By:
Daniel Jackson
Album Type:
Full-length
Date Released: 28/8/2015
Label: Nuclear Blast
Soilwork find
themselves in a tough position because they seem to have reached a point where
they clearly enjoy creating music that represents each of their two distinct
eras, and they’re more than capable of producing quality music on either side
of the spectrum. The handicap this album can’t overcome is that these two eras
aren’t really capable of playing nicely together
‘The Ride Majestic’ CD//LP//DD track
listing:
1.
The Ride Majestic
2.
Alight In The Aftermath
3.
Death In General
4.
Enemies In Fidelity
5.
Petrichor By Sulphur
6.
The Phantom
7.
The Ride Majestic (Aspire Angelic)
8.
Whirl Of Pain
9.
All Along Echoing Paths
10.
Shining Lights
11.
Father And Son, Watching The World Go Down
Soilwork is:
Björn
"Speed" Strid | Vocals
Dirk
Verbeuren | Drums
Markus
Wibom | Bass
Sylvain
Coudret | Guitar
David
Andersson | Guitar
Sven
Karlsson | Keyboards
The Review:
In
a previous life, Soilwork was a band that made an
impact in the later stages of the 90s Gothenburg death metal explosion, given
rise via bands like At The Gates and In Flames. Soilwork differentiated themselves at the time through some
unique chord choices for the style and a willingness to take chances with new
sounds in a melodic death metal context. Over the last fifteen years, they’ve
struggled with their identity to a point that you can’t really be sure which Soilwork you’re going to get. Soilwork
has flirted with returns to that previous life in the past, but they’ve
generally preferred to swim in more marketable waters over the last ten-plus
years. With ‘The Ride Majestic’
we’re seemingly getting both of them at once, often shifting gears with the
subtlety of a lead pipe to the face. The outcome makes for a really uneven
listening experience.
The
general format of the songs on offer is to start with, some sort of melodic
death metal section , followed by a stark shift in the verse/chorus, featuring
Björn "Speed" Strid doing his finest Howard Jones impression. Then,
the song concludes with some variation of these two ill-fitting halves for the
remainder. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but the general feeling applies.
They begin a song with something that might give lapsed fans who abandoned ship
around ‘Figure Number Five’
something to sink their teeth into, only to pivot mid song into something bound
to lose them altogether. The most striking example would likely be “Petrichor by Sulphur”, which soars
early with nimble fretwork over a brisk thrash beat only to be harshly
interrupted by a rhythmic verse that could have been on a Static-X
or Drowning Pool album. For people who are fans
of both styles, that’s probably something you wouldn’t bat an eye at, but for
the rest of us, it’s jarring to the point that it encourages impatience with
the rest of the material.
It’s
worth pointing out that I’m not advocating for Soilwork
to set themselves back fifteen years for the sake of becoming some Gothenburg
nostalgia act. On the contrary, it feels like they’re much more interested and
passionate about making mainstream metal albums than they are revisiting the
past right now, and that’s fine. The problem is that with two halves they’re
working on with ‘The Ride Majestic’
are likely to annoy fans of each half exclusively. Killswitch Engage
fans are likely to appreciate an album like this because Killswitch Engage
always dealt in both the melodic death metal element along with those metalcore
choruses. Old Soilwork fans are likely to be alienated by
the choruses, while fans who came into the fold in the mid 2000s are likely to
be put off by blast beats and thrashy death metal riffing.
Soilwork find themselves in
a tough position because they seem to have reached a point where they clearly
enjoy creating music that represents each of their two distinct eras, and
they’re more than capable of producing quality music on either side of the spectrum.
The handicap this album can’t overcome is that these two eras aren’t really
capable of playing nicely together. That makes ‘The Ride Majestic’ a spirited but stubborn attempt at a suicide
mission.
FFO:
In Flames, Scar Symmetry, Killswitch Engage, Devildriver
