It’s the kind of metal I like.
Soen is a Swedish progressive metal supergroup consisting of various extreme metal musicians. Their debut album “Cognitive” came out in 2012.
It was like hearing Tool and I was all in.
“Tellurian” came out in 2014 but their rise really started with “Lykaia” in 2017 and “Lotus” in 2019. And in 2021, we have “Imperial”.
And while the debut sounded a lot like Tool, this one is more metal and hard rock with some progressive grooves and textures.
And the band has been stable in the line-up. Founding members Joel Ekelöf (vocals) and Martin Lopez (drums) are still there along with Lars Enok Åhlund (keyboards and guitar), Cody Ford (lead guitar) and new bassist Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel.
Lumerian
How good is the Intro riff?
And the Chorus, so melodic and haunting.
In the middle, the band introduces its main dynamic, which is heard throughout the album, in which they quieten down the song and rebuild it.
Deceiver
It’s almost Disturbed like from the “Believe” album in the Intro.
Monarch
That Intro riff. So heavy and intricate.
Listen to it.
A Pink Floyd Pre-Chorus gives way to an anthemic Chorus.
Illusion
A Pink Floyd like cut. Think “Sorrow”.
And the solos. Wow.
Antagonist
Another head banging killer metal riff kicks it off.
The Chorus. Wow.
From the 3.50 mark it goes into a mellow interlude with an emotive solo. Then the vocals come in and I get emotional.
And it becomes quiet. And once you hear the words “fire up your guns”, the music crashes back in.
Modesty
The Chorus is so haunting.
From 2.10 a Maiden like harmony riff plays while a shred-a-licious and emotive lead is played over it.
The last 40 seconds are excellent.
Dissident
The Tool like track on the album but with a heavy dose of metal and hard rock.
Listen to the Chorus riff when they sing “we are one”.
At 2.50 it quietness down. A piano plays and the vocals come in. Then the drums and everything else comes in as they build it up slowly.
By 4.36 it’s back to a being a metal tour de force.
Fortune
Dio and the Sabbath “Heaven And Hell” version would be proud. The groove and feel is as doomy as the influences.
That Chorus is haunting, with the violins and emotive vocal melody.
I like the lead break. Almost bluesy and the phrasing is excellent.
At the 3.20 mark, a sing-a-long ohhh and ahs happen. This section happens again for the outro but this time the guitars are in harmony.
The only thing left to do is to listen to it again.
destroyerofharmony 
I’ve seen this one before, but never heard it. I do love the cover. Not sure I’ll get into the music, but maybe I’ll give it a try.
You should give it a try. When the term progressive is mentioned a lot of people think a million notes per bar or long Tool like grooves.
But this band is not like that. They have shorter songs, no thousand notes per bar, but unique song structures like each verse is a different riff
That doesn’t sound too bad then
I will check this out….up to 52 albums behind….just heard a band called The Quill which are quite good, almost Sabbath like in parts…
I’ll add them to my list
Ha. I see a pattern developing here between us!
Too much music. It’s a paradise. Lol
Have you heard the new single?
Didn’t know they had one out. So off to Spotify and I’m listening right now. It’s a cross between Tool and Pink Floyd. So bizarre but still good.
So on Apple music now, when the album finishes it plays bands that also fit what you where just listening to, so after Soen a band called Rishloo came on with a song called Freaks & Animals, my god what a song! its like Tool, Mars Volta and Blind Guardian but not! lol please give a run and let me know what you think, going hard on Rishloo today!!
Fuck. I just played “Freaks And Animals”. It’s good. The voice also reminds me a bit of Claude Sanchez from Coheed and Serj from SOAD. So much variation. I’ll be spending some time with em.
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