Fully embracing the original meaning of “progressive” Swedish metal powerhouse Soen have been taking their heavy sound into new realms for over fifteen years. In that time they’ve left a tantalising trail of releases for their fans to follow, an intriguing discography that’s taken plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Latest album (their seventh overall) is another pit stop on an amazing journey which finds the band honing their sound and focusing on song structure to deliver ten songs which mark the band a contemporary force and Reliance an album which sets the bar impossibly high for the rest of 2026.

Arriving with the band’s trademark swing, opening track ‘Primal’ wastes little time on fancy introductions or elongated introductions and immediately sets about landing a series of heavy blows. With wrecking ball force, the band stomp like a 900lb gorilla, yet the band also insert lots of white space within their sound, a foil to make the heavier sections all the more heavy and ensures that when they hit, they hit hard. It’s a neat tension of opposites and one that will echo throughout Reliance and is akin to stepping into a hall of mirrors with sound fractured and reflected in all directions. While much progressive music can be too clever for its own good, Soen never lose sight of important things such as song structure and melody, and that renders the likes of ‘Mercenary’ both cerebral and visceral. It makes ‘Mercenary’ (and indeed, the whole album) a record that can be enjoyed on several levels; it’ll suit bedroom musings just as well as rowdy gigs and each of these songs is sure to transfer well to the live environment and you can almost see the pits erupting wildly when ‘Axis’ bursts from the speakers.

Amongst certified stompers such as ‘Unbound’ and ‘Drifter’ there are achingly beautiful cuts such as ‘Indifferent’ which evidence a definite Pink Floyd influence. The result is a well balanced record, and one which ebbs and flows perfectly. It means Reliance is an old school album and should be treated as such; while it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out of this record and enjoy the songs individually (any of these ten songs would make a fine single), it’s best consumed whole to fully appreciate its ululations and peaks and troughs. Each of these songs is like a Polaroid photograph, creating strong images that capture a definite sense of place and time and will haunt the listener long after the disc has stopped spinning.

While Reliance finds Soen playing to their strengths, they’re certainly not playing it safe and is another detour on an eternal quest and one which opens up a multitude of avenues.

• Reliance is released via Silver Lining Music on 16th January 2026.
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Track List:

1. Primal

2. Mercenary

3. Discordia

4. Axis

5. Huntress

6. Unbound

7. Indifferent

8. Drifter

9. Draconian

10. Vellichor