Worthy of praise!

          This review is LONG over due. Soilwork has been a question mark for me over the last few years. “Sworn to a Great Divide” confused my fellow Soilworkers and myself, due to lack of creative guitar playing, with Peter Wichers missing from that mix, I felt Soilwork was incomplete. The music, just wasn’t there for me. Then he came back in “The Panic Broadcast” and Soilwork almost had their sound back, yet not every song on that album was a complete hit. Soilwork seemed to keep missing their target of a fantastic album worthy of song and praise from the metal masses. I wasn’t too sure of what to think of the band’s future, whether they would just be another metal band in a sea of mediocrity.

“The Living Infinite”

Fast forward through the bullshit. They waited a while and the band took their time making this album and it was worth it. In my opinion, this album should have came out after “Stabbing The Drama.” “The Living Infinite” is a fantastic CD that went well beyond my expectations. I’ve been listening to the album since the day it came out and I have yet to tire of it a month later. Soilwork, now does not have original guitar players that were on their “big” albums, instead, they went with guitar players I’ve never heard from. But, wow! They are better than spectacular. I suppose it takes a name like Soilwork make these talented players known and heard. Every song on here is great, and I would like to get into the particulars:

The composition of every song is well thought out, melodic, harmonic, heavy, and complex. The drumming by Dirk Verbeuren went well beyond my expectations on this CD. I always thought he was doing too much in the past, in this album he is beyond fantastic. The keyboards in every song are a lot more noticeable on this record than others in the past. “The Living Infinite” is a great combination of all of their noteworthy albums combine. Listening to the double album, I can hear songs that could belong on “A Predator’s Portrait,” such as “This Momentary Bliss” and “Realm of the Wasted.” “Whispers and Lights” is a combination of something I could hear on “The Chainheart…” and “Figure Number Five.” Obviously there are tracks that just stand on their own accord, my favourite songs on this album are “Vesta,” “The Living Infinite I,” Long Live The Misanthrope,” and “Rise Above the Sentiment.” Although, every song on the record is excellent, I would have to say these are my favorite. Bjorn Strid’s vocals are just pristine on every track but especially on these tracks. Bjorn Strid is the most underrated singer in metal today. He is every bit as good as Burton C Bell. He can scream, sing harmonies, vary his pitch to the sound of the music, and perform spoken word better than any singer today. Not to over look the bass playing, it isn’t technical by any means, but on this CD the bass shines as the backbone of the albums rhythm section along with the keyboards and the drums.

Applications:

I have worked out to this album on numerous occasions, played violent videogames, studied, and driven fast while listening to this album. That’s just another reason why “The Living Infinite” is such a great record.

Album review in a nutshell, just buy the album already, it doesn’t matter where. Just buy, don’t steal and blast this album proudly. The album exudes many images throughout and that is what makes this record great.

9/10

Matthew Haumschild