Album Review: SOTO - Origami

With the records that have been released in the last couple of years, I have found that my enjoyment of Jeff Scott Soto is inversely related to the input he has in the writing of the songs. His most recent solo album was not very good, where he was driving the ship. Sons Of Apollo's record was pretty good, where he had help from a mediocre songwriter in Derek Sherinian. But the W.E.T. album, where he had great songwriters alongside him, was phenomenal. So that makes this new outing from his metallic solo band something I'm not sure how to approach. With his name branded on it, and I assume his hand guiding the process, the fear is that he is entirely one of those singers with a voice I like and writing abilities I don't.

We kick things off with "HyperMania", which is an interesting song featuring a truly awful title. There's a riff that sounds like an eight-string guitar, super deep and a bit flabby (a feature of the guitar - the sonic range of the instrument shouldn't be that low), which is melded with more of an alternative rock/AOR chorus. It's an unexpected combination, but it's one that works.

To that respect, "Origama" plays out as a spiritual twin to Sons Of Apollo, which was also a low-tuned yet accessible slightly prog metal record. The difference is which side of the ledger gets more of the focus. Sons Of Apollo tried to have it both ways, which I felt was the biggest flaw of the band's hastily put together debut. SOTO doesn't have that problem. This album is focused on being accessible first, with the musicianship a nice addition to the songwriting, and not the other way around. That makes this a much easier listen, but it does also put the focus back on Soto himself, and whether he is able to give himself the hooks and melodies to make these songs shine.

The answer to that is both yes and no. "Origami" is worlds better than his last solo album, and not just because this is heavier. This material does give Soto a better platform to sing on, and he does a fine job of making these songs more accessible than the instrumentals might suggest. He doesn't match up with the muscular hooks W.E.T. generated, but that would be a tall order for anyone. What he has done, though, is provide a blueprint for the next time I expect to hear from him.

This album is what Sons Of Apollo should have been, and might have been, if they hadn't put the entire album together in less than a fortnight. Had they taken more time, and learned what they were and weren't good at, this is where we would have ended up. Like that band, what makes "Origami" work is when it is determined to be deeply heavy, musically prodigious, accessible rock/metal. The album is players who are too good to tame themselves to play four minute poppy rock, who are playing it anyway. That, I find appealing.

I don't know if there are any songs that stand out from the pack, but tracks like "Detonate" and "Torn" are exactly what I would have said I wanted before I ever heard the record. Maybe it was a good thing I went into this with low expectations, because the pleasant surprise I got song after song was more impressive by how far it cleared the bar with each leap.

Ultimately, SOTO has put out a record that works not only on its own, but also in context. The various projects Jeff Scott Soto has been involved in recently come together on this album, and that makes for a far more interesting experience than if he had stayed in any one corner. "Origami" folds all sides of his music into this one record, and it makes for a very good one.