Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast review
| Band: | Soilwork |
| Album: | The Panic Broadcast |
| Style: | Gothenburg metal |
| Release date: | July 02, 2010 |
| A review by: | Daniell |
Disc I [CD]
01. Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter
02. 2 Lives Worth Of Reckoning
03. The Thrill
04. Deliverance Is Mine
05. Night Comes Clean
06. King Of The Threshold
07. Let This River Flow
08. Epitome
09. The Akuma Afterglow
10. Enter Dog Of Pavlov
11. Sweet Demise [bonus]
12. Sadistic Lullaby [bonus]
13. The Crestfallen [Drop Syber's Revision] [bonus]
14. Distance [Drop's Electric Enhancement] [bonus]
Disc II [DVD]
+ Extended studio footage
+ High-definition drum video
+ Video gallery
Soilwork have been plodding along with their melodeath for 15 years now, with seven more or less successful albums under their belts. They have never reached stardom and recognition that Dark Tranquillity or In Flames have enjoyed, but their music has always been solid and well executed: thrash metal mixed with some elements of death metal, adulterated by clear, smooth production and spiced up by harsh vocals. With every album they incorporated subtle changes and additions, refining their sound. The brand of originality isn't quite there yet, and probably never will be, but Soilwork is an enjoyable band nevertheless.
The blasting beginning of "Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter" (excellent title by the way!) bodes well for The Panic Broadcast. The opening track is utterly rabid, as if Soilwork were trying to tell us that they're alive and kicking. A good opener no doubt, but seriously misleading. While it's definitely the best song on the album, it builds the listener's hopes up too high. Also, there is no trace of clean vocals in that song, whereas they abound in the remaining nine - check "Night Comes Clean," the most radio-friendly song here, mainly because of singing, or "Let This River Flow," with a chorus that was definitely aimed at the charts. Too bad that this song is one of the weakest on The Panic Broadcast... Also, it marks the beginning of the second part of the album, which is substantially worse than the first 6 tracks. From "Let This River Flow" through "Enter Dog of Pavlov," the music is uninteresting, as if the band was trying to fill in the mandatory 45 minutes to make a full length album.
I jumped from the promising opening track to the less appealing part of The Panic Broadcast. But in all fairness, the first 6 songs are quite good and would make a great EP, with a mark of 7,5. Too bad that the second part of The Panic Broadcast saw the light of day. Maybe Soilwork are starting to show the first signs of fatigue? After all, their style, in spite of numerous refinements and subtle additions that emerged in their compositions over the years, has remained almost untouched. How long can a band churn out song after song similar in style, length and quality? Not everyone can be AC/DC or Motörhead... Just like their more famous compatriots, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, Soilwork are beginning to show the shallowness of the whole melodeath subgenre - there simply aren't enough intriguing elements in melodeath that would yield good results when/if built upon by even the most talented representatives, Soilwork among them. We Are the Void, A Sense of Purpose and now The Panic Broadcast - all decent, solid releases, but far, far from the greatness that each band at least skimmed in the past. We are the void without a sense of purpose, so to speak.
There's still a market for such music of course, and judging by the cult following that some of the melodeath bands enjoy, Soilwork aren't bound to fail with their 8th album. Hell, I'm sure there will be lots of people who will hate me for what they will think is a low mark I'm giving to The Panic Broadcast. The way I see it - more than six means more than mediocre. Only slightly more though.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 7 |
 | Written on 15.08.2010 by Writes overly honest and totally subjective reviews when fancy strikes him. Which is not often. Which is probably good, all things considered. |
Comments
Comments: 28
Visited by: 332 users
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| bluegreengod Account deleted |
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| ThatOtherGuy Posts: 8 |
Written by [user id=35037] on 15.08.2010 at 20:22 Its Soilwork, we need to hate them and their work if we want to be cool! 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Since when is a 6.2 hate. It's not like Daniel annihilated the album and scored it a 4 or lower.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6099  |
6.2 is a decent rating. I also explained why the album isn't great in my opinion. I do realise that for guys who have Soilwork among their favourites, it can be hard to stomach 
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| ThatOtherGuy Posts: 8 |
Written by Daniell on 15.08.2010 at 22:26 Thats really not my case here, its just that this review was not that really good. Comparitivly speaking, this album was a major improvement compared to their last two. Half of the review was actually about the album, the other half was more of an opinion about the band. Try to avoid that next time.
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| RafaRata Posts: 117  |
Well... Production is a 9 at least and the best aspect in the album. But overall not a very good album, the first half of the album raised my expectations but the second is completely boring compared to the first one.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6099 |
Written by RafaRata on 16.08.2010 at 23:45 But it can hardly justify a high overall rating. I'm listening to Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" at this very moment. It's wonderfully produced, it blows my speakers, but the sound alone doensn't make the song good. It's the catchy chorus that does 
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| RafaRata Posts: 117 |
Written by Daniell on 16.08.2010 at 23:50 Well, I never said it does, I'm just surprised the reviewer just gave it a 7 in production... seems pretty low for me.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
These guys have always been average in my opinion, and this album doesn't change my beliefs. Very average indeed.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642  |
Written by ThatOtherGuy on 15.08.2010 at 23:44 Reviews are generally much more interesting when the author deviates from solely talking about the album. Daniel is a reviewer, why shouldn't he share an opinion about the band so we can see where he's coming from?
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| MeloDeathViking Posts: 516  |
I personally gave this album an 8, and it's because I LOVE the first half of this album, the second half is definitely not as good, but I do honestly enjoy all the songs. But I can definitely see why people wouldn't like it, or think that's it anything more than average.
---- "I am not superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious." - Michael Scott
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
King of the Threshold is fucking awesome! Does it belong to the first or second part of the album? I agree about the uneveness - Soilwork should concentrate on making EP's only 
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| MeloDeathViking Posts: 516 |
Written by Spyroid on 17.08.2010 at 18:51 I attribute it to the first part
---- "I am not superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious." - Michael Scott
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| UnknownCheese Posts: 205 |
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| Necrodamus Posts: 435  |
This album is definitely better than their last one. The return of Peter Wichers makes a huge difference, and the production value and memorable riffs show for it. Though I completely agree that the second half of it is very weak as compared to the first. For that reason, I think the score is fair.
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by UnknownCheese on 18.08.2010 at 03:18 All Soilwork members except Dirk comes from my hometown, which is 300 km's south of Gothenburg
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Spyroid on 19.08.2010 at 17:01 and yet they still paly Gothenburg metal 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Uh-oh, Marcel's opening another genre-debating war! 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 19.08.2010 at 21:52 Sure they do, but I would rather call them a Gothenburg metal band than a Gothenburg band to avoid confusion
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| Eddie Misery Posts: 96  |
I actually picked up this album at first only b/c I saw that Peter Wichers was back in the fold. Nice review, really spot on, and I have to agree really. The first half of the album is pretty kickass. But that was my thought as well, that the opener is great but misleading. It goes from 0 to 60 in no time and really leaves you craving more, but there's really nothing else quite like it on the cd. I enjoyed "2 Lives Worth of Reckoning" the most perhaps, b/c to me, beyond it being just a kickass song, it most accurately resembled the previous material is Soilwork's earlier days that I found so interesting and more enjoyable. The album before this one, whose name I won't even mention, was awful. It was my firm hope that this would be a step back closer to their better albums, and it was, but the last half of it just lost me really. Not that Soilwork have ever been my favorite band to begin with anyway, and melodeath is something I can only take in small doses for sure, but I still hoped, and perhaps the next album will be even better, and not just halfway through..
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| ThatOtherGuy Posts: 8 |
Written by Marcus on 17.08.2010 at 07:36 But that ruins the whole point of an album review. Key word: album. I look for reviews about the actual music content rather than their opinions about them band itself. So if you still hold onto the idea of opinionated reviews are the only way to go, check out Metal Archives.
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642 |
Written by ThatOtherGuy on 28.08.2010 at 04:01 Reviews are essentially an article describing what someone thinks about an album. Correct? So if Daniel, as he clearly shows throughout the review, thinks that melodeath is a tired genre then of course he will give it a lower score. But if you are a fan of melodeath then you will obviously disagree. There is no way to review anything without bias without the review being an incredibly boring read. If you don't want the opinion don't read reviews. Most of it is about the music, so skip what you don't want to read. But don't troll reviews looking for stuff to bitch about because you disagree. Look at any professional review and I'll guarantee it will have an author's opinion on the artist/genre/album.
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| ThatOtherGuy Posts: 8 |
Written by Marcus on 28.08.2010 at 10:29 Look, just because I dont think the review is not that good doesn't make me a troll. Im pointing out that it I felt like I read a rant about how Soilwork has gone down the pooper and less about the actual album. I found only some parts that described what the content really is but the rest was just about the band itself. If think my opinion about this review is way too offensive for you, then be rational and just ignore me.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6099 |
Written by ThatOtherGuy on 28.08.2010 at 21:17 The band is their music, the band's music is the band. However convoluted it sounds, this is exactly what is true. I can't discuss an album without referring to the band that recorded it, and I can't discuss a band without referring to its music. Panic Broadcast is a perfect example of a genre that is exhausting its creative potential, as it is a perfect example of a semi-decent melodeath album. The genre and the album go together. I'm sure that if I gave it a 9, you wouldn't disagree with me so much, and you would like the review much more.
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| M.Rob Posts: 2  |
I don't know what system you're grading on, but in the world I live in 7 is average and 6.2 is missing the cut. You failed to expand on several of the songs with true merit. "The Thrill" was in my opinion one of the real prizes of this album. And try listening to the last four songs a few times again. They're not what you'll typically see in melodeath, but don't count them out so quickly. The songs can stand on their own. Soilwork knew what they were doing when they pumped those out, even if you can't see it. I agree that melodeath seems to be exhausted, at least in the current sense of the word. Which is why you should take a closer look at the last four songs. Slower riffs and cleaner vocals seem to be the way Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames are taking their albums.
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| Destructo Posts: 198  |
Everything everybody said before me is completely true. It really amazes me how good the first 6 songs on this album are and then just how bad the remaining ones are. It's really difficult to rate this one. It's probably just a 6/10 but I'm giving them a 7 just bcoz the first 6 songs are really good. Pity the remaining ones aren't. Ok I'll stop rambling now.
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| Kuroboshi Posts: 1200  |
There's nothing more I like than to wake up in the morning and start my day with a coffee and reading something where someone is spewing about Soilwork. I also love to do it. So, therefore it was a total shock when I gave this cd a spin for the first time ever this morning, and found it to be quite catchy! I never thought I would have it in me to give a post-NBC album a 7... I agree with the reviewer when he says that the opener is the strongest song of the album. And that the quality drops in the last 4. However, I thought that the riff on Enter Dog of Pavlov was excellent, and the album was catchy and rejuvenating as a whole. Let us hope this opens up a new era of greatness for Soilwork. I mean, Chainheart Machine is so good it's silly. Give me some of that!
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