Artist Profile

Soilwork Part 2

Country of origin: Sweden
Genres: Melodic death metal, metalcore, alternative metal, melodic metalcore
Years active: 1995-current
Current members: Bjotn Strid (vocals), Sven Karlsson (keyboards), Sylvain Coudret (lead guitar), David Andersson (lead guitar), Markus Wiborn (bass guitar)
Number of albums: 10
Number of concerts attended: 3
Notable cameos on artist’s records: Mattias Eklundh, Mikael Akerfeldt, Devin Townsend, Nathan James Biggs

Now we are looking at the last five albums released by Soilwork.  I will roll straight into the sixth album now.

“Stabbing the Drama” released in 2005 to an audience that didn;t receive the record as well.  It did well for attracting new fans but alienated some of the old ones.  It’s largely alternative metal with a lot of metalcore songwriting.  The title track and “Nerve” are the singles and the most memorable songs from the album.

“Sworn to a Great Divide” in 2007 had mixed reception but featured more metalcore style riffing and a grittier style of play.  “The Pittsburgh Syndrome” is a pretty heavy and quick song, “Exile” and “Silent Bullet” feature some really impressive clean vocals.  This was the first album to chart on the Billboard 200 at #148.

2010 introduced “The Panic Broadcast”, which is probably the most metalcore sounding of all the Soilwork albums.  Much of this album was also written with blues inspired riffing and leaving more freedom for Dirk Verbeuren, the drummer, to be able to create the drumming that he felt fit the rest of the music better.  This album charted #88 on the Billboard 200.  “Let This River Flow” has become an anthem at concerts and “Epitome” is a really cool song because of the way the guitar and bass collide.

In 2013, Soilwork decided to get ambitious and claimed they had recorded the first double album in the history of melodic death metal.  “The Living Infinite” was a huge success and covered a large range of topics and styles.  It is, by far, their most eclectic record to date.  It is also their most successful album charting at #60.  This quickly became my favorite album (until the most recent one).  The first half is a little more on the mellow side but features two really cool singles.  “Spectrum of Eternity” and “This Momentary Bliss” are easily some of their best work.  The second album features even cooler songs with “Long Live the Misanthrope”, ‘Drowning With Silence” and “Antidotes in Passing”.  “Owls Predict, Oracles Stand Guard” is the song that sounds the least like Soilwork of any song they have ever created. Structurallym it runs more like a Gojira song and features some really heavy bass and guitar.

I won’t get too heavy into “The Ride Majestic” as it is featured in an article I did last year, but I do want to say that it is my favorite Soilwrok album to date and the vocals are extremely impressive. “Death in General”, “Petrichor by Sulphur”, and “The Phantom” are definitely worth checking out.

Well, there’s the adventure of the Soilwork discography. See you next week with new stuff!