hard rock

Soil

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Late-nineties American heavy rock act that came up through the post-grunge and alt-metal churn and never softened the riffs.

Soil formed in Chicago in 1997, emerging from the city's metal scene at a point when alternative metal and post-grunge dominated American rock radio. The band's music combines thick down-tuned riffing with melodic, largely clean vocal lines, a combination that placed it alongside the harder end of the era's mainstream rock.

The group grew out of the death metal band Oppressor, whose members made up most of the original lineup, joined by a guitarist from Broken Hope, with Ryan McCombs brought in on vocals. The name comes from the Entombed song "Rotten Soil", shortened by dropping the first word.

Early independent releases, including the EPs Soil and El Chupacabra and the 1999 debut album Throttle Junkies, led to Soil becoming the first rock act signed to J Records, a deal brokered by Clive Davis.

Their widest exposure came with the album Scars, released in 2001, and its single "Halo," which alongside "Unreal" brought the band MTV airplay and a Metal Edge readers' award. McCombs left after 2004's Redefine to join Drowning Pool, and the band carried on with singer A.J. Cavalier for the albums True Self and Picture Perfect before McCombs returned in 2011 for a tour marking the tenth anniversary of Scars.

Bassist Tim King and guitarist Adam Zadel are the only members to have stayed with Soil from the beginning, through later albums including Whole, the covers record Play It Forward and Restoration, a set of re-recorded older songs.

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hard rock