Track Listing
1. Follow the hollow 2. As we speak 3. The flameout 4. Natural born chaos 5. Mindfields 6. The bringer 7. Blackstar deceiver 8. Mercury shadow 9. No more angels 10. Song of the damned Year: 2002 Label: Nucleur Blast - Official Site - Official Fansite |
Soilwork - 'Natural born chaos' - By S. Regan
In an industry ripe with down tuned guitar riffs, power chords and faus-angst ridden frontmen, few bands will rise above and shine through. It is this reviewer�s opinion, that Soilwork are one of those bands. With their forth full length release, Soilwork have managed to once again add a new layer to their already renowned sound. On Natural Born Chaos they have created 10 songs filled with catchy choruses, infectious harmonies and incredibly lively and uplifting riffs! All this while still staying true to the sound that is truly Soilwork. Solos? You bet! Every song is ripe with at least one grade A solo. Bjorn Strid�s voice is on the button every time here. Snapping between his trademark growls and beautiful clean vocals that were often so few and far between on previous efforts. So what of the songs themselves? The opener �Follow The Hollow� hits with the sound of glass smashing and distorted guitar sounds, as a male voice provides a Public Announcement asking all to �Welcome, wont you please step aside, and follow the hollow� � at this point drummer Henry Ranta and the guitars erupt into a frenzy, closely followed by Strid�s screeches and from here on in you know you are well and truly in Soilwork country! As We Speak opens with wonderful overlapping harmony guitar work before moving to a groovy guitar riff and great pitched vocals. With a chorus ripe with clean vocals, melodic guitar work and a solo to die for, this is quite possibly one of my favorite Soilwork tracks to date! This album is most definitely not the heaviest of Soilwork�s releases, and may prove a disappointment to many of their die-hard fans, although as one of their long term fans myself, the word disappointment is in fact the farthest noun from my mind when listening to this album! By moving away from their thrash based melodic death sound they are able to keep reinventing themselves and thus keep their sound unique and interesting. If they were to still be churning out �Steelbath� II� and �� � III� then their sound would become very repetitive and bland very fast and � although I�m sure it would still be fantastic stuff � it would lack growth and progression which is of course what keeps artists new and interesting. Their progression enables them to set themselves apart from their genre cohorts and prevents them from becoming just another melodic death metal band. The melodies are what make the album and that which hold it together beautifully. Just take the chorus to �Mindfields� or the fantastic (if un Soilwork-esque) introduction for �The Bringer� which sports clean guitar melodies. The production is courtesy of none other than metal god Devin Townsend and anyone who knows of this man�s work will be very aware of his born ability to weld heavy riffs with melodies � and this born ability is truly predominant throughout this album. Here he has managed to allow the melodies to take the stage, without jeprodising Soilwork�s traditional heavy sound. With Devvy in the production booth everything fits into place, with every guitar note played being distinguishable, Strid�s vocals sound the best they ever have and the keyboard being brought forward to the sound without dominating the album. On the subject of Devin, a must for any fan of his work is to check out his guest appearance on the superb �Blackstar Deceiver�. The back and forth interplay between himself and Strid are a must heard for any fan of both bands! So, how to sum up an album of such proportions as I�ve gone into here. Well, quite simply any fan of Soilwork�s music � unless they have a grave phobia of anything melodic � will find themselves in musical bliss with this album! With not a grey area in site on this album, a full European tour on the horizon and Devin Townsend in their corner, the future for Soilwork does indeed, look very bright. Metal Obsessive Grade: 100% |