The first strain has more or less totally died out here, I think, as has the Delta strain. We're being told the latest spread is a mutation of the Omicron variant. A lot of people are catching it again at the moment, but there are no longer any laws regarding isolation, masks, etc... so people can do as they please even if they've caught it. And you'll only know if you test for it, and a lot of people won't bother testing because now you have to pay for any test, even basic lateral flows. My workplace gives them out for free so I'm able to check, but for a lot of people there's no such thing.
Non-gay bro thread a.k.a. Random offtopic stuff.
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Sworn to a Great Divide is not a Soilwork album I enjoy, but I've always liked this one. However, as with many of the songs on this album, it is hugely let down by the production. The main question I would ask the band here is WHY DO THE GUITARS SOUND LIKE THAT? Seriously, there's chunky and then there's this. It sounds horrible. It's not too dissimilar to what In Flames did to their guitar tone on ASOP, so maybe there was just something in the water in Gothenburg during this period that made them all oblivious to the fact their guitar tone sounded like ass.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
I would honestly take the ASOP guitar tone over that any day, because at least it's not painful to listen to. I've heard that Sworn to a Great Divide guitar production elsewhere (Blinded Colony's "Bedtime Prayers" for example) and to me it's an almost unlistenable sound. No power, no clarity, and sounds like complete trebly ass. It makes my skin crawl.
I honestly don't know how anyone can listen to that guitar tone and be like "yep, that's good" - let alone people who make music for a living. It just sounds so ugly. Normally power is sacrificed for clarity or vice-versa, but as you say, somehow that guitar tone takes away both. Truly impressive.
Xpyro125
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Something like Stabbing the Drama's guitar tone is actually good to me and makes a ton of sense stylistically with what they were going for, but Sworn to a Great Divide... Being real, I think it's just a shit album in general. Soilwork's way better than it, and it's instantly what I think of when my mind goes to the 'generic Soilwork style and sound'.
My vote also goes to ASoP's tone over StoGD, and it's not even close. Sure, the latter has "Light Discovering Darkness", which sounds absolutely beautiful guitar-wise, but that's about it. "Your Beloved Scapegoat"'s awesome riff isn't done justice whatsoever. That being said, "The Mirror's Truth", "Disconnected", "The Chosen Pessimist", "Move Through Me", and the acoustics in ASoP all work for me guitar-wise. The guitar tone could've been a lot better, especially coming off the heels of Come Clarity, but I don't actively hate it either.
My vote also goes to ASoP's tone over StoGD, and it's not even close. Sure, the latter has "Light Discovering Darkness", which sounds absolutely beautiful guitar-wise, but that's about it. "Your Beloved Scapegoat"'s awesome riff isn't done justice whatsoever. That being said, "The Mirror's Truth", "Disconnected", "The Chosen Pessimist", "Move Through Me", and the acoustics in ASoP all work for me guitar-wise. The guitar tone could've been a lot better, especially coming off the heels of Come Clarity, but I don't actively hate it either.
The best way I can describe the StaGD guitar tone is that is sounds like the instrument is vomiting. Guitar tone on ASOP is not as bad, but for the most part I still dislike it and think it kills a lot of really good sections. I much prefer the guitar to sound clear and crisp, not chunky and almost like it's making a trumpet sound.
Just listened to Soilwork's latest single, 'Dreams of Nowhere'... strange song. Some parts that sound like they've been ripped from a Dimmu Borgir album, there's definitely a black metal vibe going on at various points of the song. Chorus is typical Soilwork, but pretty good. Vocals are mostly clean, with a smattering of harsh vocals scattered throughout. The structure of this track is pretty weird, but I prefer it to the first two singles. Don't think it's on YT yet but is on spotify, can also be listened to here:
https://wallofsoundau.com/2022/07/15/soilwork-unearth-ultimate-tune-dream-of-nowhere/
https://wallofsoundau.com/2022/07/15/soilwork-unearth-ultimate-tune-dream-of-nowhere/
Latest Arch Enemy single:
Sounds pretty good to me. Reminds me of older AE, with a slower pace than they tend to do nowadays. Some of those riffs are very familiar to me, but I can't place where from immediately. Guitar melodies starting from 02:11 are nice, I also like how where the song would typically go straight back into chorus (particularly if it was IF) at 03:00 we get a little more guitar work.
OK, now I've remembered what those riffs remind me of... Beast in Black's cover of 'No Easy Way Out'. Lol.
Sounds pretty good to me. Reminds me of older AE, with a slower pace than they tend to do nowadays. Some of those riffs are very familiar to me, but I can't place where from immediately. Guitar melodies starting from 02:11 are nice, I also like how where the song would typically go straight back into chorus (particularly if it was IF) at 03:00 we get a little more guitar work.
OK, now I've remembered what those riffs remind me of... Beast in Black's cover of 'No Easy Way Out'. Lol.
I've been on a Soilwork kick lately, now that I see you discussing them. It helps that I was never super seriously into the band so I thankfully never got to romanticize them to the degree I did with In Flames, so I never really minded their stylistic changes and somehow managed to enjoy most of their releases. Sworn to a Great Divide is an album I don't really listen to often but generally speaking I don't mind it. I can understand the dryness of the guitar tone that might be irking some but honestly it's still light years ahead of ASOP, ASOP remains quite possibly the worst modern metal guitar production that I've heard to this day. I think my favorite is the bonus track.
The new single is pretty good, I don't find the black metal guitar parts unorthodox for their current style. Chorus is kickass, I appreciate Bjorn still trying to figure out new melodies without repeating himself too much. That being said, I find the outro of the song to be cheap and quite cheesy. And same goes for video, at this point they have to be intentionally making shitty music videos for the sake of tradition only.
Since The Living Infinite and onwards they explored virtually every musical direction there was. They went into the proggy side, softer side, AOR/NFO direction with the previous album. At this point they could put a disco beat right after a black metal riff and it would still sound like Soilwork. If there is one thing I miss about their older sound, it's the prominent keyboards circa Natural Born Chaos era. Pure keyboard melodies that fit the music and create a whole atmosphere for the riffs to sit in. Later albums (Stabbing the drama) had too much sample stuff, not unlike In Flames, and the proggier recent albums have too much string work, both of which I find extremely unappealing. Dude is a kickass player and is a very underrated aspect of the band's sound. I would put him right up there with Evergrey's keyboard player in terms of how vital their role is.
New Arch Enemy does nothing for me. It's downtuned ACDC essentially, every song sounds the same. If they didn't have a chick with a crop top in their videos no one would be giving a single fuck about it.
The new single is pretty good, I don't find the black metal guitar parts unorthodox for their current style. Chorus is kickass, I appreciate Bjorn still trying to figure out new melodies without repeating himself too much. That being said, I find the outro of the song to be cheap and quite cheesy. And same goes for video, at this point they have to be intentionally making shitty music videos for the sake of tradition only.
Since The Living Infinite and onwards they explored virtually every musical direction there was. They went into the proggy side, softer side, AOR/NFO direction with the previous album. At this point they could put a disco beat right after a black metal riff and it would still sound like Soilwork. If there is one thing I miss about their older sound, it's the prominent keyboards circa Natural Born Chaos era. Pure keyboard melodies that fit the music and create a whole atmosphere for the riffs to sit in. Later albums (Stabbing the drama) had too much sample stuff, not unlike In Flames, and the proggier recent albums have too much string work, both of which I find extremely unappealing. Dude is a kickass player and is a very underrated aspect of the band's sound. I would put him right up there with Evergrey's keyboard player in terms of how vital their role is.
New Arch Enemy does nothing for me. It's downtuned ACDC essentially, every song sounds the same. If they didn't have a chick with a crop top in their videos no one would be giving a single fuck about it.
Sans female vocalist I think AE would still have a decent following, but more similar to the likes of DT and Soilwork than where they are now. If Johan stuck around that would have been their ceiling.
Soilwork from 2005 - 2010 isn't for me, the Metalcore influences aren't something I'm interested in at all and the guitar tone across this time is listenable at best and total shit at worst.
From TLI onwards Soilwork have been doing some great stuff though. Not all of it to my taste but I appreciate their creativity, and they show how a band actually can evolve musically, as opposed to IF who say they've evolved but don't understand what the word means.
Soilwork from 2005 - 2010 isn't for me, the Metalcore influences aren't something I'm interested in at all and the guitar tone across this time is listenable at best and total shit at worst.
From TLI onwards Soilwork have been doing some great stuff though. Not all of it to my taste but I appreciate their creativity, and they show how a band actually can evolve musically, as opposed to IF who say they've evolved but don't understand what the word means.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
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