Soilwork – The Living Infinite

Soilwork is back! And this time I am glad to say this. Anyone who does not know about this Swedish band better leave this review. I cannot offer you any historical data enough to keep you up to date with a band such as Soilwork.

So the guys from Helsingborg did it again. They nail me to the wall with “The Living Infinite” for all the bad comments I made for their latest three albums. Ok I didn’t expect a u-turn of them to the At The Gates-ish style of their past. If someone believes that he can listen to a “Natural Born Chaos” again, he is dreaming. Yet this album is above all expectations.

Bands like Dark Tranquility, In Flames and Soilwork gave ground to what we call melodic death metal but nowadays they divided the metal scene with their latest releases. Especially the last two of them have evolved their sound so much that most of us labeled them as modern rock or metalcore. Yes “The Living Infinite” has many of these characteristics, but it has an aura of their past that is unmistakably distinguished.

The first disc of this double (!) album starts with a keyboard intro that doesn’t give you any hint on what follows next. “Spectrum Of Eternity” then bursts out of my speakers. Death metal blastbeats and thrashing guitar riffs with tons of melody is what we can listen to at the first four songs. And after that they give us a break for our neck through “The Living Infinite I” with its almost Spanish acoustic intro and the metalcore melodic guitar riffs. Then again bam! “Let The First Wave Arise” is a less than three minutes song thrashing fast. After two more songs of great catchy melodies, we get to an end for disc one with two power ballads. “The Windswept Mercy” is a modern hard rock ballad with the participation on vocals by Mr. Justin Sullivan of New Model Army. Then “Whispers And Lights” takes the tempo low. A metal ballad with a bursting black metal outbreak in the end that made me wonder what else could I hear to disc two.

“Entering Aeons” enters us to the second disc. It is just an intro for “Long Live The Misanthrope”, a song that reminds me a lot the latest era of Soilwork. Metalcore with many prog elements especially on the guitar riffs. The grooves and the catchy riffs with the memorable choruses keep on with songs like “Drowning With Silence”, “Leech” and “Rise Above The Sentiment” – the first video of this album. The whole disc could be compare with a rollercoaster ride. Especially this disc has many ups and downs in the tempos. In between the aforementioned songs we can listen to great slow melodic tracks such as “Antidotes In Passing”, “The Living Infinite II” and “Loyal Shadow”. The riff of track that gives a closure to the album reminds me of Meshuggah (!).

Definitely “The Living Infinite” is a candidate album of the year 2013. If someone tells you that this is just another specimen of metalcore or modern rock, he hasn’t heard the album at all. What Soilwork offers us here is how melodic death metalcore could evolve. This CD has it all. From deathcore riffs to prog solos. The recruitment of David Andersson totally paid off. From high speed thrashing tempos to slow melodic songs, “The Living Infinite” doesn’t bore you in any moment. This album blends many styles together and its variety is undeniable. In addition we have the vocals of Mr. Strid which keeps the music tight. From screams that make your heart bleeds to melodic catchy lines that stick inside your head for a long time.

The bar is raised for anyone following the trend of metalcore. And it is rightfully done by Soilwork. If this was not a double CD, I would rate it higher (!). Its duration is 85 minutes. What could I do?