Soilwork: “Stabbing The Competition”

For reasons unbeknownst to me, when I hear or see the name Soilwork, it always seems to emit elaborate mental visions. For instance, the name produces images of gargantuan, extravagant and rusted machines, erratically cluttered with various cogs and levers, surrounded by a slew of skeletons, chains and other oddities. Despite my wildly imaginative mind, the machine, or more appropriately, the band known as Soilwork is far from the above description. In fact, the group is more like a state of the art Death Metal Super Computer, one which processes faster than a supersonic jet plane and which produces nothing but sheer melodic perfection. Sure at first glance Soilwork’s name may sound gritty, but their music is calculated, elaborate and ultimately incredible.

Hailing from the southern Swedish town of Helsingborg, the members of Soilwork got together and formed the group a little over a decade ago. At first the band was called Inferior Breed, but changed their name to Soilwork in 1996 because they felt that it was a better fit with their sound. The name change would ultimately prove to be a logical decision for as it is now well known, this amazing quintet has been propelled to the apex of the melodic death metal genre. Within the realm of hard metal, the band possesses one of the most ferocious and mind-blowing sounds currently available, which is of course by no means the product of an “inferior breed.”

Despite the band’s proficient musicianship, it took a few years for the members of Soilwork to really develop their songwriting and hone their technical skills. This can be seen in the progressive growth evident in their first few studio records. The band’s first two releases, 1998’s Steelbath Suicide and 2000’s The Chainheart Machine were a good start, but were only moderately successful and largely ignored by the mainstream metal community. Soilwork’s big break would finally come with their third release, 2001’s A Predator’s Portrait which received excellent critical and public reaction alike and really created a buzz around the band. Because of the positive reactions towards A Predator’s Portrait, the group was now being invited to play on numerous tours and festivals around Europe.

Riding the wave created by A Predator’s Portrait, Soilwork continued their climb to the top of the melodic death metal world with their next two records, 2002’s Natural Born Chaos and 2003’s Figure Number Five. For anyone keeping count, that’s four records released in four consecutive years, a remarkable measure of productivity rarely seen anymore in the rock and metal music industry. And even though the band made great strides and won over more and more fans with each subsequent record, Soilwork’s real break came with the release of their 2005 album Stabbing The Drama.

From start to finish, Stabbing The Drama is a nearly flawless album with never a dull moment. Each track is as good as the previous one and it features some of the most brutal and intense melodic metal you can find. Style wise, the album is probably the band’s most diverse album, but it remains true to the band’s classic sound. Not only is Stabbing The Drama Soilwork’s best work to date, it has also marked the group’s best commercial showing in the United States. The record sold quite well in the U.S. and the band was rewarded with a spot on the 2005 Ozzfest tour.

Despite the great strides that the group has made in recent years, the band suffered a setback in late 2005 when guitarist Peter Wichers left the band due to tour exhaustion and other personal reasons. Many people have voiced worry over how Wichers’ departure might affect the group’s sound since he had a unique style of guitar playing all to his own, but despite such reservations, Soilwork has decided to soldier on.

The band used guitarist Adreas Holma as a short term replacement for the duration of their tour this past summer, but there is no word on whether or not he will be added as a permanent member. Even though the guitarist issue has yet to be solved, Soilwork are currently at work on the follow up to Stabbing The Drama and they hope to release it sometime in the first half of 2007. With the way the band has progressed over the years, it’s scary to think how good the album may be. We eagerly await the final results.