Written by Soen’s seventh album, Reliance, has generally drawn acclaim, but some have expressed disappointment at its apparent lack of progressive elements. Even our review touched on the topic. But drummer Martin Lopez and vocalist Joel Ekelöf argue there’s plenty of prog in there if you pay attention.
“This one is definitely the best sounding so far,” vocalist Joel Ekelöf says of Soen’s seventh album, Reliance – and one would find it hard to disagree given the crisp, grand production.“Compared to the last few – if you take Imperial and Memorial and then this album, you can see the development. It’s still really Soen and you can follow it; it’s logical.”
“Some songs are very different than what we usually do,” chimes drummer Martin Lopez. “There’s some heavier stuff, there’s some proggier stuff. I think it’s a bit more entertaining musically than the last two albums – and also better. More direct and better sounding. We had a goal that I feel we surpassed.”
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Lead single Primal drew many positive comments on social media – “best track of the year” and an “anthem” among them – but also attracted some concern from those of a prog persuasion who wanted to see more experimentalism. It’s a direct, rousing metal-rooted tune that doesn’t stray from the path too often; however, chip away at the surface and the album unveils far more nuances and detours than the track suggests.
Take Axis, for example. It juggles plunging, techy riffs with radio-friendly hooks before a stripped-back meander gives off Steven Wilson vibes; while Indifferent is a theatrical, keyboard-driven ballad. Other tracks like Huntress and Unbound chug along nicely before elevating and dropping at all the right moments.
“Being progressive for us means doing whatever we want to do: no boundaries,” Lopez says. “Sometimes you want to make a direct heavy song. There’s some kind of wrong thinking that, to be progressive, every song has to have 14 minutes of musical intellectualism. We don’t agree; we think it’s more about being free with whatever you write and choose to express yourself.”
Ekelöf, cites the example of Genesis’ Selling England By The Pound. “There’s some very elaborate songs,” he says, “but still really fucking great songs. It’s really important to have that progressive element – the journey and the adventure. Not so much just making a 30-minute song with solos where everyone’s trying to technically outdo each other. To me, that’s not what’s cool about progressive music.”
Having released debut Cognitive in 2012, Soen have gone through a few line-up changes in their time, but have settled nicely in recent years. Former Opeth sticksman Lopez and Ekelöf are the two remaining founding members, and are now joined by Lars Enok Åhlund (keyboards, guitar) and Cody Ford (guitar), with Stefan Stenberg on bass.
It was perhaps inevitable Soen would initially find themselves in a Mikael Åkerfeldt-shaped shadow, while their early sound copped some comparisons to Tool too. But the group took little time in furrowing their own path, moulding a sound that merges soaring vocals, melancholic riffs and misty atmosphere.
“I still remember very clearly what we did on the first album and how we did it,” Ekelöf says. “Time goes fast.”
“But it also goes really slow,” Lopez adds. “It feels like we’ve been touring Memorial forever. It’s like, ‘Please let me release a new album and start a new chapter.’ A year from now we’ll feel like the Memorial chapter was fast.”
The lyrical themes on Reliance are more “outward-looking than inward,” according to Ekelöf. Lopez adds: “There’s a bit of everything. We probably talk more about us – all of us – than me and myself.”
Primal, for instance, juggles weighty topics such as consumerism and technology. “It feels like whatever you say is taken as a political standing,” Lopez says. “But we go for what we feel is common sense – whatever we can do to address the big issues that we as a society have.”
The conversation leads on to social media, and its dark pitfalls for the younger generation. “I’m deathly scared of giving it to my daughter,” Ekelöf admits. “It’s just fucking scary what’s happening and what it does to you. It’s starting to show in numbers now that people are really damaged by it. It’s something we’ve got to look out for.”
Lopez argues: “Young people receive pressure over the way they should look, sing, dance and be. It’s overwhelming on a human being – even more on a child,” Lopez adds. “The grip of technology on society is just so big. Even if you know and do whatever you can to protect the ones that you love from it, you really can’t.”
So, what comes next for Soen? The band have a European tour and a few festival dates confirmed so far, and probably more shows to come. Given their fairly productive output – an album every two or three years – one wouldn’t bet against the group having new material in their sights too. But they’ll call the shots on that.
“No one has ever tried to tell us what we should do,” Ekelöf says.“Record labels and management and things like that. We can’t think about how the next album should work, like, ’It has to be more appealing to this person,’ or, ‘It has to be more proggy for that person.’”
Reliance is on sale now.
