Swedish progressive metal supergroup Soen was on a worldwide recorded live-stream from Atlantis Grammofon Studios yesterday, on the 18th of February. Supporting their latest album “Imperial”, which I believe was one of the best metal albums of 2021, they did something spectacular already on their minds for a long time. They came with different songs from past and present albums: I noticed four tracks from Imperial, another four from Lotus, two from Lykaia, one from Cognitive and a surprise track I’m going to reveal later in this article.
Fruit of the Covid-19 pandemic, we already know that Imperial is a powerful and spectacular album. But for this live-stream event Soen did a very chique twist and performed their songs accompanied by a string quartet and a choir, adding a symphonic touch to those highly melodic compositions. I found the arrangements very impressive, fresh and emotional, this symphonic touch revealing the essence of the songs. As I told you in my previous reviews here in metaloda.com, I especially like it when the classical and metal worlds collide: I find the blurring of the lines between genres in music and art very exciting. As a general rule, you never get disappointed when powerful metal songs are arranged with a classical touch. But you should forget all those arrangements you have seen from full-scale orchestras performing the works from (and with) giant bands like the Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Queen and others. Soen’s performance with the string quartet and the choir was cosy, touching and very powerful: at the end of the stream I experienced a sort of enlightenment and a crystal clear impression of what the band truly has to say. This year we have also seen an exceptional work by Swallow the Sun, who released a full instrumental/classical version of their album Moonflowers with Trio Nox, also figuring in a separate article here at metaloda.com. As I told you earlier, for me it is always a big excitement when classical meets metal, one good example being the wonderful Apocalyptica.
With my personal praise for the Canadian lead guitarist Cody Lee Ford and virtuoso playing by Oleksii “Zlatoyar” Kobel (bass), Martin Lopez (drums), Lars Erok Ahlund (guitar and piano), not forgetting to mention all the talented supporting musicians, the arrangements uplifted and put forward the beautiful and ethereal voice of Joel Ekelöf. One of the best male vocals in metal genre (and we might very well say in music in general), Ekelöf was the shining star of the evening. Now let’s look closer at the tracks from the event: the first five songs chosen were the Antagonist (Imperial 2021), Lunacy (Lotus 2019), Monarch (Imperial 2021), River (Lotus 2019) and Jinn (Lykaia 2017). Very melodic in fabric, the melodies played by the strings and the grand piano, the oriental touch was especially put forward by the string quartet in Monarch, Jinn and Lunacy. Then we have come to my favorite part of the evening where Soen performed Illusion (Imperial 2021), Modesty (Imperial 2021), Lucidity (Lykaia 2017), Savia (Cognitive 2012), Snuff by Slipknot –you heard it right-, Lascivious (Lotus 2019) and finally Lotus (Lotus 2019).
My favorite tracks from the whole evening came from the last seven arrangements: the piano intro in “Illusion”, the shining vocal mastery of Ekelöf in “Modesty”, the chique guitar solo and jazzy melodies in “Savia”, all showed how deep and rich progressive could further become with the classical touch. The surprise of the evening was Soen’s Slipknot “Snuff” cover: “Snuff” has been a seamless addition to the program in tone and melody, and it was the excitement of Soen fans in the backchannel. “Lascivious” shined with great orchestration and oriental tunes. Last track “Lotus” left us with the feeling of wanting more from Soen, with the delicious virtuoso guitar solo and the strings outro.
As I end my words I must say, the most precious gift from Soen to their fans would be the release of this wonderful concert on digital platforms as soon as possible. And I must add that, being in quarantine because of Covid infection, Soen’s live event was truly the highlight of recent days and a source of happiness for me .
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Reading your article certainly sparked my interest in this group so thank you!
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Thank you Funda :))