Going "Back Into Hell" With Meat Loaf, 30 Years Later

What do you say about the album that changed your life?

Other than school, where years can be easily delineated, I don't have many memories before the time I first heard Meat Loaf. It's that pounding piano intro to "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" which feels like when I first noticed my heart beating. I've never understood exactly why, or how, but it was that song that opened my eyes to the world of music as something more than what was on the radio as the car traveled from one point to another. I knew of music, of course, but I never knew music.

I should not have been the right audience for Meat Loaf's big comeback. I was only turning ten at the time, and I had never heard the original "Bat Out Of Hell" yet, but I found myself caught in the spell of Jim Steinman's music. I remember slipping the cassette single out of the cardboard sleeve, and playing it again and again. Once the album came out, I played it in awe so many times the tape wore out in places. Replacing it with a CD years later makes it one of the few albums I have ever purchased twice, which surprisingly did not come with any sort of anger or frustration.

What amuses me now is looking back at that younger version of myself listening to these epic songs about passion and love, and wondering just what in the heck I thought I was hearing in them. Even today, I can't say I understand what Steinman was writing about when he had Meat's duet partner demanding to be hosed down with holy water. I've never felt that kind of fire at this age, so at that earlier stage I must have been a better dreamer. Heaven knows I struggle with fantasy these days.

Little did I know at the time, but Meat Loaf would become a form of over-compensation. Steinman's songs about emotions taken to the extreme would serve as a replacement for my own lack of them. Self-deprecating jokes aside, the songs do allow me to feel things that have been lacking in my life. They are very much a proxy for the person I would like to be, at least as much as my confusion allows me to think is true.

Or perhaps it is simpler than that, and Steinman's pleas to "the gods of sex and drums and rock and roll", and his belief that "rock and roll dreams come through", was enough of a message to win me over. When things didn't seem all that hopeful, and I was not primed to look to other sources for my salvation, it was music that could provide me with the push toward something satisfying. All these years later, I still look to music to fill that purpose, which probably means it was never successful. And yet, I still find myself putting my hope into records. I guess that means I'm a bit crazy, doesn't it?

One of the real joys of music is finding something that sweeps you up and transports your mind to a different place, a record that can truly be an escape from the troubles of the day. That is what Meat Loaf has always been for me, and continues to be. When I listen to a record like this one, I'm not trying to relive a glory day that has long since passed. What these songs offer me is the ability to spend an hour still caught up in amazement the same way I was back when I first heard them. Steinman's sense of drama, and his long melody lines that bring us to the point of breathlessness, have never lost their potency.

For someone who lacks in excitement, I'm always intrigued by the overly dramatic. I don't quite understand how people do that, how they live that way, and it's a bit of a social experiment to spend a few moments caught up in that rush of feelings.

While many people remained confused, I have long maintained the 'that' Meat Loaf wouldn't do for love is move on and look for it from someone more hospitable to his charms. Like that interpretation, I either won't, or can't, move on and look for another album that can mean to me what "Bat Out Of Hell II" has meant for all these years. Finding it might have been an accident, but it was the luckiest kind.

Album Review: Ronnie Romero - Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters

There's something about Ronnie Romero that has always gnawed at me. Since he became the vocalist de jour of rock and metal, it seems like he has been everywhere. If there is a project out there without a singer, there's a pretty good chance it will wind up with Ronnie as the singer. He has made dozens of records, and was recently bragging about how in ten years he has had a career it takes most people thirty or forty years to achieve. That's not a good thing, mind you, since those other singers craft an artistic identity, and make music people remember. Ronnie spits out material so fast, and all as a hired gun, it gives the impression he will sing just about anything you put before him.

So much music, and we don't really know anything about his identity as an artist.

That might finally change with this record, the first one of his career where he has a voice in the songwriting of every song. I say 'might', because if I'm being honest, this record doesn't actually sound any different than any of the other melodic rock and heavy metal albums he's been a part of. Now, there's a chance he's constantly been given material that gels with his own take and taste in that music. There's also a chance he developed his own sense of songwriting from singing those records, which then turns the whole thing into a circular argument, where his original ideas are so predicated on the work of others that he has nothing to say on his own.

I'm not saying that definitely is the case, but the thought does strike me as making a whole lot of sense. What that means is that if you've listened to Ronnie over the years, you won't notice the change in songwriters as you come to this record. Man, is there a sadder thing you can say about music than it being completely anonymous? Sorry for the diversion there. The point is that if you already like what Ronnie has been singing, you'll like this record too. Nothing happens here that wouldn't appeal to the people who are already prone to liking this kind of material.

As an amalgam of the more melodic albums, and the heavier ones, I suppose you could call this a summation of everything Ronnie Romero has yet been. I don't happen to like that interpretation, because it doesn't work as a very good summation. If this is the first time we're hearing the true artist behind that voice, it comes through an album that is weaker than pretty much everything else he has sung.

While I seem to be one of the few people who doesn't think he's one of the best vocalists out there, I can say he's been part of song good music. The albums with Sunstorm, especially, are very good for what they are. The melodic songs on this record don't have nearly the number of hooks to them as those records. The heavier songs don't have any hooks at all. "Girl, Don't Listen To The Radio" is the worst song on the record by a mile, because it doesn't even sound like Ronnie tried to write a melody. He grunts his way through something that's supposed to resemble a chorus, but it's so incredibly bland and unmemorable I struggle to understand why a song that does absolutely nothing to showcase a singer is on a singer's solo album.

This record tells me everything I need to know, namely that Ronnie Romero isn't a great songwriter at this time. There's no shame or criticism in that, by the way. Plenty of great singers aren't also great songwriters. They're two very different skills, and it's rare to have both of them. What is a problem is that Ronnie has never cared to pick material to sing that crafts an image and a reputation that can endure. And again, I understand. Music is his job, and he gets paid (presumably) well to sing these albums. I'm looking at this from an artistic perspective, which is the way I think about music (both his and my own), and I can't see how saturating the market with so many albums works to build a reputation with the audience. We have very different perspectives on music, and that's fine.

All it means is that this album, for me, is just another from the conveyor belt of Ronnie Romero albums. If you pass this one by, another will be along shortly.

Album Review: The Flower Kings - Look At You Now

The world is a very different place than when The Flower Kings became popular in prog circles, and even from when I first discovered them. I know I'm a different person in many ways, and those are not helpful to my relationship to the band's music. While I discovered them when "Desolation Rose" came out, everything since then has been a slow slide as I grow more and more impatient with prog music. I don't think it's my attention span getting shorter, but rather a realization on my part that I have so much music I could already be listening to, anything that wastes too much of my time isn't worth the effort anymore.

That has included many Flower Kings albums, which often stretch on for two discs and an hour and a half of music. They love their extended guitar solos and meandering noodling, which no longer holds any appeal for me. Few of those guitar solos have enough hook to them to replace a better written song, and I don't know if there's any album these days that can sustain itself for that long. The more you ask, the more you have to give.

This album condenses things, thankfully, but that doesn't do as much good as we might think. I was not very enamored by Roine Stolt's contributions to the latest Transatlantic album, and this record feels like an even softer version of that. 'Soft' is the operative word, as everything about this record floats along at a gentle lilt, with little of the music or vocals standing out to grab my attention.

The band's sound is more of a wash of sound than something I would call compelling. Melodies come and go, but leave no footprints in the dust. As song after song unfolds, I'm waiting to hear something compelling, the spark of an idea where I can tell what made the band feel the need to write a song from it. Those never really come, and instead this sounds more like a loose jam session of improv ideas that never got culled down to the best bits.

Then again, I realize I'm no longer the right audience for this kind of music, because I have grown oh so tired of listening to guitar players playing guitar for the sake of playing guitar. I need to hear the heartbeat of a song coming through every minute, and that's not what this kind of prog is all about. The Flower Kings are trying to take us on a trip through their creativity, but it's a slow boat and I don't enjoy the waves. Once you've seen the horizon from one angle, seeing the same thing from a slightly different place doesn't hold nearly as much appeal.

I appreciate that this is a more 'focused' version of The Flower Kings, but I still find myself unable to embrace what they're doing. The music doesn't do enough to engage me at first, let alone hold me all the way through. There isn't enough meat on this bone for my liking, so I can't say this is for anyone but the devoted prog fans.

Still Dancing With Death, 20 Years Later

I knew of Iron Maiden, but I was young enough I never really knew Iron Maiden before Bruce Dickinson returned to the band for "Brave New World". I remember hearing "The Wicker Man" and being impressed, and I also remember not fully understanding the entire record when it came out, or why it was such a big deal to have the band back together. I still don't agree with the conventional wisdom that it marks the best album the band made after their glory days, but context would prove to be the key to my understanding. That context would come the next time around.

"Dance Of Death" was a less heralded record, and came with the built-in laugh-track that is the cover art. For a first impression, you can't do much worse than the cheap and unfinished computer graphic of a dancing baby in a mask. It is absolutely wretched art, and if I was only seeing it for the first time now, I might very well ignore the album because of what the artistic choices would lead me to imply about the people who made the record.

Back then was a different time, and I was happy to give Iron Maiden another chance. What I heard was a record deeply flawed, but still utterly engrossing. People will tell you the production is muddy and not up to par, and they would be partially right. It is a very raw record, but it also sounds pretty much exactly like the band is playing live on stage. To complain about a band sounding on record like they actually sound is rather ridiculous when you put it that way, now isn't it?

People will also complain that Iron Maiden was mired in repetitive chorus disease, and once again they would be right. Too many of these songs feature lines being repeated four or eight times, when even a change of the wording would be a relief, let alone a change in the melody. That is one of my bigger pet-peeves as a musician, and I find it interesting that Iron Maiden is the one time when I find myself excusing the practice. "No More Lies" is the most particular of these cases, where Bruce repeatedly shouting the title is a rare instance of repetition making sense. His defiance and anger only grow with each repetition, and I'm not sure adding extra lines of lyrics would improve anything. That's hard for a writer to admit.

This period of Iron Maiden was exploratory, and each album would take a slightly different turn. "Brave New World" was the return-to-form, while "A Matter Of Life And Death" would be their heaviest effort, and "The Final Frontier" their most prog. That leaves "Dance Of Death" as the blending of all of these elements, and perhaps that best explains why it remains my favorite album of theirs to this day.

The one thing I find incontrovertible is that Iron Maiden got better at writing melodies as they got older. Perhaps that is due to Bruce Dickinson's solo career, where he found his voice in two of the best back-to-back records ever made. Regardless, the choruses of these songs hit harder and hook sharper than the majority of the band's classic songs. At least for me they do.

I would say if you want to hear Iron Maiden in their purest form, it's "Dance Of Death". You get the short and sweet catchy rockers with "Wildest Dreams" and "Rainmaker", you get the epic storytelling of the title track, and then you get the band's ability to eclipse the rest of the metal world with an absolute gem in "Paschendale", which remains one of the best metal songs I've ever heard. And after that, they stretch out with long yet melodic sing-alongs like "Face In The Sand" and "The Age Of Innocence". It's classic heavy metal, but it has rarely been done so well on all fronts.

Perhaps the reason I love this record so much is that it sounds more like "Accident Of Birth" and "The Chemical Wedding" than the band ever did, before or after. Though it might be controversial to say, those Bruce Dickinson solo records are, to my ears, the best things ever associated with anyone from Iron Maiden. "Dance Of Death" comes close behind. I've been listening to this album for twenty years, and I still find myself getting caught up in the way they were able to transcend their own history to make a record with more depth and more facets than usual.

Maybe if we put a brown paper bag over the cover, more people would see in this record what I do. When "Dance Of Death" came out, I was still learning how to low metal. If it wasn't for records like this, I might never have done so. It was a great teacher then, and it remains a great friend now.

Quick Reviews: Stitched Up Heart & Primal Fear

It's another two-for-one special today.

Stitched Up Heart - To The Wolves

I liked the previous Stitched Up Heart album. It did a lot of good things in the world of modern radio rock, and I thought it was positioning them for growth in the upcoming years. Now that we've gotten to the next album, I'm not sure whether I regret saying that, or if this is a case of missed potential.

The band on this record goes heavier and harder than before, which is what I think works against them. The music is deep and grinding, with thick guitars and not much color in the mix. The electronic elements are similarly cold and mechanical. All of that means there isn't much room in these songs for melodies, which is why I'm scratching my head. The good hooks from their previous work are hinted at here, but they don't come through. Between the mechanization of the music, and a vocal delivery that gets buried a bit in the mix, the focus gets put on the wrong elements.

Combined with hints of harsh vocals here and there, what we are presented here is an album that almost feels like it wants to become a groove metal record, when the band's strength has always been accessibility. This record is much more for extreme metal fans who want to move toward the mainstream, rather than one for mainstream people who can tolerate a bit of extremity.

The balance is off, and I can't help but feel they slipped off the mark this time.

Primal Fear - Code Red

I've gotten grief in the past for not getting the appeal of Primal Fear. Other than a brief period where they did something a bit more interesting and melodic, they have spent decades pounding out classic Judas Priest style heavy metal. Like that band, they're a prime example of why I don't call myself a metal fan most of the time. The band keeps churning out these chunky songs with chugging riffs and piercing vocals, and I keep struggling to figure out why they're so popular. Ralf Scheepers is a good singer, but his high wail is the worst part of his range, and it's used all too often, because that's what counts as 'metal'. Likewise, I know damn well how good of a songwriter Magnus Karlsson can be, but he doesn't get to display much of that in this band.

The talent is in this band to do really good things, but they love their metal tropes way too much. "Bring That Noise" is a great example, as it eschews any sort of melodic chorus for a horribly layered chant, which happens to be so distorted you can barely make out the song's title. It's trying so hard to be 'metal' that it's entirely phony, and altogether unmusical.

And let's not forget their nearly seven-minute ode, "Cancel Culture". Nothing says how tough and 'metal' you are like complaining that people aren't forced to support people, bands, and brands they don't agree with. How dare those people use their free speech to not listen to yours. They literally say it's "the fall of democracy", which just tells me they don't have any understanding of what 'cancel culture' is, beyond the right-wing talking points put out by people who have to lie about it to keep their ugly and bigoted views on the airwaves.

In case you can't tell, no, I am not a fan of this record. In fact, I think "Cancel Culture" might just lead me to cancelling any future thought of listening to another screed from these guys. Oops, there I go ending the world as we know it.

Album Review: Eclipse - Megalomanium

Another album cycle brings the same issues it always has. Eclipse is a good band, and I like the music they make. They also remian the least interesting of Erik Martensson's projects. They lack the darker vibe of Nordic Union, and they don't have the grandeur of W.E.T. Eclipse sometimes comes across as trying too hard to be something they aren't, sometimes they're too saccharine for their own good. His penchant for punning titles isn't winning me over either, despite the fact I grew up listening to the sarcasm of Jim Steinman and Elvis Costello. I don't know, this all reeks of effort to me.

I was rather excited when "The Hardest Part Is Losing You" was released as the first single. It blended the band's typical sound with new elements, giving off some vibes of MCR's "The Black Parade". It's something fresh, quite interesting, and certainly does more to separate Eclipse from Erik's other works. Unfortunately, it was not the first harbinger of a new direction, but instead a one-off that opens the record with a false promise.

"Anthem" is indeed what the title suggests, as the backing vocals are layered thick on a rousing chorus. It takes the elements of traditional metal I've never thought work, and redeployed them in a way that turns a chorus of chanting voices into a song to the heavens. It works better for me than "Children Of The Night" does, because Erik doesn't have the right tone of voice to pull off something trying to be sinister and ultra-heavy for melodic rock. He's miscast in that role, and I'm not sure it's the best sound for Eclipse to be tackling.

Then there's "I Don't Get It", where Erik talks about the rich and privileged, then says "I can't take it anymore", without ever saying what it is about the situation he doesn't think is fair. As a social critique, it's completely lacking a thesis. He jumps from money to religion without ever identifying the problem. His anger is in no way justified by what he says in the lyrics, so it comes off sounding like knee-jerk jealousy, rather than a reasonable reaction to an unfair system.

The bigger issue is that this record is supposed to be Eclipse tackling some new sounds and ideas, but I'm not sure what that means. Other than the first track, this sounds just like every other Eclipse record I've listened to. They're all good, but they have a very defined style, and you can hear bits of guitar and vocal melodies that pop up time and again. Erik has written so many songs between his various projects that he does have a tendency to repeat himself to a degree. What that means is that even when an album like this is good, it feels too familiar right from the start.

That's the takeaway from this record. Eclipse always delivers melodic rock at the upper echelon of the genre, and that's no exception here. Erik writes great hooks, and these songs have plenty of them. The issue is that this record is interchangeable with all the others, both in basic sound, but also in some of the melodic phrasing. This one feels as if I've already listened to it as many times as their earlier works. While that might be great for hardcore fans who just want more of what they love, it leaves me unexcited to keep coming back. I'm struggling to hear why I need to learn all the nuances of this record when I already have multiple Eclipse records I can go to when I need a dose of big, hooky rock.

"Megalomanium" is a good record that leaves me asking, "Ok, now what?"

Singles Roundup: Mary Spender, Guns N Roses, Twin Temple, & John Popper

To say this week's collection of songs is eclectic might be an understatement.

Mary Spender - You Can Have Chicago

Prominent YouTube personality Mary Spender is getting ready to release her first proper album. Blending her fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing and sultry vocals with some shimmering electrics and a slow driving beat, she paints a picture of a relationship crumbling like the edifices of a city block ignored by time. Time is the key here, as Mary's lyrics tell of needing time away from the end of a situation to heal and grow, letting her return a better and stronger person later on. Likewise, the acoustic solo turns electric in the song's outro, showing how she is steeling herself and becoming more powerful by realizing sometimes loss can be a gift.

The singer/songwriter sometimes feels like a relic of the past, but it's a timeless fusion of art and artist. Mary is well on her way, in that regard.

Guns N Roses - Perhaps

It feels weird to say, but I was not excited at all about the prospect of a new Guns N Roses song. Between how infrequent they come along, and how lackluster the previous couple have been, I was not looking forward to hearing yet another outtake from "Chinese Democracy" jazzed up with Slash's playing. I will say, though, that this is the most interesting of the songs they have put out since the 'reunion', even though it still isn't a real, honest-to-goodness new Guns song.

What baffles me about everything from the "Chinese Democracy" sessions is the inversion of Axl's writing. This song, like most of that album, features a dynamic and interesting verse, and then descends into a bland and forgettable chorus. Somewhere along the way, Axl lost his ability to write and place a hook in a song. The piano line is memorable, and Axl's melody in the verse is a winding bit that has a nice hook to it. But then that chorus... ugh. Axl has never been good at backing vocals, and his low tones sound awful leading into his piercing cries. It's not good at all, and Slash must have thought the same, as he puts in one of his weakest solos.

I keep thinking none of us should care about the band until they actually write a new song together. Then this comes along and gives me just enough hope there's something good in the vaults. I'm not sure what to think now.

Twin Temple - Burn Your Bible

Satanic doo-wop shouldn't be a thing, but it is. There's something about this band's style and sound that is delightfully silly, even if they play it deadly serious. The subversion of sunny olden pop leads us to some interesting places, as it makes us question that old idea about what is and isn't 'the devil's music'. Look, I'm not going to tell you this is the greatest thing, or that I would want to sit down and listen to this record time and time again, but when I do hear Twin Temple, they give me a bit of a wry smile. That's good enough to make this a winner.

John Popper & Jono Manson - Cabin Fever

The record this song comes from will be released on a special day for me, and John Popper is one of my earliest musical favorites, but yet I think this is going to be a hard pass for me. Steeped in backwoods Americana, this song is a slow bluesy folk tune that recycles the cliches of melody that keeps me from liking so much of those styles of music. I'm missing the charm and personality that has kept me a fan all these years. There isn't any joy in this song for me as a listener, and I guess I'm just not interested in sitting through a dour experience anymore. An entire record of this style is going to try my patience, so I might have to skip it. That's a shame, but I have to prioritize myself.

Album Review: Spanish Love Songs - No Joy

When people say that critics/commentators don't matter, what they're really saying is that they don't listen to those kinds of voices. They are important, though, and Spanish Love Songs is my proof of that. When "Brave Faces Everyone" came out, I had never heard of this band, but several people in the music world I pay attention to were all saying it was destined to be the best album of the year. They were insistent, and I heard it repeatedly, so I figured I owed it to myself to check it out. While I didn't go as far as they did, it made my Top Ten list, and that wouldn't have happened without them talking up the record.

Now that we're on to the next album cycle, they aren't coming into my attention as a surprise. There are some expectations attached, and that is what doomed this record from before the first time I heard it. While I didn't relate to the lyrics about drug abuse and a personal world on fire, "Brace Faces Everyone" was the sort of record imbued with so much passion I was able to find my own meaning in it. They took everything good about emo and alternative rock, and turned it into a howling catharsis.

None of that is true about this record.

"No Joy" is an apt title, because I felt no joy listening to this record. It is mired in the same loathing as the previous one, but without the powerful guitars and raging, screamed melodies. Instead, things are pared back, and given ore of an 80s sheen. The softer approach is completely wrong for this kind of music, as the band has gone from sounding pissed off at a world that has been unfair to them, to a band sitting on the couch in a Snuggie, having given up on ever feeling better.

This is a miserable record because it's an insular record. There is no sense of collective outrage like before, as these are not songs we can shout along with. We can't feel like everyone is in this together, because it's much more of a coffee-house open-mic night type of record. I'm not sure why they felt like making a record with no energy or power was a wise decision, because it highlights the shortcomings of their sound. The hooks aren't all that great when they don't have that sense of rage behind them, and the softer vocals sit in a deeply uncomfortable range for my ears. The shouting is far better than the warbling singing, which is something I'm not sure I've ever said before.

I can understand the attitude of not wanting to be pigeon-holed in a certain sound and style forever, but this is such a drastic left-turn, coming on the heels of breakout critical acclaim, that it leaves me baffled. Just when everyone seemed to love them, and they were growing by the day, they've made a record that does nothing to capitalize on that momentum. This one almost feels as if it is intentionally trying to push people away, because perhaps being darlings goes against everything the lyrics stand for. I'm not sure.

All I know is that this is a confounding record to listen to, both because it doesn't offer much appeal as a set of songs, but also because it makes me a bit angry I got my hopes up for this group. They are officially flukes in my book, until they prove otherwise. But at this point, I'm not sure if I'll be paying attention.

Ranking The Albums: Soen

As I have said many times, Soen is to me the embodiment of what modern metal is supposed to be. No one else has mastered the art of blending heaviness, rhythm, melody, and emotion the way Soen has. What started in my mind as an extension of a different band that made far more sense than what they did, has now become a band with the ability to be intricate and heavy, but also as immediate and memorable as any radio rock band.

The only question Soen has left, at this point, is which album of theirs is the best. That's what I'm going to try to figure out today.

6. Cognitive

When Soen came onto the scene, I was not impressed. This album was criticized for sounding like a Tool clone, and for good reason. Even today, this album feels more like a Tool record than a Soen record. It was clear the band was just finding their way, and they hadn't discovered what their identity was going to be. The music was more derivative of their influences, and Joel's vocals were not as confident. It wasn't a bad record, but it was one that didn't make much of an impact. Looking back, it's almost like an awkward teenage phase you cringe at when you see the evidence.

5. Tellurian

Album number two saw Soen developing more of a personality of their own, but it was still finding their way. They turned their attention to prog, and they couldn't be criticized for being derivative anymore, but the songwriting hadn't been honed quite yet. The riffs lack the crunchy grooves that would come to define their heavy songs, and the melodies were not yet so sharp they lodge in your brain. I would still call this a bit of a disappointment.

4. Lykaia

Still going in order, disappointment was over when "Lykaia" was unleashed. This album floored me when I first heard it, and it remains a metamorphosis of the highest order. Soen took a few elements from the first two albums, but discovered how to wrap them up in strong and sticky songs. Whether the anthemic "Jinn", or the gorgeous semi-doom of "God's Acre", Soen found the magic of songwriting during these sessions, unlocking the full extent of their potential. They were no longer a band with ties to the past, they were an entity writing their own future.

3. Memorial

We're nit-picking now. Soen's latest album continues the trend of being their most accessible yet, and it is amazing how they have been able to streamline their sound without ever sounding like they are dumbing anything down. This record is clearly built from the same elements "Lykaia" created, but with all the fat cut off. Soen masterfully pulled off the transition from being a prog metal band to the world's best radio rock band. Packed with great melodies, Soen is showing they have not reached complacency, or the end of the evolutionary line just yet.

2. Imperial

So why "Imperial" over "Memorial"? It's hard to say, but I think the latter might suffer ever so slightly from the fault of trying to be too big. "Imperial" doesn't aim to be quite as crushing, or quite as melodic, and because of that some of the dynamics and hooks cut through just a bit more. When I think about both records, the bits that pop into my head right away come from "Imperial". They have done very few things that hold me ear the way the "In the waters of sin..." chorus in "Deceiver" does. The sequel always struggles to make the same impact.

1. Lotus

If I have to pick one album that sums of Soen, though, it would be "Lotus". It's the perfect blend of their heavy side, their emotional side, and their undeniable hooks. The ballads are gorgeous, "Lunatic" is one of the most unusual Soen songs that is absolutely killer, and the singles "Martyrs" and "Covenant" are simply amazing. One album might have one heavy track that's better, or another album a ballad that's better, but none of the other records put everything together as well as "Lotus". It's a journey that transitions us from Soen's first chapter to their second, and giving us a little bit of everything is the ultimate ask. That means "Lotus" is still the best Soen album, but maybe that will change next time around.

Album Review: Soen - Memorial

I consider myself fickle as a listener, so the fact that Soen made three straight records that won Album Of The Year from me is a rather remarkable achievement. Even for my favorite artists, stringing together records I love is something that doesn't happen as often as you would think. Three is often the limit, with very few pushing past that into rare air. That is what Soen is attempting to do here, which means expectations are as high as they can be, but my sense of wariness is also on alert. Falling out of love is perhaps even easier than falling in love, and the cynic in me feels like it's only a matter of time until it happens.

With "Imperial", Soen was moving in a more streamlined and melodic direction than ever before, and that evolutionary strand is pulled even further on this record. There are aspects of melodies in the choruses of songs like "Unbreakable" that could be radio rock hits. They take that formula, and add their personality to it, creating songs with crushing heavy rhythms and powerful melodic hooks. The band's sound keeps getting bigger, with this being their heaviest production yet.

What separates Soen from so many others is their ability to play with dynamics, both in song and album. The record's ballads are beautiful changes of pace where the songs are able to lean on emotion and melody. The same was true on both "Lotus" and "Imperial", and continues on with this record. Soen is not afraid of moving the light and dark as far apart as they can. But even within songs they play with these dynamics, throwing in breaks where the band pulls back to a clean crooning, and even uses some piano for an extra layer of beauty. That means when they come back in full force, like on the last chorus of opener "Sincere", it hits harder than you realized the first time around.

As for new wrinkles, "Violence" has a synth in the background that sets a bit of a Gothic tone, but doesn't distract attention away from the song. It's a little bit of color that pulls your attention just enough for the swell of the chorus to come out of nowhere.

This is clearly Soen's most mainstream record yet. Between the thick production, immediate hooks, and the concise running times, the band is more interested now in making an impact than in proving their progressive bona fides. As proven on "Imperial", it's a wise decision, as it plays into their strengths. While they can conjure complicated rhythmic patterns for the guitars and drums, the soul of Soen's music at this point is in the way everything blends together into an emotional avalanche.

Joel was a guest on Katatonia's album earlier this year, and that's the album I think is the best parallel for what Soen is doing. Both are albums filled with heavy guitars, beautiful melodies, and a somber atmosphere that speaks to my feelings of emptiness. The difference is in the approach, where Katatonia is coming from beauty and adding heaviness, while Soen is coming from heaviness and adding beauty. They end up in very similar places, perfectly blending metal and soul. I keep saying these days I am looking for music that makes me feel something, and it is Katatonia and Soen who have been able to do that more than anyone else this year.

It doesn't matter where I rank this album among "Lykaia", "Lotus", and "Imperial". The fact of the matter is that Soen continues to make the kind of modern metal I am clamoring for; heavy in both literal and metaphorical terms. Soen has made it a two-horse race for Album Of The Year, once again delivering a treatise on what mainstream metal should be in this decade. Consider my expectations met.