Band: Soilwork (Sweden) Album: The Panic Broadcast (2010) Genre: Melodic Death Metal Those of you that have read my profile know that Soilwork is among my favorite bands ever. In fact, they may well be no. 1. Their latest creation was baptized The Panic Broadcast. It came out in early July and although I’ve had it since then, I have not had time yet to review it properly, due to the fact that I moved into a new place last month. I’m all settled now, and comfortably seated on a nice, Swedish Ikea chair in my nice new living room I’ll let you know why Soilwork is such a great band and why this album must not miss from your record collection! By Niek

Soilwork is a band that has always understood music is not about mere speed, brutality, rawness or ostentation. Music should induce emotion, positive or negative. It should transfer a feeling. From their earliest beginning, when they were still much rawer and faster than they are now, these Swedes have brought brilliant compositions that managed to infect your mood with theirs. Now, with the return of Peter Wichers to the band, they are better than ever at this.

I was listening to The Panic Broadcast in my car earlier today and realized it would be more efficient to name those tracks that are not my favorite than vice versa. Really, all but two or three of the total eleven tracks (including one bonus track; Sweet Demise) are absolutely ace. And even those that I do not hold as high as the others are far above the Gothenburg metal standard. How do they do this?

Well, for one, each and every one of their songs is brilliantly mastered. But mind you never ever overproduced or synthetic! Relative volumes of various instrumental and vocal tracks are perfectly matched, as is the timbre of the bunch. The result is a full, rich sound, on the edge of being bombastic, but wisely never crossing it. At times, guitar effects include a bland, as if inside a tin can, sound to balance the score.

Riffs on this album are heavy as they should be. Heavier than on their previous release Sworn to a Great Divide, but always with a thick stomping groove to them, making every second as tasty as a big juicy bacon-pineapple burger with ketchup, or whatever else your personal favorite dish may be. But the best of all are the multiple, richly played guitar solos. The dynamics on these babies are just perfect. That, combined with their full, warm sound, makes them the perfect sauce for an already delicious meal.

If I do have to pick a favorite song on this record, it’ll have to be the one called Epitome. Why? Because of the phat, greasy main guitar riff of the intro and verse, and the slightly off-sounding palm-muted lead going under it. It just is a whole new experience in a genre in which eighty percent of the bands all use the same recipe.

And this goes for The Panic Broadcast as a whole. Soilwork manages to reinvent themselves yet again, while still making it an unmistakable Soilwork release. What’s more, the music takes repeated attempts before it can be fully understood and appreciated. This baby starts to bloom once you’ve heard it something like five or ten times. Music that takes effort but will reward you with unending enjoyment. Death Metal as it should be!

Grade: 10/10
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Tags: death, melodeath, melodic, review, Swedish

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.