Soul Society is a relatively young band from Pune, India, formed in 2011. The band describes themselves as a Progressive Melodic Death Metal band, which is reflected satisfyingly in their music.
The band has four songs up for streaming on their Reverbnation page, namely “Curse”, “Bankai” and two separate versions of “Wrath of Raijin” (one of them being a remastered version). The songs are impressively written, with obvious influences taken from early Converge, Meshuggah, At The Gates and later-era Entombed (although they cite entirely different bands), in both aspects, sound and songwriting. The careful use of dissonance and alternatingly different structures make the listening experience interesting. However, they do expand their influences to the Thrash and Traditional Heavy Metal territory as well, which is obvious in the more melodic parts. The clean vocal section in “Wrath of Raijin” felt a bit ‘cheesy’ while the intro in “Bankai” owns, the band being big fans of “Bleach”, a popular Japanese anime, hence the name – Soul Society. Luckily, the band chooses not to indulge in mindless technical wankery and ensures catchy hooks throughout each song, in the form of groovy riffs and well-placed melodic guitar solos, not to mention, crispy neat vocals. This is one of the rare cases where a band manages to include progression without overdoing it to the point of tedium, with the end result being actually satisfyingly intriguing. Individual elements of the music don’t stand out much, since every song manages to be a solid, singular entity that doesn’t have one element dominating over the rest, also signifying great chemistry in the band.
The complaint a listener mighty have with Soul Society’s music is that it needs careful listening to be able to differentiate it from their influences. Considering the obvious young talent possessed by this band, it may not be too long before they manage to refine their sound and make it their own.
Reverbnation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/soulsocietypune
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