SOiL – Play It Forward – Review

20th August 2022 0 By Jon Deaux

SOiL are one of those bands that should be a lot bigger than they actually are as they never fail but to bring the fire on every album they’ve done and Play It Forward (despite being an album of covers) is no exception.

Play It Forward is a homage to their influences. There’s the track that doesn’t quite hit the mark (Foo Fighters Monkey Wrench), the track that rivals the original (Black Betty by Ram Jam), there’s the curveball (White Zombies Thunderkiss ’65 ) and sadly a track that should be there but isn’t (Gimme Some Lovin’ Spencer Davies Group. SOiLs version can be found on Scream, The Essential Collection).

Bassist Tim King has this to say“It proved to be quite the challenge with our down tuning and figuring out all the different parts and effects in the original versions that you never quite notice during casual listens. The songs we thought were going to be super easy turned out to be the most challenging. This gave us a chance to explore some songs we enjoyed growing up on and also take songs that were never intended to be hard rock or Metal and put our own spin on them.”

Every track on Play It Forward has been well and truly SOiLed especially their take on the Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated .

There’s actually a glint of a Halo at the end of a very dark tunnel with this record. There’s a sense of fun that spans through out this record which is enough to make the dull skies bright again.

This is a collection of songs (barring Black Betty) that never in a million years would I have considered SOiL to cover. Nightmare originally recorded by American pop singer Halsey is a prime example of this.

I have enjoyed this album immensely and it’s one that’s been on a constant loop since the label kindly sent it for review.

I implore you to go out and purchase this album as it’s a pure joy to listen to and one that not just SOiL fans will get a kick out of.

Score 7/10
Track list
1. Runnin’ Down A Dream
2. Thunder Kiss ’65
3. Nightmare
4. No Voices In The Sky
5. Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck
6. Monkey Wrench
7. What It’s Like
8. I Wanna Be Sedated
9. Rockin’ In The Free World
10. Unsung
11. Black Betty
Label – Cleopatra
Release – 26th August 2022