SOEN are:
Joel Ekelöf - Vocals (2010 - present)
Martin Lopez - Drums (2010 - present)
Lars Enok Åhlund - Keyboards and Guitar (2014 - present)
Cody Ford - Guitar (2018 - present)
Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel - Bass (2020 - present)
Since Martin Lopez and Joel Ekelöf formed the group back in 2010, Soen have never shied away from exploration and analysis of self or society, both as musicians and expressionists.
The provocative, imperious and engaging Swedish-based metal band are an undeniable cypher for all the issues and emotions which swirl around us. Propelled by soaring powerhouse songs, they’ve never been interested in telling you what you should be thinking, instead offering their own takes and providing catalysts via excellently crafted aural vessels of intrigue and excitement. With their four previous albums – Cognitive (2012), Tellurian (2014), Lykaia (2017) and Lotus (2019) – having set the pace, IMPERIAL (released via Silver Lining Music on January 29th, 2021) is the latest potent, unmissable step on the SOEN journey.
Founder members Joel Ekelöf (vocals) and Martin Lopez (drums), along with Lars Enok Åhlund (keyboards and guitar), Cody Ford (lead guitar) and Oleksii ‘Zlatoyer’ Kobel (bass) once more step up to challenge our perceptions of life and humanity, as IMPERIAL continues SOEN’s unique journey through the psyche of our species and the conundrum of our times with eight crisp, sharp, and supremely constructed songs spanning frustration, reflection and hope.
Their 2012’s debut Cognitive beat a firmly heavy, progressive metal path, whilst 2014’s Tellurian (with its explorative Pink Floyd spirit and Opeth-like forceful power) saw SOEN starting to stride freely into their own power and unique visions. If SOEN’s first two albums were harder, more technical, angular and perhaps cerebral pieces which demanded sharp focus, their third offering Lykaia presented a warmer, rounder, flesh and blood on the bones approach. The journey still dynamic, continuing the underscore of complex melodies with crushing power. In 2019, the group released their fourth album, Lotus, another journey using a different set of perspectives. Intoxicating and addictive, Lotus questions much of humanity’s darkness while juxtaposing it with moments of great escape and hope. Lotus also marks the first recorded SOEN work of new Canadian-born guitarist Cody Ford, replacing Marcus Jidell who left the band earlier this year in a wholly amicable parting.
2021 – IMPERIAL
The story of IMPERIAL’s creation began before the COVID-19 pandemic which has dominated and consumed most of 2020 (on bass duties is Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel, joining the band in 2020 after the amicable departure of Stefan Stenberg).
“Most of the songs were written before COVID-19”, explains Lopez. “The pandemic has obviously been a crazy, terrible thing for everyone, and for us as a band it has been really frustrating not being able to play shows. But it also gave us a clear window of opportunity to realise this album completely. We were able to spend 12 hours a day for many months bringing IMPERIAL to the place we truly wanted, mainly working on the groove and flow of the album.”
With the classically-trained Åhlund proof-reading the harmonies and production duties being handled by Iñaki Marconi and the band (Marconi produced SOEN’s last album Lotus), IMPERIAL was taking shape in a way which was even surprising the band.
“When we started writing the songs, we agreed that we would kill the over-sophisticated thing”, says Ekelöf. “That we would unshackle ourselves from all that, be less reserved and seek a level of edge and discomfort.”
“The album started turning into this huge piece, with this aggression building in there like we never had before”, furthers Lopez, “so we knew we needed to mix it away from here.”
Enter Canadian producer/engineer Kane Churko, who mixed and mastered IMPERIAL during intense, remote sessions from his Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas. Churko has worked with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Bob Dylan and there’s no doubting that Churko’s involvement was the game-changer for SOEN, with songs such as ‘Illusion’, ‘Modesty’ and the epic closer ‘Fortune’ showing a dimension, richness and clarity that allows SOEN access to more ears, hearts and minds.
That team effort has produced career-defining songs. There’s the soaring power of ‘Lumerian’, which alludes at the similarities between consumerism and drug addiction, ‘Monarch’ with its epic, dynamic tale of men raised in aggression and sent to war, and ‘Modesty’ with its intricate strings and vocal harmonies offering a new interpretation of a black metal riff.
Lead single ‘Antagonist’ sends the message that SOEN stand with the underdog, the downtrodden and the marginalised. “It is the rawest, most unpolished, un-SOEN, unsophisticated vocal on the album”, says Ekelöf. “It’s definitely an all-out song, and mentally it pushed me hard when it came to overcome my own instinctual vocal ideas and approaches. We were all pushing each other towards this direction of simplicity and anger.”
Then there’s the juxtapose of ‘Illusion’, a sombre, reflective ballad which asks questions of us all. “I think ballads feel like you’re talking to someone individually”, says Lopez, “and in this more intimate framework, we wanted to speak about how important it is that people look to make the first step towards trying to do something about righting some of the wrongs in this messed up world.”
“Put this in contrast to ‘Monarch’, which is very much about action, whereas this is about contemplation,” adds Ekelöf. “Why are we letting things like poverty and mistreatment of so many happen in the world? What is our personal responsibility? Somewhere, somehow, we need to start talking. Anyone with empathy needs to plug in.”
IMPERIAL is a definitive statement of these times, conceived and created by storytellers who carry with them an extra layer of consideration and affinity for those who face adversity.
“We will always be a band that has the old will to fight for freedom and all the important things in life: the people, the underdog.”
