03.08.2018 Soen

Wacken Open Air XXIX

Wacken (Germany)

(Pentax K-5 with Sigma AF 70-200mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

At the end of the great third festival day I went back to the Bullhead tent where the band Soen was just warming up for their show. The five guys from Sweden had all successful careers within other bands (Opeth, Testament, Willowtree, etc.) before they united with the current lineup.
At the beginning the stage was only dived into fog and blue red light so that the outlines of the artists could only hardly been made out. But from music point of view they delivered really proper progressive metal. Especially the pleasant voice of singer Joel Ekelöf got stuck in mind. The slower but very complex and powerful tracks are mainly created by drummer Martin Lopez and afterwards musically further worked out by the other four (to this belongs also bassist Stefan Stenberg and guitarist Marcus Jidell as well as keyboarder Lars Åhlund). The songs were mainly from their latest album “Lykaia” but also the two predecessors “Tellurian” and debut album “Cognitive” could be found inside the setlist. To the middle of the gig the fog lifted and the lights got brighter so that one was able to watch the musicians much better. Also, the interaction with the audience directly increased so that it was not simply like at bands like for example Opeth where the set is played along statically and the bandmembers are more or less only self-absorbed.
I did not know the band beforehand but the gig really pleased me and formed a worthy ending of a long and hot third festival day.