### Soilwork: Figure number five

#### 09/10/07 || The Duff

Listening to a lot of old Swedish melodic death metal bands recently and I can’t help thinking: “Where did it all go wrong?” I mean, Soilwork used to be an amazing band; promising debut, awesome sophomore, and then “A Predator’s Portrait”, for me, the pinnacle of their achievements. Then it all went to shit quicker than that time I managed to give myself head, finish myself off, only to realize that I’d busted a nut into my own mouth.

Hey, I might not be the best at analogies, but damn it, this band used to be great, and I think that being able to reach your own penis in that way only to discover maybe it wasn’t the heavenly climax you were hoping for is a fairly accurate description of the slippery slope that is this band’s musical state of affairs. Still, as with busting a nut into your own mouth (provided your diet is a healthy one), “Figure Number Five” still has some good points.

This isn’t much of a metal record, and it’s a good thing that Strid is a talented vocalist with a reasonably wide range of vocal styles and a knack for writing vocal lines with hooks (his singing here isn’t nearly as tedious as on “Stabbing the Drama”). I guess in a way this band has perfected the hard rock sound it was opting for on “Natural Born Chaos” with “Figure Number Five”, except this time they have grown a lot more comfortable in disposing of their metal roots.

The production is commendable, one of three qualities (the well thought out keyboards and the aforementioned vocals comprising the other two) that works in the band’s favor by fleshing out the guitars and allowing me to forget about the fact that there is not one riff on the album that hits me in the chest with the force of China’s meat-slab of a clitoris. This brings us to an overall average score for an album that is probably on par with Soilwork’s 2002 effort, just not something I like as much.

The artwork, I don’t get – not one of Travis Smith’s greatest works. Apparently you’re meant to see that miner chappie (the Soilwork logo-fella toiling away on rocks) in the wood/being broken by the wood/getting Teh Wood. Maybe it’s Soilwork breaking through the “boundaries” of their old style and forging new ground. I don’‘t know, and I don’t much care; half this review is about giving myself head, so I guess we all have days where we ain’t too creative, and so who am I to criticize?

This album’s still shit.

5 nine inch “love-buds” out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.soilwork.org
- Band
- Bjorn “Speed” Strid: vocals
- Peter Wichers: guitars
- Henry Ranta: drums
- Ola Flink: bass
- Ola Frenning: guitars
- Sven Karlsson: keyboards

- Tracklist
- 01. Rejection Role
- 02. Overload
- 03. Figure Number Five
- 04. Strangler
- 05. Light the Torch
- 06. Departure Plan
- 07. Cranking the Sirens
- 08. Brickwalker
- 09. The Mindmaker
- 10. Distortion Sleep
- 11. Downfall 24