Led by Joel Ekel\u00f6f (vocals) and Martin Lopez (drums), Swedish prog metal outfit Soen returns to Pratteln with their new album Reliance (2026), ready to once again dive into emotionally charged sonic realms with Swiss fans and embark on a breathtaking journey through captivating soundscapes.<\/strong><\/p>\n Soen, the Swedish progressive metal powerhouse, \u0ba4\u0bca\u0b9f\u0bb0\u0bcd\u0ba8\u0bcd\u0ba4\u0bc1 discovers remarkable new musical paths between light and dark, loud and quiet, heavy and soothingly delicate. With a deep dive into human emotion, they once again explore the mind, heart and soul on their seventh studio album Reliance. Crafted with visionary care and an added edge of heaviness. With Lars Enok \u00c5hlund (keyboards & guitar), Cody Lee Ford (guitar) and Stefan Stenberg (bass) alongside Ekel\u00f6f and Lopez, the continuous evolution of the Soen sound reaches new heights. Take the track \u201cPrimal\u201d, a powerful outcry led by Ekel\u00f6f\u2019s remarkable voice, describing the existential struggle between the human mind and the modern world. \u201cAxis\u201d delivers a determined and defiant take on the state of humanity, driven by Lopez\u2019s relentless yet swinging drums. Then there is the quiet elegance of \u201cIndifferent\u201d, a beautifully orchestrated modern lament about the loss of love, carried by strings, piano and once again Ekel\u00f6f\u2019s outstanding vocals. Like its predecessors Imperial (2021) and Memorial (2023), Reliance also topped the Metal Hammer soundcheck and was named \u201cAlbum of the Month\u201d: \u201cSomehow Sweden\u2019s prog metal prodigies manage to combine the aesthetics and ambition of Opeth with an incredible sense for hooks and pure musical emotion, rivaling Katatonia at their very best,\u201d writes the reviewer. \u201cThe result is radiant, moving prog metal northern lights that are greater than the music itself.\u201d Ekel\u00f6f once again proves he is one of the finest vocalists in the genre, while the instrumentalists match him every step of the way. That this brilliance translates perfectly to the stage was confirmed by Diebuehrers.com at their last show in Pratteln in 2024: \u201cAfter just under 90 minutes and two encores, when Soen left the stage, no one really wanted to leave. The room was boiling with excitement and the band was celebrated accordingly. Once again, Soen proved why they are one of the most outstanding prog metal bands of our time.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PROG METAL NORTHERN LIGHTS Led by Joel Ekel\u00f6f (vocals) and Martin Lopez (drums), Swedish prog metal outfit Soen returns to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22197,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[151],"product_tag":[133,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-22596","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-event","7":"product_tag-prog-en","8":"product_tag-prog-metal","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"virtual","13":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/22596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=22596"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=22596"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/z-7.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=22596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}