Metal Reviews

I heard a new Soilwork song and as always it was disappointing.

But then I've found as a band they were always disappointing even when they were full fledged melodeath.

Issues I have with all of their music are:

1. Really lacklustre and very generic song writing.

2. A really awful clicky sound on their original melodeath albums.

3. Even when they shredded, it was all a bit meh.

4. The singer ATG wannabe screams were annoying. I like At The Gates but I don't like Speed Strid.

5. Keyboards were too over bearing and often amateurishly incorporated unlike Dark Tranquillity or Children Of Bodom.

I think their best album is probably Natural Born Chaos but that really sounds like Devin Townsend featuring Soilwork.

Other than that , they come across very much as a second tier band being neither great nor being bad (except Figure Number Five which blew chunks).

What are your opinions?

imo A Predator's Portrait is the best album of the clean vocal-style melodeath. Drums are so groovy, riffs are so good, Strid's voice is so sexy smooth. Natural Born Chaos and first two albums are worth hearing but not super notable. Other stuff makes me sad.

I think I can agree that they're a second tier melodeath band, well, kind of. On the other hand, in my opinion they stopped being melodeath after Natural Born Chaos/A Predator's Portrait.
But I like them, I really do. Their albums aren't that consistent but every single one of them contains some absolutely killer songs.

Yes, this. May not be Belakor or whoever, but they're a very enjoyable band.

Belakor rules so much love both albums. Regarding Soilwork, the only outstanding album is Chainheart Machine.

They have some really good stuff, and some cringe worthy stuff. The most recent album is pretty decent, but StaGD was awful. I think they are at their best when they are aggressive, yet catchy. When they try to get too melodic it's boring. When they get it right, they do the aggressive verse / melodic chorus thing really well.

lol generic compared to who. There's a difference between being generic and being one of the early leaders of the genre.

Soilwork was the shit up to FNF. I loved APP and Natural Born Chaos, but APP was their true work of art. Great everything on that album. Guitar work, vocals, everything meshes so well. Definitely one of my favorite melodeath albums back in the day.

Some of their early works are pretty damn solid as far as melodeath goes. I prefer Soilwork over In Flames or Dark Tranquility honestly. They aren't as good as At The Gates were, but then not much is so that doesn't mean anything.

+1

It's just a real shame that everyone had to rip off that style. Even today the dirty/clean combo is so abused. Most of the time it just seems like the band is going through the motions when they do that, as well.

I have never liked Soilwork.

Be'lakor sounds okay. Although it sounds nothing like Insomnium which I consider probably the best melodic death metal out there.

Belakor > Insomnium

Not really. Insomnium's sound is much more dense and atmospheric; a lot more melodic and powerful.

More atmospheric, without a doubt. More melodic and powerful... I don't know

I believe so. Insomnium's atmosphere alone and the melodies they use and also the structure they create in their songs is something that Be'lakor can only dream of doing. Saying Be'lakor is Insomnium is purely Naive.

This is exactly why I like them. If I'm in the mood for some Soilwork this is the kind of song I'll put on.

I used to have Stabbing and Chaos, the former was just there with absolutely nothing giving me a reason to care enough to hear twice. and the later didn't do jack shit for me except for "Follow the Hollow." t has some weirdness with a keychange of some sort that came off really melodic to me. What little I listened to from the rest of that was 7.5/10 filler.[url][/url]

Poop and an overrated Swedish metal band with zero power even in their early records, not to mention their Disturbed albums they've released with that godawful vocalist. They're practically a pop metalcore band.

Another fecal matter reference. You're just so eloquent in the way you describe your opinions.