Shepherds Bush Empire – 13/10/23
Soen are a band I have been following for a few years now and after meeting and interviewing frontman Joel Ekelöf at Download earlier this year and Joel mentioning they were playing Shepherds Bush Empire in October, I knew I had to see the show live!
The set at Download was only a taster of what this Swedish progressive metal band were capable of and they didn’t disappoint in London. They are truly out of this world!
Joining Joel onstage is multi-instrumentalist Lars Enok Åhlund, who had a very impressive trio of guitars onstage with him, but more on those later! Soen is completed by drummer and co founder Martin Lopez, bassist Oleksii ‘Zlatoyar’ Kobel and Cody Ford on Lead Guitar.
Kicking off with a recording of Richard Burton reciting the Dylan Thomas poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, this sets the tone for the theme of the evening, that life is life is precious and should be fought for at every turn.
Opening song ‘Sincere’ really packed a punch, taken from the latest album, it got the crowd bouncing straight off the bat! The mix was excellent, you could hear every intricacy within the music, which with a band like Soen who have a lot going on, was great! Martyrs and Savia follow and then quite possibly my favourite Soen song from the new album, ‘Memorial’ is up next.
‘Memorial’ had an echo of Pink Floyd to the opening; but quickly dived into a rousing anti establishment metal anthem. I love Joel’s presence throughout, but especially during this song as he held his black flag at his hip and mid way through, moved to front centre to wave the flag high. What an incredible song that resonates even more with the current state of the world ’bite your tongue and obey your leaders… when the war is part of you, everyone you love will be abandoned’ – it’s hard not to be moved by this song!
A slight change of pace next as the opening chords to ‘Lascivious’ ring out. Lars is on the keys to start, but quickly comes downstage with his Hagstrom Fantomen for the chorus, before returning to the keyboards, what an amazing musician to be able to switch between guitar and keys so flawlessly (I later learnt he’s a sax player too, is there anything this man can’t do?) The crowd all join in with the catchy chorus and energy levels onstage are up to 11! What a moment.
Another song from the new album ‘Unbreakable’ is next, and despite the album only being released a few months ago, the crowd knew every word! Another absolute belter! What a night, and we’re not even half way through yet!!
The setlist continues; the songs keep coming and we are taken right back to the bands first album for ‘Ideate’ – another amazing rendition. This felt really intimate, with the band all sitting down and it felt like we were being invited into the Soen studio. It was such a personal moment that was shared by the other 2000 people in the venue. Just stunning!
An air raid siren, punctuated by some explosive drum fills announce the beginning of the next song; Monarch. Again, Joel’s vocal presence is sublime as he delivers pretty much the whole song from the raised platform at the front of the stage. We are also treated to a great solo from Cody; almost making his guitar weep as he solo’s!
As we near the end of the show the band launch into obvious fan favourite Lotus. The song slowly builds up to a glorious crescendo in the form of another stunning solo by Cody. Tonally, especially in this song he is somewhere between classic Gilmour and early Genesis, with huge lashings of Steve Hackett thrown in for good measure, I was in heaven listening to that solo. Almost as quickly as the song builds, it begins to soften and the song and main act draws to a close.
Not a band to waste time, they quickly launch into their encore. I, along with the rest of the crowd want more. Joel calls out to the audience to ‘Fire Up Your Guns’ as they launch into Antagonist – another song delivered with real power and passion! Another ‘call to arms’ and the crowd were loving it. I even spotted a mosh pit, something that is apparently very rare at a Soen gig.
Final song ‘Violence’, also taken from the latest album, proves to be another fan favourite. The crowd are bouncing by now, there’s a connection between band and audience that has been forged tonight and certainly in my case, that bond is ‘Unbreakable’ – see what I did there!!
Soen are an amazing live band, I enjoyed their brief set at Download, but Friday night at the Shepherds Bush Empire was something else. I absolutely loved it. The new album is stunning and if you do get a chance to see them, this is a band you simply can not miss.
