Soilwork
Stabbing the Drama

THE REVIEW

Whatever one might say or not say about Soilwork, despite the sea of controversy and vitriol that has engulfed them recently, while not abandoning the easy "catchy choruses" and widespread melodies in an appealing style and sometimes inappropriate for songs of a certain caliber that leave some mark, with this "Stabbing the Drama," they intended to give a strong and evident jolt to their sound, which today is powerful, well-structured, and "muscular." Of course, the shadow of In Flames hovers dangerously in every groove, but rather than keep away from danger, Soilwork wanted to leave precise and perfectly recognizable traces regarding their latest production, caring indifferently about the obvious (and embarrassing) inevitable comparisons.

Objectively, "Stabbing the Drama" is a fine work, concrete, organized, and powerfully produced, of Melodic Death that almost always goes head-to-head with a hard-hitting Thrash but never rotten or sick. Violence, yes, but within well-defined and precise boundaries and canons, without overdoing it, without exaggeration, without one having to get bored stating: "Ah, but, Devil! These sound like..."
None of that.
Eleven songs that drag you from start to finish, that (deliberately) often give in to melodic embraces and soft nocturnal and street atmospheres, but that, in many fields and aspects, instead show that the fury of the old days, the frustration, the wrath, and everything the old-school Trash baggage entails, with all its annexes and connections, is more than ever alive and convincing.

"Stabbing the Drama," "Blind Eye Halo," "Observation Slave" demonstrate this fully and without many compliments. But, on the other hand, there are also nostalgic moments and small outbursts of sadness, which find their place in songs like the beautiful "Nerve," but also with "If Possible" and with "Wherever Thorns May Grow," with "modernist" and almost "nu" attacks, then dissolving into a perfect singing always on the edge between angry "screams" and lanky and melancholic "clean," with, in the background, an overflowing rhythmic section clear in its powerful and crystal-clear intents.

No praise and no infamy, therefore, for an album that certainly won't be remembered over the years, but which certainly, instead, will delight the old Soilwork fans, lost and now found again.
Let's hope, however, it is not yet another flash in the pan before another style downfall.