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Soilwork: Sworn to a great divide

05/11/07 || The Duff

Soilwork seem to have, due to their most recent efforts, built up a name for themselves amongst those thinking of current In Flames as the embodiment of “that classic Swedish sound”, while undoubtedly alienating a large part of their old, faithful following who have supported them for their earliest, most classic outputs due to their abandonment of everything that made them relevant, and most importantly, M-E-T-A-L.

I didn’t despise “Stabbing the Drama” upon my first couple of listens, but over the years, the band’s 2005 release came to be something seriously loathed by yours truly. Even the band’s last generally decent output, “Natural Born Chaos”, has garnered some disrepute in my eyes, unfortunately in part to the uninspired, N-O-T-M-E-T-A-L follow-up albums (I am indeed a shallow, fickle bastard).

Now the new album hits us, with talk of the band’s revisiting the dynamics of “Natural Born Chaos” (it’s a start, let me tell you), a new guitarist in the ranks (founding member Peter Wichers has now left), and some production duties covered once more by the great Devin Townsend. When I saw the video for first single “Exile”, I saw nothing but red, proving that I still had some emotional investment in the band – I reckoned if the rest of the album was of a similar caliber, “Sworn to a Great Divide” would be more than disappointing.

Surprise, cockface, but this isn’t nearly the disaster I was expecting it to be, reaffirming my belief that these guys, along with In Flames, are purely following whatever’s trendy at the time of writing. Hey, who gives a fuck? When metal’s in, it works for them, and it most certainly works for me. What Soilwork show on “Sworn to a Great Divide” is that they are more than capable of producing material that harkens to their past greatness, but still choose to reign it in a little for those who get headaches when not listening to chug-riffs in 4/4.

Strid is still determined to fuck around with the über-catchy, pop choruses, but these have been a staple to the Soilwork sound for years now, and I’ve never found they detract from the end product provided the music can stand on its own, which for the most part is the case here, His performance is as always impressive, and he seems to be hitting the high notes better than ever, even if it is with some distress (as on “Sick Heart River”). The arrangements haven’t reverted to those of earlier albums; this is still kept very simple, structure-wise, but I’m greeted by some nice riffs for a change, making me breathe a sigh of relief – Soilwork aren’t back, and anyone who didn’t like post-“APP” days will equally shun this, but it’s reassuring to hear something that is at the very least worthwhile from these guys once more.

Strid’s harsh vocals haven’t really changed much, there’s some frequent blasting going on (but again, this seems to be all the rage these days, so it’s not to go to Soilwork’s credit that they’re finally putting a talented drummer to good use), and some real cool solos, as well as some rather bland yet “better than nothing” leads. What’s most apparent is that this is more of a metal album than “Natural Born Chaos” ever was, and thankfully nothing else comes close to the abhorrent nature of “Exile”. Overall, still a lot left to be desired, but an improvement over the last two.

6 slight improvements out of 10.

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Nuclear Blast
Website: www.soilwork.org
Band
Björn Strid: vocals
Ola Frenning: guitars
Daniel Antonsson: guitars
Ola Flink: bass
Sven Karlsson: keyboards, samples
Dirk Verbeuren: drums

Tracklist
01. Sworn to a Great Divide
02. Exile
03. Breeding Thorns
04. Your Beloved Scapegoat
05. The Pittsburgh Syndrome
06. I, Vermin
07. Light Discovering Darkness
08. As the Sleeper Awakes
09. Silent Bullet
10. Sick Heart River
11. 20 More Miles

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