Under The Influence #27: Enquire Within on “Scars” by Soil!

Starting out in Chicago Illinois in 1997, Soil had to wait four years before their fans could sink their teeth into their major label debut album “Scars“. Heavily influenced by the Grunge era and the likes of Alice In Chains and also classic Rock, they were seen by J Records as being the next Staind when they came up with Drowning Pool. Producer Johnny K (Disturbed, Unloco, Sevendust) helped them record the album and a pair of song entered the charts in “Unreal” and “Halo” and in the decade that followed the album would reach Silver status. Their can’t be many that don’t know “Halo” and haven’t sung the lines “I will stone you, stone you
Wrap my arms around you, I will stone you, stone you, My little halo” at a show or a Metal club night since its first airing.

Jacob Waller, lead singer of Enquire Within comments: “Metal Noise asked us to do the impossible, they said pick one album which influenced us the most.  Here’s the problem with that, we can’t pick just one! So because we like to be difficult we managed to come up with two! The album that influenced my vocals the most is “Scars” by Soil. I know it’s not the heaviest and by all accounts it’s rather tame compared to what I listen to nowadays. But “Scars” really started my journey with heavy music and harsh vocals especially. When I first heard “Halo” it blew my mind. I had never  heard music this heavy and vocals this harsh. I had to be like this. From then on I tried to teach myself to sing like this guy, Ryan McCoombs. I bought their album and listened to it on repeat for days on end, especially “Halo”, which is still such a banger! I was hooked on how unique the sound was (I was very young and had not discovered half of the band’s that now dominate my ears). And so I started singing, more than that I started screaming. Although my harsh vocals have been more influenced by Cancer Bats and Machine Head I can safely say I wouldn’t be writing these words
without Ryan McCoombs and Soil.
Now our music (written by Daniel and my younger brother Henry) starts with something a little deeper. Although they can spend hours talking about their favourite artists and bands, I know Devin Townsend is a personal favourite of both of them, I can safely say that Avenged Sevenfold’s “Nightmare” holds a very very close place in their hearts, Dan especially as A7X is one of his favourite groups (them and Muse). “Nightmare” came out at a terrible time for the band, they had just lost their drummer and one of their best friends. The Rev had left behind a legacy a family and an unfinished magnum opus of an album. It was a major departure compared to their previous self titled album (there is even a track “Fiction” without any guitars which is a first for them), but it also trod ground that the band had not gone to in years. (M. Shadows incredible performance on “God Hates Us”). It was a labour of love and heartbreak but not only that, it showed that you don’t need to continually write the same kind of music again and again without change. Something both Dan and Henry feel very strong on! This songwriting ideal is very strong throughout our album “Bloodlines” as we can proudly say no two songs sound the same, but they all still have the Enquire Within sound that we have spent the last few years perfecting!

“Bloodlines” by Enquire Within is out now!

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