Soilwork Figure Number Five
(Nuclear Blast 2003)
Soilwork are a band that was originally a quite forceful death metal band. Their first two albums contained some ferocious riffs that were almost thrashy, combined with some brutal vocals. Third album in, A Predators Portrait was a great mix of this, with some added melody in the vocals, was almost the quintessential Swedish melodic death sound of that time. Enough to satisfy the older fans and adding some much maligned melody to bring in some new followers, who found the older albums a little too brutal and heavy for their tastes.
Album number 4, Natural Born Chaos, brought a more melodic sound, yet there was still some of that old fire in the belly, that roared throughout. It had its moments, but for me the album was too smooth, the guitars mixed down in favour of keyboards in a few places.
Which brings us to Figure Number Five (FnF). This takes the previous album to the next level, the sound is barely recognisable from that of the first trio of albums, gone is almost all of the brutality. Replaced by layers of more friendly sounds, more clean vocals, less growls and some very catchy slick melodic choruss. For the majority, the guitars are buried below the keyboards and the vocals. The bitter pill to swallow, is that you can hear some great riffs, all be it to far back in the mix.
Occasionally the guitars are heard to roar (Overload) over a riff that Jimmy Page might have written 30 years ago. Brickwalker is by far the albums best cut, some great riffing, screaming vocals and a memorable chorus to boot. A few more like this and youd have a winner here. I dont know if Soilwork are the victim of their own desires to be successful, with a less heavy more commercial sound, or do they need a different producers ideas for them to regain some of those past sounds.
So what I am missing ? Of course bands can evolve and do it quite successfully, but fans must think these changes as natural ones. Dark Tranquillity are a prime example of how a band has gone through changes, managed to sound modern, incorporate keyboards into their sound, yet stay heavy and keep their followers in the majority, happy.
I like all kinds of music, but when I hear stuff like this and remember that Soilwork were once a death metal band, its hard to stomach such a watered down, ball less sounding album. FnF has its moments, but for most lacks consistency and has perhaps too many modern influences.
A huge disappointment all round and not just because of my disliking of the more melodic sound. the songs themselves arent really a patch on previous efforts.
There you go, I didnt mention sell out anywhere
www.nuclearblast.de
www.soilworkers.com/
(Nuclear Blast 2003)
Soilwork are a band that was originally a quite forceful death metal band. Their first two albums contained some ferocious riffs that were almost thrashy, combined with some brutal vocals. Third album in, A Predators Portrait was a great mix of this, with some added melody in the vocals, was almost the quintessential Swedish melodic death sound of that time. Enough to satisfy the older fans and adding some much maligned melody to bring in some new followers, who found the older albums a little too brutal and heavy for their tastes.
Album number 4, Natural Born Chaos, brought a more melodic sound, yet there was still some of that old fire in the belly, that roared throughout. It had its moments, but for me the album was too smooth, the guitars mixed down in favour of keyboards in a few places.
Which brings us to Figure Number Five (FnF). This takes the previous album to the next level, the sound is barely recognisable from that of the first trio of albums, gone is almost all of the brutality. Replaced by layers of more friendly sounds, more clean vocals, less growls and some very catchy slick melodic choruss. For the majority, the guitars are buried below the keyboards and the vocals. The bitter pill to swallow, is that you can hear some great riffs, all be it to far back in the mix.
Occasionally the guitars are heard to roar (Overload) over a riff that Jimmy Page might have written 30 years ago. Brickwalker is by far the albums best cut, some great riffing, screaming vocals and a memorable chorus to boot. A few more like this and youd have a winner here. I dont know if Soilwork are the victim of their own desires to be successful, with a less heavy more commercial sound, or do they need a different producers ideas for them to regain some of those past sounds.
So what I am missing ? Of course bands can evolve and do it quite successfully, but fans must think these changes as natural ones. Dark Tranquillity are a prime example of how a band has gone through changes, managed to sound modern, incorporate keyboards into their sound, yet stay heavy and keep their followers in the majority, happy.
I like all kinds of music, but when I hear stuff like this and remember that Soilwork were once a death metal band, its hard to stomach such a watered down, ball less sounding album. FnF has its moments, but for most lacks consistency and has perhaps too many modern influences.
A huge disappointment all round and not just because of my disliking of the more melodic sound. the songs themselves arent really a patch on previous efforts.
There you go, I didnt mention sell out anywhere
www.nuclearblast.de
www.soilworkers.com/
