It feels like just yesterday when The Living Infinite was released. I hope to see similarly quality material!

Hope they top the living infinite

After listening to the entire album, I'd say this is just as good as The Living Infinite could have been if all those filler tracks had been erased. In other words, it's great. That's coming from someone who doesn't particularly like Soilwork's early stuff though. I also really dig those "black metal" moments scattered around the album - very tasty.

Tracks 8 and 9 aren't quite as good as the rest, but still really enjoyable. "Shining Lights" is probably the only average song on the album; not much in the way of exciting moments there. Also, dat ending to "Enemies In Fidelity"... That should have been the outro to the album

^ Totally agreed, on all points. It loses a little steam after Aspire Angelic, but more than makes up for it with the last song - Father and Son is outstanding. I think this is by far their best, and I even like some of their early stuff (like Natural Born Chaos and such). But this blows them out of the water in quality of songwriting, riffs, production, everything. 8.5 at least - I rounded up to 9.

Written by scaesura on 28.08.2015 at 00:28

^ Totally agreed, on all points. It loses a little steam after Aspire Angelic, but more than makes up for it with the last song - Father and Son is outstanding. I think this is by far their best, and I even like some of their early stuff (like Natural Born Chaos and such). But this blows them out of the water in quality of songwriting, riffs, production, everything. 8.5 at least - I rounded up to 9.

Yeah, that last track was amazing I'd say the same: 8.5/10.

I rate it a strong 9. There's a couple of filler moments but overall I'm happy with the album and I'm someone who thinks the first three albums from Soilwork are masterpieces.

It really sounds fresh. Not overtly innovative but a lot of strong and inspiring ideas all over the place.

I must say that their last three albums have strayed significantly from the sound and feel of their previous releases. That's not a bad thing, but I always come into a new Soilwork album hoping for a resurgence of that Natural Born Chaos or even A Predator's Portrait vibe. Heavy, melodic, crushing, with little room for the drawn out clean choruses. But now I've come to enjoy Soilwork as more of a heavy metal band with some melodic death metal remnants. And in that respect, this album is killer.

Best album since Natural Born Chaos by far. It doesn't get as repetitive as The Living Infinite and actually modifies the generic Soilwork formula in ways not done by them before. I definitely was getting some black metal vibes from a song or two, and the frequent blastbeats surprised me. "The Phantom" and "Father and Son" are huge highlights for sure.

Giving it a few more listens, I'd say that "Father and Son" is probably the second best song they have ever made, right behind "Song of the Damned". It feels like they took "Parasite Blues" from the previous album (one of the highlights of TLI) and took it to the next level in every single way.

This is indeed surprisingly good. Best thing since Stabbing The Drama anyway.

What a great album, they really have stepped their game up.

This album reminded me why I loved these guys so much when I was a teen. I had decided it was just youth. Now I just have to come back to it often enough to be able to select the best songs and make room for them in my Soilwork playlist. We'll also see if this first impression is this positive just because it's their best release in a decade.

My copy is still in the mail and I'm determined to wait, which is difficult because I'm tremendously excited by all the positive reaction here on MS - a surprise to say the least since this site has not been too kind to this band critically in the past. I must say I was originally unsure how to manage my expectations, for I was hesitant on how Soilwork could follow up The Living Infinite - their magnum opus IMO - in just 2 years. Now my hopes are high!

A cohesive and extremely consistent release. I think because The Living Infinite was so immense, this album felt a bit too short at first. But after numerous listens it has grown substantially on me. Excellent, shining effort from Soilwork and my personal favorite right up there with Natural Born Chaos.

Excellent stuff.

Finished last night listening to this and indeed, a step up release from Soilwork. Great riffs, very thick bass and nice vox. A record you can put on repeat mode and do your work.

Felt little bit shoddy on drumming as it was quite predictable with beats.

As far as the band's songwriting goes, David Andersson really seems like a big reason that Soilwork have been on such a Majestic Ride and continue to soar in ascension; reading the album's writing credits, he alone accounts for almost all of the best this record has to offer - Death In General, Petrichor By Sulfur, The Phantom, Aspire Angelic, and of course the epic grand finale Father And Son, Watching The World Go Down. He also wrote a large portion of the brilliant The Living Infinite. And I hear he moonlights as an M.D.?! The man can do anything and everything!

Why did you listen to it then? And why do you feel the need to vent? Bjorn's vocals have developed tremendously over the years but will never change in basic quality and timbre, obviously; so if you have a personal, subjective objection to it then this band may not be for you, ever, but that doesn't discredit him as a vocalist or the band as "generic metalcore". So just leave it be.

I don't think I've cared about a Gothenburg album for a while, so it's nice to hear something revitalizing my interest.

Written by MelancholiaC on 12.09.2015 at 08:51

Why did you listen to it then? And why do you feel the need to vent?

Ignore him. He bitches about everything, especially modern stuff.

Written by Guest on 12.09.2015 at 09:23

I don't think I've cared about a Gothenburg album for a while, so it's nice to hear something revitalizing my interest.

Written by MelancholiaC on 12.09.2015 at 08:51

Why did you listen to it then? And why do you feel the need to vent?

Ignore him. He bitches about everything, especially modern stuff.

LOL I don't really know the "familiar faces" here, having used the site for years but seldom interacted until recently. Voicing dislike is perfectly fine and I generally don't engage at all, but it's the distasteful tone that bothered me. Internet wars are utterly worthless and always amount to nothing.

Regarding the so-called "Gothenburg", I definitely feel the same way, which is why I find it completely ironic that Insomnium's was one of the highest rated albums here last year (mind you, 2014 was a total dud compared to 2015). I think Soilwork have moved considerably away from that style, but continue to be pigeonholed because it's the scene where they originated.

I'm sorry you hate music, deady.

Have been spamming this a lot the past week. It's such a novelty to return to, and enjoy so much, a modern melodeath album. Speed's vocals get better the older he gets it seems.

I don't hate Speed's vocals, but I don't find them particularly appealing either. Same with the rest of the music really, though it has its fair share of really good moments. Then again, that's what I remember most Soilwork albums to be like. Just not my band I suppose.

Written by deadone on 14.09.2015 at 02:58

I just want my metal to be metal and not laced with pop crap that I go out of my way to avoid (and hey I like Lady Gaga and Dido but Speed is just a boy band wannabe IMO).

This year it's been King Parrot, Enforcer, Lamb Of God and High On Fire (the surprise for me this year) that I've been digging. New Raven might be another and that's a band I've never really liked!

Saying you want "metal to be metal" when what you talk about probably constitutes about 4% of what actually makes up metal seems reductive to me. If you don't mind pop and other non-metal genres then it sounds like you worry more about labels than music to me. If you don't like it though then you don't like it, regardless of the reason. I've never seen metal as a binary entity though. It's just music that might contain metal. I'll enjoy it regardless. I've never understood why people get uptight about metal content percentage.

Also, I don't really see how being a competent clean singer instantly makes someone a boy band wannabe. Then again I don't listen to much in the way of boy bands but I'm fairly sure it makes up more than having a good singing voice as the music context something is in transforms it completely, such as the playoff between melodic, energetic, heavy, technical, and so on.

I'd rather have a boy band wannabe than a Dave Mustaine wannabe singing in my metal. At least the vocals would actually be good, because most boy band singers tend to be good, while most (clean) metal singers tend to... not.

I'd take Seth Putnam farting in a cardboard box over any vocal Mustaine can muster the epitome of terrible metal vocals he is.

Written by Guest on 14.09.2015 at 11:15

Saying you want "metal to be metal" when what you talk about probably constitutes about 4% of what actually makes up metal seems reductive to me. If you don't mind pop and other non-metal genres then it sounds like you worry more about labels than music to me. If you don't like it though then you don't like it, regardless of the reason.

Written by Guest on 14.09.2015 at 13:49

I'd rather have a boy band wannabe than a Dave Mustaine wannabe singing in my metal. At least the vocals would actually be good, because most boy band singers tend to be good, while most (clean) metal singers tend to... not.

I think it's pointless to argue with deadone at this point so I've decided to disengage, not only due to different tastes. He seems only interested in venting because he needs the vocals to be more "macho" (I'm cringing as I type) and this kind of music just "rubs him the wrong way", even though his criticism and comparison to boy bands contains zero merit and only serves as a way to insult or devalue the music for those who legitimately enjoy it. If a few lines of catchy melody deem a "boy band wannabe", no matter the composition, arrangement or musicianship, that would make Soilwork = One Direction, Leprous = N Sync??? How ridiculous! Even if I was not at all interested in defending quality modern metal, this is absolutely absurd.

What's the point of being rational in providing constructive criticism when I could just unleash close-minded prejudice, right?

No, because that never leads to a fruitful discussion; otherwise I could say his version of "real metal" is just redneck thrash with vain machismo, like the travesty Five Finger Death Punch released this year and the new Slayer who basically insert "fuck" whenever they need an extra syllable in their lyrics, then to top it off, compare Lamb Of God to Limp Bizkit... Just because they are not my cup of tea or I dislike a certain aspect subjectively - but those bands are not comparable, and that would make me an ignorant asshole, wouldn't it?

P.S. Notice none of us need to be a fan of Soilwork at all to debuke his "arguments", that's generally an indication that someone's full of it because we're not even discussing the album at hand anymore...

^This guy. I like him.

Lol thanks

You misunderstood the whole 5FDP-Slayer-LoG example - I was demonstrating those comparisons are not sound criticism, I don't consider that type of "this is redneck garbage" labelling to have merit so I was basically saying I would never push my prejudices that way. That would be equally distasteful as your "boy band pop" labelling and trashing any band in this way would be hypocritical of me. Quite the opposite of accusing you!

Again you seem to go to labels and words of insult to argue your point rather than thoughtful discussion - by calling me a "butthurt fanboy"... As I have said, none of my reprisals require me to defend my personal interest in Soilwork's music, because I'm disagreeing with the way you think about music and how you choose show your contempt due to personal tastes. I like Soilwork's recent albums but I certainly don't worship them blindly.

In fact, if you had reasonably stated your criticism about specific aspects of the sound like you did in the above reply to !J.O.O.E.! - that you disliked the album's production, flow and the verse-chorus song structure, I would never have had a problem with your comments to begin with. *sigh...

I only spoke up because I was tired of people throwing labels and calling names when they subjectively dislike something and feel the need to piss on it "just because". I suggest you refrain from such in the future and voice your opinions constructively - then we shall have no issue, no matter how much we will certainly disagree.

No worries, as long as you understood. I realize I was a bit of a drill sergeant on your choice of words.

Yes, fanboys are a problem - MS appeals to me partly because I haven't found them to be as prevalent here; I think relatively this site is less susceptible to hype. But that's not always the case. *cough* Insomnium *cough*

Equally if not more prevalent is that metalheads always use terms like "pop crap"/"mainstream" to diss anything catchy or melodic or not overtly original - I was just so tired of it so I spoke up; like you I was "triggered".

Anyways, now that we've "settled the score" here, I'm sure we'll have fun disagreeing on future albums lol.

Written by deadone on 15.09.2015 at 02:55




Butthurt fanboy much?

I love how you accuse me of liking new FFDP (haven't heard it), new Slayer (no don't like it), nor did I ever compare LoG with Limp Bizkit. I do like Hellyeah.

Though gimme FFDP, new Slayer and especially the mighty Lamb Of God any time over crap like most Soilwork. At least those bands can maintain whatever vibe they intend and don't sound like generic third rate metalcore for the most part unlike a lot of Soilwork. No idea about Leprous - heard one song and really didn't like it - too mainstreampoppy for me.

Oh and inserting fucks as extra syllable still makes more sense than most of the pseudo intelleectual garbage that most continental Eurotrash bands sing about (including Eurotrash I like such as Dark Tranquility).

And what's wrong with "generic third rate metalcore" like Soilwork, really? I haven't listened to /this/ yet, but based on what JOOE thinks about it and how much I liked the prior album, it is probably safe to say this album is carried by good songwriting and fun factor alone, in the end, good songwriting is far more important than being original and not predictable. I like my fair share of experimental music, but if this album can indeed give me good quality modern gothenburg (a genre I would like but find it extremely stale and sterile by now), I don't care about predictability.

Written by MelancholiaC on 15.09.2015 at 09:37



Yes, fanboys are a problem - MS appeals to me partly because I haven't found them to be as prevalent here; I think relatively this site is less susceptible to hype. But that's not always the case. *cough* Insomnium *cough*

Actually I find fanboys to be totally prevailent here. If you check album ratings, they are all insanely high compared to sites like RYM or Sputnikmusic, and if you check negative or lower-positive (even as high as a 7 !!!) reviews of albums by popular bands (popular within the metal culture that is), you will often see hordes of fanboys screaming bloody gore about the reviewer. Regular members tend not to be fanboyish though.

Why I like this site is because the community here is not overrun with trolls and really foul people, like on Sputnik or Metal Archives, though it seems like lately the forums are almost dead.