Soil - Picture Perfect

Soil was originally formed in 1997 by members of Broken Hope and Oppressor as a side project. The first three releases of the band failed to break the band into the mainstream. This changed with their sophomore album called Scars. Especially the singles ‘Halo’ and ‘Unreal’ gave them the much needed attention. Sadly enough the final breakthrough never came and vocalist Ryan McCombs left the band to finally end op in Drowning Pool. After the departure of McCombs, AJ Cavalier was the man to fill in the spot. They recorded True Self which wasn’t received very well. Finally in 2007 guitarplayer Shaun Glass left the band which resulted Soil into being a four piece band.

 

Starting the album with an open straight forward rock song called ‘Tear’, which contains a nice groove and is very promising for the rest of the album. It contains a great chanting along chorus and some great solo’s. After this it's time for ‘Lesser Man’ in which Soil shows a completely different side of themselves which reminds me a lot of the Dutch band Kane and that isn’t a compliment. This luckily changes with ‘Like It Is’, which reminds a lot of the good ol' Scars days with its grooving guitar sound.

 

The title track of the album shows again the different side of Soil. Quite an open rock song that even could be played on national radio. The same goes for ‘Surrounded’ and also a bit for ‘Wasted’ which reminds me a bit of Nickelback. After this it’s on with more of the same and after several songs I even got a bit bored.

 

Maybe it’s because I do compare these songs to much too the great grooving songs on Scars but I miss the power within the album. I have the feeling that most of the time the album just goes on and on and never really gets my attention. The only song on this album that is really worth mentioning to me is ‘Like It Is’. This song grooves like hell and combines great guitar work with some nice vocal parts.