@naku: i doubt our vivacious friend will ever find his tongue again. but i do think soilwork have gone bad, too. and i mean since fnf: i like nbc, while fnf and std only have a couple of good songs each, in my opinion. the reason is simple: as with in flames, the mixture of aggression and melody that used to be melodeath changed into something much cheaper: the mixture of 2 repetitive guitar riffs and pseudo-harsh vocals, more or less directly taken from your basic nu-metal record. it's not intolerable, but it's a cliched product without much originality, that pleases a certain crowd and takes no chances at developing new ideas. the same goes for in flames, except their songs at times actually grate on my nerves. dark tranquillity, although definitely not as innovative as five years ago, maintain solid individuality, higher complexity, perfect mastery of the music and lyrics.