Soma Album Review By Pep Si

Lineup:

Jon Wild – Vocals, Guitars

Rich Vanderpuije – Bass, Backing Vocal

Asen Milushev – Drums, Backing Vocals

On 6-15-2019, the Trio DISTRICT 13, based in London, released their debut album SOMA. They describe their style as a mixture of heavy metal and punk, influenced by bands such as The Cult, Guns’n’Roses, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Kings of Leon, Royal Blood and Rage Against the Machine. The lyrics tend to take up “darker topics”.

Their first single “Wild Flowers”, released on 6-28-2019, kicks off this 12-track-sampler. The intro riff catches you right away and Jon Wild’s “rough” voice reminds me of young Lemmy Kilmister. A good start to a solid, honest rock album, which is continued in “Dark Horse”. “Shadows” starts with a cool drum intro and Rich Vanderpuije’s booming bass – this “rhythm dominance” leads the entire song from start to finish. At “Sweet Talk” you can’t help moving each moveable body part with the rhythm. “Cantankerous”, driven by drums and bass, garnished with clean and clear riffs and completed with the unique vocals by Jon Wild, remains on the musical “red line” that runs like a thread through the whole album. One of my favorite pieces is “Vacation” – an excellent mix of rock track and “cheer-up-song”.

The power ballad “Is this the Way” lets the band shine with superficially clean and crystal-clear vocal harmonies. From time to time, the sound is briefly stepped on the accelerator before it ends with polyphonic vocals – great track. “When You Come Around”, “First Impressions” and “Detatched” return to the proven concept of driving drums, hammering bass, excellent riffs and, like the whole work, Jon Wild’s voice with guaranteed recognition value. “When I’m Gone”, another catchy power ballad, follows before this more than “just great” debut gets completed with the title track “Soma”.

I really enjoyed this album – the more often I listened to it, the more I fell in love with it. The interaction of the “rhythm department” Asen Milushev (drums) and Rich Vanderpuije (bass) is perfect, Jon Wild’s outstanding voice and his clean, crystal-clear riffs complete an amazing Trio. SOMA is an awesome debut which raises the hunger for more. My obligatory two faves are “Vacation” and “Is this the Way” whereby I have to admit the entire compilation delivers a consistently high quality – 9 out of 10 points from me.

Rating : 9/10

Official Music-Video “Soma”