Soilwork - Figure Number Five

[gaz]

Soilwork – Figure Number Five
(Nuclear Blast 2003)


Soilwork are a band that was originally a quite forceful death metal band. Their first two albums contained some ferocious riffs that were almost thrashy, combined with some brutal vocals. Third album in, ‘A Predator’s Portrait’ was a great mix of this, with some added melody in the vocals, was almost the quintessential Swedish melodic death sound of that time. Enough to satisfy the older fans and adding some much maligned melody to bring in some new followers, who found the older albums a little too brutal and heavy for their tastes.

Album number 4, ‘Natural Born Chaos’, brought a more melodic sound, yet there was still some of that old fire in the belly, that roared throughout. It had it’s moments, but for me the album was too smooth, the guitars mixed down in favour of keyboards in a few places.

Which brings us to ‘Figure Number Five’ (FnF). This takes the previous album to the next level, the sound is barely recognisable from that of the first trio of albums, gone is almost all of the brutality. Replaced by layers of more friendly sounds, more clean vocals, less growls and some very catchy slick melodic chorus’s. For the majority, the guitars are buried below the keyboards and the vocals. The bitter pill to swallow, is that you can hear some great riffs, all be it to far back in the mix.
Occasionally the guitars are heard to roar (‘Overload’) over a riff that Jimmy Page might have written 30 years ago. ‘Brickwalker’ is by far the albums best cut, some great riffing, screaming vocals and a memorable chorus to boot. A few more like this and you’d have a winner here. I don’t know if Soilwork are the victim of their own desires to be successful, with a less heavy more commercial sound, or do they need a different producer’s idea’s for them to regain some of those past sounds.

So what I am missing ? Of course bands can evolve and do it quite successfully, but fans must think these changes as natural ones. Dark Tranquillity are a prime example of how a band has gone through changes, managed to sound modern, incorporate keyboards into their sound, yet stay heavy and keep their followers in the majority, happy.

I like all kinds of music, but when I hear stuff like this and remember that Soilwork were once a death metal band, it’s hard to stomach such a watered down, ball less sounding album. FnF has it’s moments, but for most lacks consistency and has perhaps too many ‘modern’ influences.

A huge disappointment all round and not just because of my disliking of the more melodic sound. the songs themselves aren’t really a patch on previous efforts.
There you go, I didn’t mention sell out anywhere



www.nuclearblast.de
www.soilworkers.com/

[SculptedCold]

Hmm, since when was an evolving band's aim meant to be keeping fans happy?

[abollo]

Soilwork is a superb band who am I to disagree with the metal god they just keep getting better and better and Nordstrom did a great job too and you .... well you suck and no more reviews okay ?
oh wait wait "the guitars are buried below the keyboards and the vocals" are you deaf and dumb ???

[equimanthorn]

here. i'll do it for you: sell outs.

[manuelgv]

The album sucks

[ephemeral]

I like it, I don't care how their old stuff used to sound, I don't want a band to put out 6 cds of the same thing, especially melodic death metal, which gets old

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Yes, the album truly does suck. I cant beleived i wasted money on it.

[Joe C]

Guess what...it doesn't come out until May 5 so you didn't waste money on it.

[Freddy Krueger]

I've DLed most of the album so far, and you people can complain all you want. I'll be one of the first in line to get this album. Sure it's not the calibur of Chainheart or even Steelbath, but it's a damn sweet album that I'm enjoying right now. Really catchy, enjoyable chorus's... Something to listen to when I'm tired of chaotic style metal.

[DoReMi]

Not enjoyable. The first four tracks, maybe with Light the Torch chucked in there too, are the most memorable. The rest are sub-par. And that's my honest opinion. When NBC came out, I absolutely loved it. Great melodies, great choruses. Every song is written with the greatest care. Devin's production is phenomenal. I was really looking forward to this release, and listening to Overload first got my hopes up. Needless to say that it greatly disappoints. This is an attempt to gain more commercial success (nothing wrong with that), but the music suffers as a consequence. It all apears rushed. At first I would attempt to find moments where the guitars didn't follow the vocals... I gave up after a couple of tracks in. And Brickwalker has an absolutely horrific chorus. I'll say it now, and I'll probably say it again (as I've said it before), this is the first dud album I have ever heard from Soilwork.

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Its called an advance copy Joe. C