Soilwork – The Living Infinite
Nuclear Blast, February 2013
5/10
After putting out a
string of great death metal albums (my favorite being 2001’s A Predator’s Portrait), Sweden’s
Soilwork began to slide into irrelevance with increasing amounts of metalcore
to their sound. I stop caring after the atrocious Stabbing The Drama album was released in 2005. Quite honestly, I
haven’t much cared to listen to any new material from Soilwork in some years
now and The Living Infinite is a
reminder of why. This new album has its moments, but it mainly reminds me of
what used to be and what could have been. I can’t get past the band’s continual
quest for “groove” now, much less the awful clean vocals from Björn Strid. No
amount of slick guitar work and partial returns to form can overcome these
faults. The Living Infinite has many
instances of fleeting brilliance, but then the predictable breakdown comes
along and Björn starts bellowing like Burt Bell from Fear Factory. It’s
maddening. Then it really kicked in that this is a double album over 80 minutes
long. I really can’t take it. Soilwork seems to be trying to please all of
their fans (and former fans) here – the results are inconsistent at best.
Obviously the band has gained a huge legion of fans since the time I saw them
as a support act at the Quest Club back in 2002 or so, and to them I imagine
that The Living Infinite will sound
like genius. Call me disgruntled, but I can’t be the only one who’s felt left
behind as Soilwork has evolved.
Soilwork
performs Wednesday, March 27 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support from Jeff
Loomis, Blackguard, The Browning, and Wretched.
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