Soijl - As The Sun Sets On Life (CD)

Review
Doom-Metal.com
8.5/10
21.05.2017

Beginning life as an informal solo project started around 2008 by multi-instrumentalist Mattias Svensson, already a veteran of several lesser-known Black/Death/Thrash bands, Soijl didn’t become a serious venture, or an official band, until 2014. By then, Svensson had spent a couple of years with Saturnus, before teaming up with fellow ex-Nidrike bandmember Henrik Kindvall on vocals. Later, post-debut, Johan Mathisson, from Onda Makter, arrived as full-time drummer. On paper, that should make Soijl about 90% Black Metal, but Svensson is on record as having always wanted to play Doom, but never – Saturnus aside – having the opportunity or personnel to do so.

So, the debut, ‘Endless Elysian Fields’, arrived in 2015, courtesy of Solitude, with a Death/Doom tag and to a fair quantity of critical praise. Sticking with the same line-up and label, sophomore follow-up ‘As The Sun Sets On Life’ will see official release tomorrow, in a rather stylish-looking limited digipak presentation.

On the one hand, it should certainly please those who enjoyed the debut’s combination of muscular and dynamic guitar-driven melodies and diverse vocals – it’s actually quite hard to separate the two albums, even played back to back. Each one comprises seven tracks, mainly in the 7-9 minute bracket, running for around an hour, but unless you’re keeping count, you probably won’t notice the playlist click over to the new release. That, though, is less of a criticism than a reflection of how right Soijl got ‘Endless Elysian Fields’ – without radically changing compositional style, they didn’t leave themselves much headroom for evolving and refining a different sound.

Occupying the same sort of clear yet hefty soundstage, with the same distinct, precise mix and balance to the instrumentation, ‘As The Sun Sets On Life’ rumbles along exactly as you might anticipate: guitar lines merge and duel through riffs and expansive melodies, backed by solid unfussy percussion that can amp up the thunder when it needs to, allowing space for the expressive and varied vocals to sweep from spoken to clean to growl. Very occasionally, as on the closing of ‘Death Do Us Part’, extra features appear: ethereal female voice, in that instance, but there are other snatches of keyboards scattered throughout.

It is, to be honest, a not unfamiliar path: in timbre, variety and range, both Henrik’s voice and Mattias’s guitar are reminiscent of Messrs Jacobsson and Ericson of compatriots Draconian, as are the morose and heavily narrative lyrics – though they all also have hints of a less symphonic When Nothing Remains. Less so, but nonetheless present, are moments nodding towards older My Dying Bride and, perhaps inevitably, Saturnus’ ‘Saturn In Ascension’. Where Soijl most markedly differ from those other bands is in the limited use of keys or any other instruments, and the slightly more Metal-oriented guitar interjections, including a fondness for squealing pinch harmonics: but, nonetheless, to me, it falls very solidly into the old-school Gothic/Doom camp, lacking only some of the more theatrical and orchestral flourishes found in some strands of that genre. Mood and atmosphere-wise, it certainly sits right alongside the aforementioned, and while not totally individual in approach, yet carries sufficient personality of its own.

Perhaps more importantly, it can hold its head pretty high amongst such exalted company. It may not hold many surprises, but it doesn’t really need to in order to resonate with the listener: working to a well-defined classic template is fine, in my book, if you have the compositional strength and musical firepower to do a proper job of it, and Soijl do exactly that. So, if you’re a fan of that moody, mid-tempo, graveyard soul-searching sort of exposition, delivered with the typically slick melodiousness and polish of Gothenburg and beyond, here’s another worthy example to add to your collection.

Author: Mike Liassides

Review
Iye Zine
8.1/10
06.06.2017

Il ritorno dopo due anni dei Soijl, band fondata dall’ex chitarrista dei Saturnus Mattias Svensson, non può che costituire una buona notizia per tutti gli amanti del death doom melodico.

Così come scritto all’epoca, in relazione all’album d’esordio Endless Elysian Fields, chi è stato parte in causa nella realizzazione di un capolavoro come Saturn In Ascension non può certamente ignorarne o ripudiarne i contenuti, per cui quella dei Soijl è un’interpretazione del genere che si avvicina per modalità a quella dei maestri danesi, pur senza aderirvi pedissequamente.
Infatti, il sound che il chitarrista svedese continua ad offrire è, in qualche modo, meno immediato rispetto a quello dei Saturnus, in virtù di un incedere a tratti più arcigno e che, comunque, non fa venire meno anche certe influenze provenienti dalla scena d’oltreoceano.
Proprio per questo As The Sun Sets On Life è un album che lascia qualche dubbio nel corso dei primi due-tre ascolti, per poi mostrare finalmente le sue vere sembianze, quelle di ottimo esempio di musica dolente ed emozionante. Rispetto al precedente full length Svensson non si è occupato di tutti gli strumenti, affidando la batteria al giovane Malphas e confermando, invece, alla voce l’ottimo Henrik Kindvall: in buona sostanza poco cambia, sia nelle caratteristiche di un sound che possiede coordinate chiare ed inequivocabili, sia nella qualità con la quale queste vengono seguite.
As The Sun Sets On Life si sviluppa per poco più di un’ora, offrendo un death doom nel quale vengono rielaborati nel migliore dei modi gli influssi delle principali scuole, restituendoli impeccabilmente con personalità e brillantezza, con una menzione speciale per la terna Weapon Of Primordial Chaos, Salvation, Deception e Spiritual Asphyxiation, brani che uno dopo l’altro dimostrano senza lasciare dubbi la bontà del lavoro compositivo di Svensson.
Forse non si rinviene un progresso netto rispetto al precedente lavoro, anche perché la base di partenza era già comunque consistente, ma siamo senz’altro in presenza di una prova notevole, in grado di riaffermare una posizione di rilievo dei Soijl nella scala dei valori della scena, e non è poco.

Author: Stefano Cavanna

Review
Gorger’s Metal
4+/5
29.05.2017

The mournful and melodic Swedish death/doom band Soijl is back with their second album.
As mentioned in connection with Endless Elysian Fields, the debut released in the fall of 2015, the band was created in 2008 by Mattias Svensson, while Henrik Kindvall became part of the band the year before the debut. During the 20 months that have passed, drummer Malphas (Onda Makter) has also joined the band.
A lot is unchanged, and if you appreciated the debut, you’ll presumably like this one too.

The style has not changed. The band performs heavy and grief-stricken death/doom with ditto growling, and the two albums sound quite similar, i.e. loud and clear, but heavy, deep and resounding. The new record is a few minutes longer than its predecessor, but both contain seven songs that together clock in at about the hour. As with the debut, I get some associations to My Dying Bride, albeit without the similarity becoming too apparent.

Despite heavy riffs, the music has a hovering atmospheric ethos. Wistful melodies give the music wings. But gliding flight and majestic vistas give no comfort. The golden eagle’s brave tears fall on a lush landscape that slowly fades away, consumed, poisoned and deteriorated by the greedy two-legged breed, which in unquenchable desire unceasingly increases its territory.

Every single song has strong melodies, but I miss a proper heavy-duty riff or melody or two, that would truly stick as cattle branding. Endless Elysian Fields had the killer-song Dying Kinship. As The Sun Sets On Life “only” has seven equally good songs, soaked in lead and melancholy. For fans of death/doom that should nevertheless be enough.

Review
Arte Metal
8.5/10
13.06.2017

O Soijl é uma banda paralela do sueco Matthias Svensson (Saturnus, Istapp, Vanmakt, Nidrike), que conta atualmente ao seu lado com o vocalista Henrik Kindvall e Johan Mathisson na bateria. Um trio relativamente jovem, mas que sabe onde pisa e tem muito conhecimento no que propõe.

A sonoridade é focada no Doom/Death Metal que a banda já apresentava no seu debut, lançado em 2015. Este segundo trabalho mostra uma evolução natural nas composições, uma adição maior de peso, porém melodias e variação mais elevadas. O resultado é muito bom, enfim.

É interessante como a banda soa coesa e segura, e mesmo apostando nas tradicionais composições longas e de andamentos cadenciados, não soa cansativa. O clima está mais para o lado sombrio que melancólico, e outro ponto positivo é o equilíbrio encontrado nos timbres.

A temática continua abrangendo o lado soturno da vida e casando muito bem com a musicalidade imposta. É importante mencionar a ótima produção, coerente e que deu um ar natural ao som. Destaque para faixas como Death Do Us Part, Salvation, Deception e The Abyss, My Tomb.

Author: Vitor Franceschini

Review
http://www.thereviewer.ch
8/10
23.06.2017

„As The Sun Sets On Life“ markiert das zweite Album der schwedischen Combo SOIJL und entreisst den Hörer erneut aus seiner vermeintlich glücklichen Umgebung. Mit jeder Faser ihres Daseins hieven SOIJL Ton um Ton auf ihre Songstrukturen und vollenden es zu einem massiven Gebilde aus Melancholie. Henrik Kindvall schwankt mit seinem Gesang zwischen erzählerischen Sprech-Passagen und tiefen Growl-Inbrunst, während die Saitenfraktion ihren Instrumenten melodiereiches entlockt und sich nach und nach zu einem kolossalen Rhythmusbrett hochschaukelt.

SOIJL zeigen sich mit „As The Sun Sets On Life“ Stil- und Zielsicher in ihrem Tun, huldigen dabei den grossen Doom-Vätern der Gegenwart, in dessen Fahrwasser sie sich auch bereitwillig treiben lassen.

Author: Pink