By Andrew Bansal
Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork are ready to release their ninth studio album ‘The Living Infinite’ on March 1st in Europe and March 5th in the US via Nuclear Blast, and this is an album that’s perhaps as important for the band’s career as anything they’ve previously put out, for a number of reasons. This is their first ever double album, with 20 brand new original tracks on two discs. It’s also their first album after the departure of guitarist Peter Wichers, who left the band for the second time due to ‘creative differences’ with the other members. Without him in the lineup, it has become even more crucial for the band to prove themselves, and the prospect of a double album heightens the anticipation further amongst fans. And thirdly, with a previous album as incredibly catchy as the 2010 release ‘The Panic Broadcast’, it was always going to be interesting to hear how their sound developed since then, specially with new guitarist David Andersson as an integral part of the songwriting process.
The album takes the listener by storm right from the get go, with the dark, aggressive and fast opening tune ‘Spectrum Of Entity’. Everyone seems to work together perfectly, with Björn ‘Speed’ Strid’s excellent vocals of both clean and harsh type, well-crafted guitar parts, insane drumming by the ever-impressive Dirk Verbeuren, and razor sharp production by Jens Bogren. Strid gets to showcase an even wider range of vocals on the following tune ‘Memories Confined’, a slower and more atmospheric composition. Disc 1 builds up the momentum beautifully and would have been a more than decent album by itself, if it were released separately. ‘This Momentary Bliss’ and ‘Tongue’ are two of the highlights of this first disc, two extremely catchy songs rich in melody, while ‘The Living Infinite I’ aptly forms the centerpiece of Disc 1 with its slowish tempo and undeniably memorable keyboard leads.
Disc 1 continues to unleash one gem after another and simply never lets up. The short, fast and heavy ‘Let The First Wave Rise’ is followed by three rock solid tracks ‘Vesta’ and ‘Realm Of The Wasted’ and ‘The Windswept Mercy’. Interestingly, the longest track on Disc 1 ‘Whispers And Lights’ brings it to an end and actually offers more in terms of the music itself, making full use of its 5-minute length. It’s a fitting way to wind down the first part of this epic double album.
Even though Disc 1 is pretty fantastic in itself, Disc 2 is really where this album hits its stride in full earnest. It begins with a riff-laden intro-type track ‘Entering Aeons’. This dark, eerie track serves its purpose and sets up the atmosphere for the music to follow. It leads into ‘Long Live The Misanthrope’ and from this point onwards, the album is just relentless. As a fan of the genre, you might find it very difficult to stop listening to the songs on here, that’s the level of songwriting quality in this set of tunes. The cohesive flow from song to song is clearly there to be heard.
In general, most of the songs on Disc 2 are longer and more drawn out, but as a result they have a greater depth in music, letting these musicians express themselves that much more. The guitar work by Daniel Andersson and Sylvain Coudret is exemplary, to the extent that it’s almost like a lesson in melodic extreme metal guitar playing. They’ve nailed down the riffs and solos brilliantly, combining well with the vocals, keyboards and rhythm section, with some very welcome usage of the acoustic guitar in a few places. More than anything else, it’s the guitars that set the vibe of each song on the album. Tunes like ‘Drowning With Silence’, ‘Antidotes In Passing’ and ‘Leech’ are merely three of the several evidences of their talents.
After 15 impressive tracks, ‘The Living Infinite II’ is where the album truly hits the home run, and while there are other songs that are catchier, musically this is perhaps the best song on the entire double album. It starts off with a compelling build up and leads on from one passage to the next with perfection. After moments of individual brilliance scattered throughout the album, the six members hit their collective peak on this particular song and each note of this five-and-a-half-minute composition is worth absorbing.
I feel the second title song would have been a fitting conclusion to this magnum opus, and that’s why I treat the remaining four songs almost like an encore. It’s strong enough to hold the listener’s attention and create as much of an impact as the preceding 67 minutes. In fact, ‘Rise Above The Sentiment’ is probably the catchiest song of all, and it’s no surprise that it was chosen as a music video single. This gripping tune is ably followed by ‘Parasite Blues’ and the melancholic, thought-provoking final piece ‘Owls Predict Oracles Stand Guard’ brings the curtains down.
Quite often, the word ‘masterpiece’ is thrown around needlessly in the context of album reviews, but Soilwork’s ‘The Living Infinite’ is most definitely a masterpiece in the true sense of the word. Despite such a major lineup change, the band took an audacious gamble by going for a double album, but hats off to them for pulling it off with emphatic success. ‘The Living Infinite’ proves that Soilwork is perfectly capable of delivering good music even without Peter Wichers. As compared to the previous few albums, I feel the band members have collectively and individually expressed themselves a lot more on this one, and even on the shortest of tracks you could sense a relatively wider range of music, nowhere not as repetitive as before.
When it comes to melodic extreme metal, particularly Soilwork with their unbeatable clean vocals, I almost think of it as pop music for metalheads, and I say that as a compliment. But lately, heavyweights like Children Of Bodom and In Flames have disappointed fans of this sub-genre with their newer releases even though they continue to thrive as great live bands. Thankfully, we still have Soilwork delivering the goods, and quite honestly, ‘The Living Infinite’ is one of the best melodic extreme metal albums I’ve heard in a very long time, and as a modern-day double album in any kind of heavy music, it’s simply unparalleled. Take my word for it, don’t waste any more time and go order this album right now.
Rating: 10/10
Related: Interview – Soilwork Vocalist Björn Strid Talks About New Album ‘The Living Infinite’
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Dates:
February 27th 2013 (Asia)
March 1st 2013 (Europe)
March 5th 2013 (USA)
Track Listing:
CD 1
01. Spectrum Of Eternity
02. Memories Confined
03. This Momentary Bliss
04. Tongue
05. The Living Infinite I
06. Let The First Wave Rise
07. Vesta
08. Realm Of The Wasted
09. The Windswept Mercy
10. Whispers And Lights
CD 2
01. Entering Aeons
02. Long Live The Misanthrope
03. Drowning With Silence
04. Antidotes In Passing
05. Leech
06. The Living Infinite II
07. Loyal Shadow
08. Rise Above The Sentiment
09. Parasite Blues
10. Owls Predict, Oracles Stand Guard
Links:
soilwork.org
facebook.com/soilwork
twitter.com/_soilwork
youtube.com/soilwork