Soilwork - Stabbing the Drama By Mark Hensch

Soilwork - Stabbing the Drama 
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Rating: 

The strange Nordic metal traditions have brought out a huge mix of heavy bands with unique and diverse playing styles. There's the insane guitars of Children of Bodom, the calculus metal of Meshuggah, and the seemingly impossible mix of melodic elements of rock mixed with purist metal. The result of this has been the so-called "Gothenburg sound," where airy keyboards and clean, soaring vocals soothe the ears after butt-kicking metal breakdowns. The list of bands following this formula have given us the seminal In Flames, the darkly majestic Dark Tranquility, and Soilwork, a band that combines thrash metal breakdowns and gentle vocals at a level that is almost uncanny.

This perfection of the melodic metal sound has given the band many open doors other bands have not yet received. Signed to the Nuclear Blast Records family, Soilwork has released to date (including Stabbing the Drama) seven albums; earlier albums Steelbath Suicide and The Chainheart Machine gave way to nearly universal critical acclaim (most notably huge props from respected publications like Revolver or The Alternative Press, who placed them in the "25 most important bands of metal list" following their 2003 album Figure Number Five). So successful has Soilwork been that at one point the act hooked up with Strapping Young Lad's resident evil genius Devin Townsend (who to metalheads should need little to any introduction) to produce an album. 

Though Stabbing the Drama doesn't have Townsend's fingerprints all over it, the newest Soilwork offering is still finely polished, tuned, and arranged. I'd go so far to say that if this album was marketed right and got a little lucky, Soilwork could be a best-selling, rock radio act. "Stabbing the Drama" begins with a keyboard sequence over machine-gun drumming and chugging guitars. Bjorn "Speed" Strid, Soilwork's vocalist, earns his moniker laying down rapid-fire vocals in a hardcore style, and the keyboards of Sven Karlsson switches gears for the chorus as his spacey keys transition to a soaring and clean vocal chorus. "One with the Flies" has a sinister intro riff and some explosive vocals courtesy of Bjorn. The atmosphere of this song betrays quiet tension that occasionally seeps into an full-blown mix of chaos and anger. "Weapon of Vanity" is a straightforward rocker with grandiose choruses that are passionate and catchy at the same time. 

"The Crestfallen" is one of the most relentless songs on the album; hardheaded guitars and searing vocals are replaced by group laments that are pure and wholesome, meshing somewhat awkwardly with the twin guitar assaults. 

"Nerve" is one of the best songs on the album; it represents the peak of Soilwork's style as dirty guitars mix and match with science fiction keyboard effects and clean passages of dark vocals. The riff-laden chorus starts and stops on a dime to Bjorn's vocals, and the occasional pinch harmonic wails in the distance.  

"Stalemate" is a thrash-leaning monster, while "Distance" has a bouncy groove to it that should inspire some nice pits. "Observation Slave" is somewhat forgettable, but "Fate in Motion" redeems the latter half of Stabbing the Drama with some quiet melodic metal that makes Bjorn's vocals sound so close to your ears it's almost claustrophobic. The gutpuncher that is "Blind Eye Halo" hits you so fast and hard that you wonder what hit you, and closing track "If Possible" soothes all of that with a slowly-growing song that is laidback and subtle in execution.

Stabbing the Drama showcases the best and the worst of a band like Soilwork. On the side of the best, Soilwork (and I can say this as an In Flames/Dark Tranquility fan) totally whips the melodic metal sound into shape that is catchy yet heavy beyond denial. On the side of the worst, Soilwork's music draws perhaps too much from earlier music within the same genre, and it can be argued that the formula of "heavy verse into rising, clean, and anathemic vocals" gets a little old and stale after an entire album of songs. Regardless of the flaws, Soilwork hit hard with Stabbing the Drama, and the mix of heavy and light should appeal to a whole range of music fans regardless of prior tastes.