By Jase Walker
The nights are definitely getting chillier, as I found standing in the line waiting to get into Rebellion, but the gig season is certainly heating up. Kicking off this week is SOEN, bringing along Oceanhoarse and LizZard for the ride. I’ve been looking forward to seeing SOEN for a lot of this year following the rescheduling the date!
Finland’s Oceanhoarse walk on to what sounds like a remix of Unicron’s theme from the original ‘Transformers’ film (I sincerely hope you mean the animated one – ED): that’s pretty bloody interesting in its own right! There’s something a bit off with the mix at the start with either the vocals being too piercing even for my ear plugs or the guitars suddenly bursting in volume which is a little off-putting. Their style is quite interesting though, it’s very Bullet For My Valentine sounding but with a little prog mixed in there for good measure. I’m also quite enjoying that the guitarist has a fan directly in front of him which keeps his long hair flowing about and constantly looking like he’s in a music video.
Their bassist is really catching my ear though with his tasty licks that keep popping up all over the place, the guys got some real solid fingerwork dancing around that fretboard. No sooner do I type that, he gets introduced for a bass solo, not gonna complain about that at all, mans got some real chops. Considering it’s a Monday night as well, Rebellion is pretty damn busy from the outset too so there’s a healthy turnout for Oceanhoarse from the outset and a solid response to them as well. We’ve even got a cover of Alice In Chains’ ‘Them Bones’ in this set which is a brave choice! Overall, a decent set for these Finns and looks like they’ve made an impact on the crowd as well.
Following the fastest changeover I’ve literally ever seen at a gig, LizZard are getting into it and I’m already pretty sold on them! Man I’m really loving the dynamic sound they’re getting out of just being a three-piece, really interesting guitar work, bass that’s keeping the rhythm while adding in loads of nice little fills, and some real groovy drumming. I think the guitarist is using some loop pedals to layer over his playing as well which just adds to the overall sound they’re kicking out. I’m also really into what they’re doing with the lightning for this show as it’s clear they’re very familiar with the music and using it accentuate the heavier bits.
There’s some real lovely guitar work going on here, unusual chord shapes played in off-beat rhythms which are then deftly added into the loop pedal to use for other parts of the song. I’m actually quite taken back by this performance, I’m enthralled on how fantastically melodic it is while bouncing off the rhythmic work at the same time. I think the last time I was oddly perplexed at this sort of style was when I saw 22 for the first time. A couple of songs have even got that sort of raw groovy feel that Royal Blood have, even with a similar sort of overdriven mids kind of tone. These are a really good find for me, I’m popping them on the “Listen to everything” list because I’m really enjoying this! Absolutely superb stuff, really interesting band that I’ll be keeping an eye out for in future.
And finally for tonight, a good old slice of prog, SOEN. By now Rebellion is bloody heaving, what an incredible turnout for a Monday night! SOEN begin and, Jesus Christ, that drum kit is loud as fuck, it’s pretty jarring considering the bass drum is louder than the guitars! I’m trying to concentrate on what the guitars are doing and it’s just getting completely drowned out by the bass drum and it’s spoiling things a bit, it’s not like I’m close to the stage either. There seems to be some adjustments that have been made to compensate so the guitars aren’t quite overwritten as the set moves on which is good. I’m starting to get a bit more sucked into the set now which is helped by the pretty bloody amazing light show as well, whoever’s doing the lights for them on this show is killing it.
The whole audience is completely fixated on the band, not as much movement compared to some shows I’ve been to but this is a bit more of a refined prog affair rather than a metalcore show to crack heads to. SOEN’s style of soaring vocals, mixing it with crushing riffs and then suddenly dropping back to softly sung passages supported by keys is pretty fantastic however. They excel at creating dynamic songs that weave in many different rhythmic elements and melodies which often swells to massive peaks. Looking around at the crowd, I can see many people hanging off every word they’re singing and the absolute joy in their faces while doing so. SOEN have built up a real solid and devoted fanbase and the Manchester contingent is letting them know about it.
SOEN are clearly a group of not only skilled musicians, but skilled performers too. The way they put themselves across to the crowd is extremely well rehearsed and brilliantly executed and this shows with every passing song in their set. Even down to the way the lighting highlights particular members when it comes to focusing on them leading specific parts such as a keys break, or guitar solo, or lead part. Later on in the set, their singer asks the crowd to get their phone torches out while they play “Lucidity”, a song which evokes a lot of Pink Floyd by way of soft drumming, wavey guitar work and organs. On the whole it’s been a pretty solid set and I’ve enjoyed it. The bass drum shouldn’t be that bloody loud though.
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