Singles Roundup: Soen, Amy Lee and Company, & Spock's Beard

We're moving into that awkward zone when the years begin to blend together...

Soen - Primal

The one hope I had left for this disappointing year was for Soen deliver an album late in the year to rescue us from so much mediocrity, as their usual cycle would have made possible. Instead, they are waiting for the start of the new year in January to release the record, being the first big name we will encounter with fresh ears. That brings them back to the position they occupied when they first caught my ear.

This first single continues the trend Soen has been on for almost their entire career. With each album, they have been refining their sound, stripping away their early prog influences for something simpler and more powerful. The wall of guitars may have never been louder than here, and the rhythms being played have little of the off-kilter flair that made songs off "Lykaia" and "Lotus" such an interesting spin on modern melodic metal. It isn't a problem that the band is moving in this direction, but it does mean they have to nail everything else to make up the difference.

They mostly do that here. The song's riff is crushing even if it doesn't have as much groove, while Joel delivers a stirring chorus. The red-lined production fits the theme, as the band takes on the state of the world in the lyrics. Writing about politics can be tricky, and some of the language they use is a bit awkward. The message of fighting back against a ruling class who exploit our financial insecurity and fear of the unknown for their own benefit is one we should all be able to get behind. Politics being what it is, though, I'm sure some people will miss the point and prefer the band to keep their beliefs to themselves.

This song is very much in line with the initial singles from both "Memorial" and "Imperial". You could say Soen has settled too much into a formula, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you. I haven't gotten tired of that quite yet, so as long as the songs are still of this quality, I'm not going to complain. I might not feel quite the same if the album feels like the third carbon-copy in a row, but considering the state of music right now, I can think of a whole lot of things that would be worse.

Poppy, Amy Lee, & Courtney LaPlante - End Of You

I know in some circles this collaboration was talked about as being absolutely massive. Frankly, I like one or two Evanescence songs, but by and large why these three have become so beloved is one of those things that escapes me. I tried listening to a Poppy record when people were raving about her genre bending, but it was some of the worst songwriting I've ever heard in my life. I've tried to listen to Spiritbox, and I find them duller than dishwater, because there can be interesting spirals of colored dirt as that goes down the drain.

So imagine my surprise when this song was actually good. It doesn't do anything we wouldn't expect from a radio-rock single, and the three women don't really bring different enough personalities to make their presences all necessary, the song delivers where it counts. Amy, in particular, is stirring on the chorus, which immediately gripped me more than the last couple times I tried to listen to Evanescence.

I always say everything comes down to songwriting, and this is a prime example. When given a compelling song, Poppy and Courtney's talents are easier to hear and appreciate. That's a pretty good accomplishment.

Spock's Beard - Invisible

With most of the band currently in the lineup of Pattern Seeking Animals, and with that band's songwriter being a big part of the last twenty years of Spock's Beard, it's a bit curious that both bands are putting out albums this year. The album doesn't come from the band's usual writing teams, which is an interesting twist, and will be partially conceptual about a post-apocalyptic world. Oh fucking joy.

This first song gives me reason to think I may not actually subject myself to the whole of that experience. While I liked " " when it came out, Spock's Beard hasn't really sounded like themselves since Ted Leonard took over on vocals. Now with a different writing voice, this song doesn't feel much like Spock's Beard as I listen to it. The tones are right, but the song itself doesn't really go anywhere. There is prog, but it's not impressive prog. There is melody, but it's not a memorable melody.

I get worried when the first song picked to highlight a new album is this forgettable. Time will tell if that worry is on the nose or not.