Soilwork – Death Resonance
Nuclear Blast
Release Date: August 19th
Reviewed By: Matt Bolton
These Swedes need no introduction, providing us with their passionate brand of melodic death metal since 1996. Not long after releasing The Ride Majestic last year, we get two brand new songs that give us a hint as to the future of the band. The album prior, The Living Infinite showed a somewhat softer side to the band, while their darker side came across on the last record. That darkness continues on these two new tracks, which are heavier, and this will please the humble “soilworker”.
First up is brand new song Helsinki which is a standout track. Frontman Björn Strid explains the title started out as a working name for this track, as it had no real meaning, but the name was kept due to the fact it sounded kind of cool and the Finnish have been a loyal fanbase for the band from the very beginnings. Strid puts his heart and soul into the song, and a catchy chorus gives it that classic Soilwork sound. The guitar solos on this song are a highlight. Both Sylvain Coudre and David Andersson prove to be masters of their craft, and this is sure to please fans of the mighty Irons (Iron Maiden).
The title track, Death Resonance starts with some welcome death growls and the keyboards we have grown to love to create more depth than the hole in our pockets left after lying politicians have got at them. The crunching riffs and pulverising bass by Markus Wibom pack a mighty wallop. Flawless guitar solos are as frequent as a fly on a hot summer’s day. One sad thing is that long time drummer; Dirk Verbeuren who is an absolute machine on these new tracks has left to join thrash legends, Megadeth.
There are seven rarities which show the band thrashing out and providing some fat blast beats on The End Begins Below The Surface; Maiden inspired riffs on My Nerves, Your Everyday Tool, the bone crushing These Absent Eyes that will have you stomping the demons away, among other tunes to groove along to.
There are also five remixes of Soilwork tracks.
All in all Death Resonance will please the loyal fan.
The new tracks are promising; I’m going to give Natural Born Chaos a spin now!
