Soilwork

A Predator’s Portrait (Century Media)
by Tim Den

Glam death metal? In Flames’ rock’n’roll meets Dream Theater guitar solos? At The Gates and techno-pop? This is getting confusing. Soilwork are an amazing bunch of players, especially for a relatively young band. They take the Gothenburg sound and kick up the technicality level, add some keyboard swells as (though sometimes boring) buffer, and obviously know the right influences to wear on their sleeves. A huge dose of Swedish trademarks, safe Judas Priest melodies, add MSG/guitar hero skills later… voila. Critics’ darlings. Am I buying this? Not entirely – cuz there’s just something missing… grit, possibly – but you just can’t beat the execution.
(1453-A 14th St. #324 Santa Monica, CA 90404)