver with technical riffs and meandering pacing. However, the rest of the album seems to have become much more streamlined and focus on creating exciting music. An example is the song Fortune. The opening seconds of the song start out great, yet jumped straight into a vocal section. More progressive acts would have extended out that opening segment through at least a few more bars. It almost feels like an opening segment was cut out. Other reviewers have also noticed how this album is cut and constructed much more concisely.

To the positive, No disjointed "jamming" exists on this album and almost every song has the length and construction to keep the listener focused. Therefore, I am ranking the album as 3.5 stars rounded up, because while every song is ranked 9/10 or higher in my opinion, it is not a perfect example of progressiveness. I am not a firm believer in the adage of length of song = progressiveness and am not using that to reduce the score, but diversification of each TYPE of song is a flaw. I would have like to see more diversification between songs, with 1 or two songs breaking from the 4.5-6 minute mark that they see. For example, a short and heavy 3 minute piece that ends in an orchestral or atmospheric section to interlude between Monarch and Illusion. Then, Illusion could have been fleshed out with more progressive flair and connection between songs. I find that flow the flow and pacing between songs is an important form of progression, especially with the content of the lyrics and theme of the album. Each song feels separate from the others, yet are constructed so similarly. Soen are just lucky they sound so good! Let's at least get them on the radio if they are going to make music like this!