Soen - Tellurian

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I’d forgive you if you haven’t heard of Soen. But if you do know the band, you probably recognize them as “the band that sounds like Tool.” While they don’t quite scratch that itch well enough to make the long wait for Tool’s next studio effort less interminable, the comparisons are justified, if a little simplistic.

So who are Soen? They’re a supergroup, depending on who you ask. Drummer Martin Lopez, formerly of Opeth fame, founded the band in 2004 with guitarist Kim Platbarzdis. Lineup changes and false starts plagued the band until their reformation in 2010, by which time bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Ephel Duath, Obituary) and vocalist Joel Ekelöf (Willowtree) had come aboard to round out the quartet.

The group’s 2012 effort, Cognitive, immediately impressed me with their first single, “Savia.” The likeness to Tool was unmistakable, but so, too, was the feeling that this was something different, however unrefined and nascent it may have been at the time. Ekelöf’s vocals certainly channeled Maynard’s style, but did so without quite so much venom; the vocals here suggest an intelligence at work that was nakedly searching for something. Furthermore, the sarcasm and cynicism of their Los Angeles-based counterparts was largely absent from Cognitive, giving us instead a record that felt as though it were written between in the margins of someone’s philosophy primer from college.

Soen’s sophomore effort, Tellurian, picks up right where Cognitive left off, which is to say it’s a more polished version of what their debut gave us: beautifully and hauntingly layered and harmonized vocals served atop a generous portion of spacey, don’t-call-it-metal metal.

You won’t hear any guttural vocals here; Ekelöf’s voice is a tool, but not a weapon; he oozes passion on every track and seems to blend seamlessly with the rest of the arrangement. Maybe this is the influence of Dave Bottrill’s mixing technique (he’s also worked with Tool), but the effect is one that turns Ekelöf’s vocal delivery into yet another instrument, beautifully crafted and expertly delivered.

Which is not to say that Ekelöf doesn’t have anything interesting to say. While most of the lyrics on Cognitive were almost painfully abstract, Tellurian adopts what the band has described as a more “direct approach.” And it shows. Ekelöf seems less intent on talking over our heads: an effort evident on lead single “Tabula Rasa,” which comes across as vaguely political (“Where is my right to choose, if all the options are theirs?”), and the gorgeous “The Words” (“Patiently stayed by my side for years… I know I owe you more than I am.”).

The music remains as ethereal as ever, blending heavier and more percussive sections with stretches of atmospheric beauty. Unusual syncopation abounds, as do some vaguely middle-eastern melodies, which give the whole album a cohesive and distinctive sound. And, at every turn, there’s Ekelöf, winding his way through the rest of the instruments, lending the heavier sections an ominously peaceful quality, and reaching for the heights of beauty on the lighter tracks.

Those who branded Soen’s debut a shameless Tool clone will, I expect, back down with the release of Tellurian. Soen have refined their sound to the point where they seem confident standing on their own merits. But, like Leprous—another band that got their start in the shadow of a giant—it may take another record or two before they finish carving out their own sonic identity. But they’re well on their way, and Tellurian (an appropriately chosen title that means “relating to, or inhabiting the earth”) is an exceptionally entertaining and even haunting record because of their efforts.

In the Danish language, the word Soen is derived from the singular definite of so. If you turn that into a question, it serves as a decent enough look into the band’s motives as musicians. And when every song on the album sounds like an answer to that question, you know you’ve stumbled onto something really special.

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