Soil

Few alternative metal acts out of Chicago have travelled as far as Soil. The band took shape in 1997 when members of death metal groups began a side project that gradually became their main concern. Its 2001 major label debut, Scars, made it the first rock group signed to J Records, with Clive Davis behind the deal, and the singles "Halo" and "Unreal" brought it onto MTV and into mainstream view. Much of what followed was measured against that moment.

The next years brought a run of change. Redefine arrived in 2004 and was followed by a worldwide tour, but frontman Ryan McCombs left late that year and later took the vocal role in Drowning Pool. A.J. Cavalier stepped in, and the band issued True Self in 2006 and Picture Perfect in 2009 on independent labels. McCombs returned for a UK tour in 2011 marking ten years since Scars, and Whole, released in 2013, was funded through Kickstarter. More recently came the 2017 compilation Scream: The Essentials, the covers set Play It Forward in 2022, and Restoration in 2023, which re-records earlier Soil songs.