Review by Saxy S for Soen - Reliance (2026)

This is just Wheel-lite

I did not want to go into this album with dampened expectations. Soen began their musical journey in the mid 2000s out of Stockholm and had a very Opeth-ian sound through their first three albums. After Lykaia however, this band took a more traditional approach and did away with their progressive songwriting, to the point that this album, Reliance, has almost no distinct features that make it sound like early Soen. I think that in some regard, that can be a good thing, because it shows a band not willing to sit still and release the same release endlessly for the rest of time (i.e. Dream Theater). On the contrary, starting off as progressive and leaning into a radio friendly alternative metal is quite the disappointment in relation to musical growth.

And trust me, Reliance is quite lacking in musical growth. I described it as Wheel-lite because all of these sounds and techniques used here are dumbed-down versions of what Wheel was doing on their debut album, Moving Backwards, seven years ago! The album has flow, but it's very monotone; it lacks a truly driving song to balance out all of the piano ballads and medium tempo alternative metal. As a result, the vocals of Joel Ekelöf are painfully lacking as well.

 The instrumentals as a whole are well produced at least. It does make for a mostly enjoyable listen for the forty-three minutes one has to endure. I just wish that there was more done with those instrumental backdrops, since the vocals were so underwhelming. The album lacks a lot of instrumental leads or even solos, which is why "Unbound" is the highlight of the album; it's one of the only tracks that features a technical (but still melodic) guitar solo and even throws in a keyboard solo during the outro. Besides that, nothing inside Reliance ever asks me to come back to it.

And that's why Reliance feels like a homogenous blob. Sure it sounds decent, but how much of it can you point out and truly identify once its finished? The reason my rating isn't any lower is because I see this album/band not as a progressive project anymore. Approaching this album in bad faith as a progressive album will lead you to massive disappointment. And that's okay! It's a lot for audiences to ask these bands to continue being boundary shifters after so many years. But for the love of god, please make something that stands out from the crowd instead of generic radio rock/metal that leaves me feeling more hollow than ever.

Best Songs: Unbound, Primal, Axis