Rejection Role

Overload

Figure Number Five

Strangler

Light The Torch

Departure Plan

Cranking The Sirens

Brickwalker

The Mindmaker

Distortion Sleep

Downfall 24

reviews by Carl Bengtsson and Matthew Haumschild

        review   by Carl "Adrimir" Bengtsson

OH LORD!! What can I say?! These guys never get boring, that's for sure. I have three of their albums ("A predators portrait", "Natural born chaos" and now "Figure number five") and I have NEVER heard a band that sticks to a winning concept so truly. The mix between growling vocals in the verses and clean, melodic singing in the choruses are sooo beautifully done that I honestly get jealous. And I have still to hear a bad solo coming from either Ola or Peter.

The choruses on this album really stick to your head. I was singing the chorus to "Distortion Sleep" in no time at all, and that is just what some bands seem to forget. You get so much more from songs with a catchy tune in the vocals, rather than the guitars. And when the solos kick in, they almost sing another song by themselves.

On a rather funny note, I recently saw the video to In Flames "Trigger" airing on Swedish ZTV, and Soilwork was in it acting as a rival. But the funny part is that later I saw the Soilwork video for "Rejection Role" and it was almost identical, but In Flames was in this one as Soilworks rival. And why not? These two bands are now (in my humble opinion) the leading acts in melodic death metal coming out of Sweden.

As a finishing song the give us "Downfall 24". Listen to it and just enjoy, because if you think you like In Flames, you will definately love Soilwork. What can I say?

rating: 9/10

HOLY SHIT THEY’VE DONE IT AGAIN!

Soilwork’s new album is in the same vein as their last two CD releases. I would have to say it is a nice combination of their last two albums “Predator’s Portrait” and “Natural Born Chaos.” There has been some speculation that Soilwork could not top their previous effort of which was produced by Devin Townsend of “Strapping Young Lad” and was considered their best effort to date. In my opinion, it’s not as catchy as NBC, but there are more vocal harmonies on this album then there was on NBC which could be considered a good thing or a bad thing.

The two songs on this album that really stick out are “Overload” and “Distortion Sleep”. At the beginning of “Overload” has this nice keyboard arrangement that reminds me of the beginning Rammstein’s “Fuerer Frei” and a part of the game music for Final Fantasy IX if you’d played the game, you know what I am talking about. “Distortion Sleep” is my favorite song on the album. The chorus was sung beautifully and I can envision a large pit during this song. 

Another thing I’ve noticed about this CD is that the Keyboard parts are more defined. You can hear them more on this album than any previous album. The Drums were recorded at Dug Out studios, the exact same studio where Inflames recorded their last CD. Why did I write that? Well, the drums sound almost identical. I’m not sure if that’s good or not, you decide. The vocals are also featured more than the guitars on this album. There are just a lot more vocal harmonies than there have been on any of their previous CD’s.

Overall, I really like this album. I’ve been listening to it now for over a week, it takes a bit to break into, but it is a wonderful CD. I highly recommend it. I’d say 9 out of 10 also. In my book it takes a lot to get a 10, only 3 bands have done that. Soilwork could be the defining band of this decade.

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