✦✦✧✧ This is quintessential Soilwork product, even if it’s not imaginative or evocative. You get your hard rockers, your blast beat riffs, your anthemic choruses. Mostly this album sounds like a good enough reason for the band to tour again, so I’ll take it! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Soilwork continue their explorations beyond their own formulaic confines which started with The Ride Majestic. The result is fresher, more lyrical, and surprisingly subtle for these melodeath champions of consistency. Definitely worth at least one listen. See the rest here
★★★☆ A darker, and yet more expansive turn from the usually uber-predictable kings of melodeath. Everyone in the band is in top form, of course, with special props to Dick Verbeuren and Sylvain Coudret on drums and rhythm guitars, respectively. As for the songsmithing, the departures from their norm are generally very welcome, and at times remind me of Dream Theater, Gojira, and other proggy bands (each at their own darkest). See the rest here
I realize now I failed to include any negative comments in my earlier Loud Park reports. That was probably partly due to positive bias caused by the immediate post-show high, but I like to think my choices about which acts to watch also had something to do with it. However, as is always the case with festivals, there were some problem areas:
That’s a tough one to answer, honestly. They’re all good, and all slightly different from each other. Worse, it’s not like the shifts from album to album are linear progressions, per se. Sworn To A Great Divide feels like the album that’s the closest to The Living Infinite in terms of their blend of metal and melody, but The Panic Broadcast is a great album in its own right (and more of a rager). See the rest here
I know zero of their old stuff. See the rest here
What is your favorite Soilwork album besides the new one? Can you point out some of their career highlights for me? I got a good deal on their back catalog and want to make the best choices. See the rest here
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