By Andrew Bansal
Up until early 2013, Swedish melodic death metal stalwarts Soilwork had travelled a wavering 18-year long journey of eight studio albums, world tours and member changes, but with the release of their ninth album ‘The Living Infinite’ via Nuclear Blast Records, a massive 20-track double album of all new original material, they’ve reclaimed their authority in the genre, and in more ways than one, this epic masterpiece marks the resurrection of Soilwork and showcases the group’s rekindled songwriting brilliance. The album is consistent with dynamic yet compact and catchy songs, and seems to have been written with a clearly focussed creative direction. Even in this 85-minute long album, it’s extremely hard to find anything that could be termed as ‘filler’. From the opening track to the very end, The Living Infinite glistens with instant classics one after another. Tunes such as ‘Spectrum Of Eternity’, ‘This Momentary Bliss’, ‘The Living Infinite I’ and ‘Whispers and Lights’ ensure that Disc 1 is an emphatic success, while Disc 2 does not let the impact fade away even slightly, with powerful compositions like ‘Long Live The Misanthrope’, ‘Leech’, ‘The Living Infinite II’ and ‘Rise Above The Sentiment’. A large majority of the guitar and vocal melodies put forth in this album stay in listeners’ head long, long after they’ve given the album a spin, which simply proves how successful the band has been in achieving what they set out to do with The Living Infinite. With an album that surpasses everything they’ve done in their career both in terms of quality and quantity, Soilwork have not only reached a new level for themselves but have broken new, unconquered territory in the melodic death metal genre by pulling off the herculean task of this double album.
Track Listing:
CD 1
1. Spectrum Of Eternity
2. Memories Confined
3. This Momentary Bliss
4. Tongue
5. The Living Infinite I
6. Let The First Wave Rise
7. Vesta
8. Realm Of The Wasted
9. The Windswept Mercy
10. Whispers And Lights
CD 2
1. Entering Aeons
2. Long Live The Misanthrope
3. Drowning With Silence
4. Antidotes In Passing
5. Leech
6. The Living Infinite II
7. Loyal Shadow
8. Rise Above The Sentiment
9. Parasite Blues
10. Owls Predict, Oracles Stand Guard
Duration: 1.4 hours
Visit Soilwork on the web:
Soilwork.org
facebook.com/Soilwork
twitter.com/_Soilwork
youtube.com/Soilwork
The countdown so far …
#50. Nails – Abandon All Life
#49. American Sharks – Self-Titled
#48. Hatebreed – The Divinity Of Purpose
#47. Helen Money – Arriving Angels
#46. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Mind Control
#45. Ihsahn – Das Seelenbrechen
#44. Church Of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum
#43. Wolvserpent – Perigaea Antahkarana
#42. Djinn And Miskatonic – Forever In The Realm
#41. Czar – No One Is Alone If No One Is Alive
#40. Against The Grain – Surrounded By Snakes
#39. Nekrofilth – Devil’s Breath
#38. Kylesa – Ultraviolet
#37. The Devil’s Blood – III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars
#36. Kadavar – Abra Kadavar
#35. Purson – The Circle And The Blue Door
#34. Carousel – Jeweler’s Daughter
#33. Kvelertak – Meir
#32. SpiralArms – Freedom
#31. Satan – Life Sentence
#30. Exhumed – Necrocracy
#29. Havok – Unnatural Selection
#28. Mothership – Self-Titled
#27. UDO – Steelhammer
#26. Ramming Speed – Doomed To Destroy, Destined To Die
#25. Revocation – Self-Titled
#24. Gorguts – Colored Sands
#23. Kobra And The Lotus – Self-Titled
#22. Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry Of Consciousness
#21. Saxon – Sacrifice
#20. Noctum – Final Sacrifice
#19. Intronaut – Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)
#18. Scale The Summit – The Migration
#17. Warbringer – IV: Empires Collapse
#16. Scorpion Child – Self-Titled
#15. Motörhead – Aftershock
#14. Holy Grail – Ride The Void
#13. Red Fang – Whales And Leeches
#12. Soilwork – The Living Infinite
Check out #11 here.