The Wikipedia entry for Soil indicates that they achieved mainstream success with their first record for major label J Records called Scars in 2001. Outside of hearing leadoff track Breaking Me Down in several movie trailers, I cannot attest to this. The radio was my primary source for music around that time, and I don't recall ever hearing Halo. Regardless, Ryan McCombs's departure from the group a few years and one album later seemed to signal the dissipation of whatever fame the group had accumulated by anybody's scale. The AJ Cavalier years saw the band toiling in relative obscurity with a few releases on smaller labels before a lineup change saw the return of Ryan McCombs and the addition of Jon Wysocki, formerly of Staind, as the touring drummer. After a successful anniversary tour highlighting Scars in the UK, the band took to Kickstarter and the result is Whole, out August 20th via Pavement/AFM.
Although it may never reach the apparent heights of Scars's success given the current state of the music industry, in terms of quality it surpasses it by a wide margin and is one of the best records of 2013 to date. Whereas on past releases the primary draws in my opinion have been Ryan McCombs's lyrics and live performances, this time around the entire band, including session drummer Will Hunt, is firing on all cylinders. Hunt's drum tracks in particular shine, making me wish that he would become a permanent addition to the lineup. At this time the band has chosen to keep the drummer position open and are currently touring with Mitch Gable, formerly of Phoenix's Echoes the Fall, but I personally hold out hope that minds will change. Regardless, the rest of the instruments, held by guitarist Adam Zadel and Tim King, are played with the same variety of style and degree of excellence, making these songs a must hear live. McCombs is in his usual fine form as well. Judging by tracks like The Hate Song and Psychopath I worry for the man's personal life, but his personal issues are to our advantage because they make for great lyrics which he sings with a potent mix of venom and emotion. Pay particular attention to the track Amalgamation, the lyrics of which were taken entirely from past Soil songs as well as some of McCombs's work in Drowning Pool.
This kind of album has been a long time coming for Soil, and one can only hope that it will rise from humble Kickstarter roots to chart success, but regardless it will be one to hold onto and listen to many times over for a while to come.
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