SOIL - Picture Perfect

Soil - Picture Perfect

13 songs
48:47 minutes
***
AFM

Bandpage

Although Soil from Chicago have been around since 1997, I have managed to far to not notice this hard rock / post grunge band. Maybe that’s because the quartet’s sound has been adapted to the American market. Picture Perfect is their fifth CD, and I doubt that things will change considerably for them in the old world.

Soil seem to take inspiration exclusively from trendy American rock bands like Sevendust, Godsmack and Nickelback. They combine this with somewhat dusty pig rock in order to also reach out to the hard rock community. The vocals come fittingly raw but don’t really harmonise well with the music which is evidently lacking the necessary heaviness. Although a faster track like Every Moment isn’t actually that bad, a more aggressive stance would have made it even better. Unfortunately the band is staying most of the time in mid-tempo regions, leaving a rather unspectacular impression. Only the semi-ballad Picture Perfect has the necessary hooks to remain instantly in your head. The ballads Surrounded and Last Wish on the other hand are total failures whose corny execution doesn’t motivate to give the record a second chance.

Although you can’t blame the band for not controlling their instruments, but eventually even the strong and modern production can’t hide the lack of creativity and originality at work. The silly cover artwork furthermore underlines the weak impression I got from Picture Perfect.

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