Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast

[Dak]

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/index.aspx?PageNum=2

U.K.'s Guitarist magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist Peter Wichers of Swedish metallers SOILWORK. A couple of excerpts from the first part of the chat follow below.

Guitarist: This ["The Panic Broadcast"] is your first SOILWORK album with [fellow SOILWORK guitarist] Sylvain [Coudret]. What is the dynamic like between you?

Wichers: "This guy is so good. Leads are something that are really personal and I try to let him do his own thing. I didn't really have to say anything to the guy because he's really that good. It's so nice to have that kind of element where someone just gets it immediately. And I'm not saying we haven't been able to get that in the past, but there really is no limitations to what that guy can play.

"He smokes everything we've ever done before when it comes to leads, but it's still done with great phrasing. He can do the whole Yngwie Malmsteen thing for a minute and a half, but who the hell wants to listen to that for that long? Don't get me wrong, I like Yngwie but after 15 minutes at the show, you're like, 'Can we move on or do something else?'

"So I think for Sylvain, he mixes his styles well. I can't say enough good things about the guy — great guy and a great guitar player. I've been a fan of his playing ever since he was in SCARVE."

Guitarist: One of the signatures of your own playing in SOILWORK has been the blues element. It seems to be rare in metal these days and it again comes through in the groove of some of the riffs on this record but you'll also throw in blues licks too…

Wichers: "You mean the blatant PANTERA/Dimebag rip-off? [laughs] He's the guy that really made me want to do this. When it comes to songwriting, I listen to a lot of DEEP PURPLE and a lot of the older stuff such as THIN LIZZY and I think that rubbed off, because we wanted to create that blues element [in the band].

"A lot of death metal fans maybe don't appreciate it and I can't say it's completely original, but it's something that I think is kind of cool to blend into the kind of extreme metal style that we do because, as you said, it's not really that common."

Guitarist: What's the experience like for you performing three roles for the band — writer, player and producer? Is there a lot of pressure?

Wichers: "I try not to think about it too much. If I feel like I'm too pressured, the stress will get the better of me. First and foremost, the songs needed to be there first and they were there before we actually went into the studio. We left a couple of things until we were there – leads and stuff that we improvised.

"But as far as songwriting, we do a lot of the preproduction before we go into the studio so we can focus on performance. So when everyone came into the studio I knew the arrangements were there so I could focus on making everybody play to the top of their ability."

Guitarist: Is that how the writing process has worked in the past?

Wichers: "Yes and no. We didn't do a lot of preproduction on some of the other records. On 'Natural Born Chaos' we did a lot of pre-production and I think on that album it shows. We were experimenting a lot on what direction we wanted to go and we were sick of being compared with a lot of bands. We wanted to do something different and that kind of set the bar for SOILWORK's sound. At least I'd like to think it did.

"I think that we tried to do the same for this one. We really tried not to worry about what how everything would be perceived — in the past we thought, maybe this particular song will work live, for example. Since so many people download songs these days, in order to have people buy the whole record you need to have variety. The songs need to sound different.

"You can't listen to one song on this record and say this is how the new record sounds. Every song has a different style so I think that's what we really focussed on for this record and I can't say I've ever been so proud of any record I've done. That's how confident I am with this record."

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That sounds promising.

 

[IntoPhagist]

I love Soilwork. I'm typing this while wearing a FNF shirt actually...

And to join the STD conversation, Distance is absolutely insane, the title track is ridiculous....actually everything except Fate in Motion and Wherever Thorns May Grow are great tracks (for Soilwork that is)

Thorns May Grow is one of my favorites actually, what's not to like? Amazing chorus.

 

[IntoPhagist]

Yeah, awesome.

IN MY TOWN WHERE THE SYSTEM SLEEPS, NOBODY GIVES A DAMN!

Tells it like it is...

I bashed FN5 earlier in this thread but I forgot how much I enjoy a lot of the songs. The shit isn't as smooth as NBC but it's great.

http://www.myspace.com/soilwork

New song! But it sound's rather boring.

The opening and solo are both great but I hate the vocals, Strid's cleans bother me now. To shouty and doesn't even sound like soilwork anymore. I gave up after Sworn, I hope the rest is good. And the generic verse riffs, eh.

I don't wanna sound like a bitch but My girlfriend and I broke up the other day and Have been feeling really emo and was hoping for a huge Soilwork comeback to cheer me up. This just depresses me more lol And Dio dying is sad. Sucks there's little to no coverage of Dio here in the States. America sucks. This shit is big news in Europe where people care about music.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

This sounds pretty badass.

edit: oh come on, this fucking rules.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

new song is pretty shite. generic with no feeling. the band is capable of much better work.

 

[ArneZ]

Not bad, not great. Would love to hear more now...

 

[A1a23]

It's definitely a better direction.

 

[ArneZ]

Thats true. Better then most of the songs on the last album.

 

[Epidemic Reign]

Definitely looking forward to this. I listened to the new track once, don't want to play it out before the album comes out... but I'm curious to see overall how the band has changed since Wichers' return.

 

[ArneZ]

After listening to the new song 20+ times, I fucking love it. Man, this album will be the best since Natural Born Chaos!

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Yeah, it's fucking awesome basically. Not sure how people could have a problem with it.

 

[EternalMetal]

Dont know if im liking Strid's clean vocals, but the rest of the song sounds pretty solid. Im actually looking forward to this.

 

[Satanist Hobo]

...oh fine I'll admit it.

STOAGD was pretty good but shit compared to the other albums.

 

[ArneZ]

The wait is almost over...

 

[Dak]

New workout album fo sho. Gotta see them live this Aug.

 

[Alex78]

Well, the chorus in Two Lives Worth... is pretty gay IMO.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Not really, especially if you've liked any of the choruses in any of their recent work. Yeah, he hits some high notes...so?

 

[Satanist Hobo]

Alex just thinks it's cool to live in the past and trash any albums that sound a bit different.

 

[IntoPhagist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LtkmnLJSlk&feature=player_embedded#!

This song is amazing, my favorite soilwork song since NBC.