Listening to Soen: Penance and Orison

As part of his membership of the channel, Eric has requested some Soen on the channel… I went one better and listened to two songs!
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[@janesims1796]

Soen are simply the most amazing band. Joel's voice is so powerful - tracks are both melodic and chunky. When you know the albums you won't be able to choose a favourite - classic tracks on all of them. Undiscovered at the moment but their tours are beginning to sell out. I love Soen!

[@kratos9293]

lykaia, lotus and imperial are top tier modern prog, highly recommend these 3 albums 🤘

[@ProgMannen]

The whole Lotus album is really really good !!!

[@fafolaw]

Both Lotus and Lykaia are great albums from start to finish, imo they're easily the best Soen albums

[@ericmeredith8754]

I agree! Both are great start to finish. No filler. Great albums

[@JocaFus]

I absolutely agree! And even the bonus tracks of those albums are amazing. Gods Acre (bonus from Lykaia) and EMDR (bonus from Lotus) are easily in my top 5 favourite songs by Soen

[@Goldie1977]

Gods Acre is one of my fave Soen songs. 🤘

[@coheed1000]

Have to say, although i can kinda see why the new stuff might dissapoint some I would be a confident Irishman and say that you would be very impressed if you listeened to "Hallowed" & "Violence'' in that order from the new album "Memorial''.. great stuff Jim!

[@davidreed1096]

Soen, Rishloo or Riverside all are fabulous bands. Thanks Jim.

[@ericmeredith8754]

Jim. Thank you so much for doing this! I loved your reaction and appreciate the extra song. Lykia and Lotus are great albums! Their newer music is becoming more mainstream hard rock but still have some good material! I appreciate you Jim! Have a great day!🤟🏻

[@JimNewstead]

Glad you enjoyed it! And looking forward to Lotus!

[@rudolfbecker4313]

Great choice, Eric. Great choice, Jim. Owning all 6 studio albums and having seen them live twice, I think, I can call myself some kind of Soen expert 😆 My favourite albums are Tellurian, Lykaia and Lotus. And as Stuart wrote, I see a certain stagnation in the last 2 ... on a high level. As you said, Jim, there is and was a certain amount of Tool, especially in the first albums. When I read some comments in amazon, there was lots of wining of Tool fans, as if Soen would steel their music - ridiculous 🤣 I already wrote back then, that for example Dream Theater could complain all the time, when they hear other bands play music, which sounds similar to theirs. I personally like the singing style of James Maynard Keenan (most of the time), but I also like Joel Ekelöf a bit better - his strong and clear voice and that's what you get when you see them live. I'll never forget my first Soen concert in Cologne, a small 300 person venue, I stood right in front of stage with my son and I could have grabbed Marcus Jiddells guitar (not anymore with the band) ... and Joel standing at the microphone like a rock, clearly to hear and understand ... and in the back the mighty Martin Lopez ... already with Opeth a great drummer and still is ... I like his stoic attitude ... I can absolutely recommend to go and see this band play live🤘

[@JimNewstead]

So, Soen albums to come soon…. 👍🏼🤘

[@ktopaz]

Soen's 2021 Album "Imperial" is a an absolute BANGER!!! It rocks so much from start to finish, it includes a couple of fantastic softer side prog ballades as well - but mostly higher paced prog-rock high energy bangers!! Martin Lopez (The Ex-Opeth drummer you mentioned) really shines there, as well all all other band members: Zlatoyar, Lars, Cody & Of course the singer Joel. For me this was the album I listend to the most during 2021-2022, by far! I highly recommend it, it is tight and very well played, deep subjects and lyrics as well! you should do a full album reaction to it! its only 40 minutes (unfortunately, that is...)

[@progperljungman8218]

To my knowledge, Lopez had to quit Opeth due to health issues. Some years later, he'd fortunately recovered and took part in forming this band. Lots of Tool influences in their beginning and more and more Opeth later on. I wouldn't necessarily say that they resemble "prog Opeth" (as in latter days) too much. Rather the progier bits from their heavier days. Like Damnation or non growled/death metal parts from heavier albums.

[@Goldie1977]

Nice one Sir! Love this band so much. Been a fan from day 1 and would recommend any album gets a listen. My personal faves are Lotus, Lykaia and the new album Memorial. They’ve taken a more straight up hard rock metal stance with the last 2 records but great songs are great songs. Vitals off the new album goes down the Floyd road for sure. More Soen please!

[@MaraxisArcanist]

I'm not super familiar with Soen, but I've heard a few tracks that I really liked.

[@palantir135]

Good evening Jim, No, I don’t know this band either, as usual. Great weather here the last two days and that means cycling for me 😎. Tomorrow rain and a lot of wind; normal weather at last. I like the start of the first song a lot. Great singer 😅. The heavier part is great too. I don’t understand the why all transitions but it still sounds great. The second song. I like this a lot. I can’t listen to Tool because of the singing but if this sounds a bit like Tool, their music is good and I can listen to this band without problems. It seems Scandinavian progressive rock bands are the ones to go for. I know several already and I love them. Kaipa, Nightwish, White Willow, Opeth (newer albums), Ghost, Therion.

[@JimNewstead]

More to come soon 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@heen32291]

Their new album Memorial is amazing! You should do an album listening of it.

[@eas971]

Listen to the Tellurian or Cognitive album. It would be very interesting to see your reaction. These albums are my favorite. Thanks for your videos!

[@KibitoSaika]

do album reaction from them pleaaaaase

[@JimNewstead]

Will do 👍🏼

[@LGBTQ71]

Hhhmmm I like!

[@stuartraybould6433]

Loved this band, unfortunately, last two albums have been just the same thing done again and again, no progression. These two albums are the best of the first four. I have them but haven't bothered with last two, no change in sound and personally, four albums of the same thing is enough. It is good stuff though, shame there as been no progress.

[@KibitoSaika]

understand what r u saying, but i think imperial has theeir moments ... Memorial not so, but good energetic riffs, nothing new yeah, but energy

[@mouseinatutu]

Yep, same for me. Memorial and Imperial were absolute let-downs. Imperial had a few tracks that I enjoyed, memorial was not for me at all.