Swedish visionary metallers SOILWORK have released a brand new song called ‘Desperado’. It is the second installment in SOILWORK’s ‘Feverish’ triology, which might also eventually end up becoming a so far unknown entity. It follows the band’s globally acclaimed new album, »Verkligheten« (album of the month in Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, Aardschok and Scream), which was released in January 2019.
Watch the official music video for ‘Desperado’ here:
Commented the band: “Desperado, just like Feverish, is a song about how a single emotion can overtake your entire being, and consume you like an almost sentient force. Desperado is about what lies behind and beyond, the places you normally avoid. But they will always be there. Desperado is shock rock and metal mayhem for those of us who long for a way out.”
The song was written and composed by David Andersson. The song was recorded at SolnaSound Recordings, Stockholm with Simon Johansson and The Panic Room, Skövde with Thomas Plec Johansson. Violin recorded by Rachel Hall. “Desperado” was produced by SOILWORK and Thomas Plec Johansson and also mixed and mastered by Thomas Plec Johansson. René U Valdes produced and directed the music video.
The band earlier about that concept: “So, while the background and and motives are a bit sketchy, and the band seems reluctant to reveal too many details, SOILWORK will be releasing »The Feverish Trinity«over the next five months, a trilogy of songs with accompanying videos that, according to Soilwork, will ”celebrate the Babylonian Death Goddesses that once made the world a more Feverish and exciting place”.
SOILWORK live:
04.04. D Dettelbach – Metal Franconia Festival 17.04. DK Royal Metal Fest – Aarhus 02.05. N Kopervik – Karmøygeddon Metal Festival 27.06. D Ferropolis – Full Force 09.07. S Gävle – Gefle Metal Festival 17.07. FIN Laukaa – John Smith Rock Festival 25.07. D Weil am Rhein – Baden In Blut
Swedish visionary metallers SOILWORK have released a brand new song called ‘Feverish’. The song is being made available digitally along with a new version of their last album’s hit single, ‘Stålfågel’, featuring ARCH ENEMY singer Alissa White-Gluz.
Watch the official music video for ‘Feverish’ here:
Commented the band: We have all been feverish. We have all sometimes given in to the temperature rising inside of us, being ridden by a ghost that made us do things we didn’t want to do, but it somehow felt good afterwards, like a purging of the mortal organism that confines us.
Some people say that our bodies were originally designed to have a higher temperature. That when humanity first evolved our bodies were constantly feverish, the warmth subduing our control mechanisms and the neuroutic, nervous behaviour we seem to be so prone to these days. And that might be one of the reasons we were able to proliferate and conquer the world. and subdue its natural inhabitants. Perhaps it’s time to let go again, to unleash the fire still burning within us, biding its time and still hoping to one day be able to take over?
SOILWORK, the metal band that should all be dead by now, have felt their temperature rising for a while, Some say that they’ve even become a bit reckless. There’s even been a quote from one of the band members saying, on tape, ”F**k the consequenses”, and when asked to elaborate, he just said ”I’m feverish”, and disappeared.
So, while the background and and motives are a bit sketchy, and the band seems reluctant to reveal too many details, SOILWORK will be releasing »The Feverish Trinity«over the next five months, a trilogy of songs with accompanying videos that, according to Soilwork, will ”celebrate the Babylonian Death Goddesses that once made the world a more Feverish and exciting place”.
‘Feverish’ follows the band’s globally acclaimed new album, »Verkligheten« (album of the month in Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, Aardschok and Scream), which was released in January as well as the incendiary »Underworld« EP which dropped this summer.
Artist: SOILWORK Album: “Verkligheten” Release Date: 11th January 2019 Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Tracklist:
01. Verkligheten
02. Arrival
03. Bleeder Despoiler
04. Full Moon Shoals
05. The Nurturing Glance
06. When the Universe Spoke
07. Stålfågel
08. The Wolves Are Back in Town
09. Witan
10. The Ageless Whisper
11. Needles and Kin (feat. Tomi Joutsen)
12. You Aquiver
The Swedish melodeath masters SOILWORK has just released their eleventh studio album entitled “Verkligheten” (“The Reality” in Swedish) via Nuclear Blast Records. For the fans of this band it’s been almost three and a half years without hearing new material from the them since the release of “The Ride Majestic” in 2015, excluding the compilation album “Death Resonance” from 2016. During this time some of the members of the band have remained quite busy in other successful projects such as the melodic rock band THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, who have released two studio albums in this period and will be perform in the next version of Wacken Open Air.
In addition, during this recess the drummer Dirk Verbeuren left the band after twelve years to join MEGADETH, with his young twenty-six-year-old apprentice Bastian Thusgaard coming as his replacement. Another change in the line-up of SOILWORK was the departure of bassist Markus Wibom, replaced by Taylor Nordberg. The rest of the line-up remains unchanged with Björn “Speed” Strid on vocals, Sylvain Coudret and David Andersson on guitars, along with Sven Karlsson on the keyboards. Taking into account the long gap between albums, the growing popularity of THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA and the changes in the line-up, the stakes on “Verkligheten” were quite high.
The album opens with a short but peculiar instrumental introduction called ‘Verkligheten’, marking a soft and subtle start for a record that will be full of surprises. The keyboard sound merges with the beginning of the first actual song. I’m talking about ‘Arrival’, the first single released last October as a lyric video. This track shows us SOILWORK in all its splendor, with a furious melodeath sound full of futuristic elements. The chorus is epic, mixing in an exceptional way the clean and harsh vocals of Speed. The guitar duo shreds at full speed and steals the show. A great start for this long-awaited album.
Then they strike again attack with ‘Bleeder Despoiler’, which begins in a promising way with an interesting guitar riff full of groove. However, by the time the chorus arrives the song becomes a bit too predictable and repetitive, making it one of the few tracks of the album that didn’t succeed to surprise me. ‘Full Moon Shoals’, on the other hand is a lot catchier, with an almost pop chorus in which Speed´s clean vocals predominate. The sound is closer to the metalcore, which is not my favorite metal subgenre, but in the case of SOILWORK sounds very authentic. Towards the end of the song they go nuts with a fast paced section and lots of growling.
‘The Nurturing Glance’ opens with clean guitars, developing into a melodic riff and then a hard rock bridge, culminating with a catchy trademark chorus. Both Coudret and Andersson are experts when it comes to mixing different styles of guitar playing in the same song. ‘When the Universe Spoke’ repeats the formula of intro with clean guitars, but in this case it explodes into an amazing blastbeast, full of melody but also very aggressive. It’s one of the best songs of the album in my opinion. Extra points to Bastian Thusgaard, who remains precise and synchronized with the rest of the band despite the great velocity.
‘Stålfågel’ (“Bird of Steel” in Swedish) is one of the most interesting songs on the album, as it drifts away from the classic SOILWORK sound and gets closer to what we are used to with THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA. It’s a track with a retro-futuristic atmosphere, from the eighties-like keyboard sound to its striking animated video clip. Sven Karlsson’s work on keyboards is truly inspired, creating a unique, epic and apotheotic atmosphere. As a curiosity, in the background we can hear a female guttural voice, and everything suggests that it would be Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY), but at the moment this can’t be reliably verified online.
‘The Wolves Are Back in Town’ is a correct track but it suffers for its position in the album among more outstanding songs, remaining a little unnoticed. ‘Witan’ is a song that injects some fresh air into the record, mainly thanks to its infectious chorus, one of the most effective of the album. And that is a lot to say, since these Swedes tend to put extra-cheese in their choruses. ‘The Ageless Whisper’ begins with the soft message from a girl and a relaxed pace, only to detonate into an intense display of riffs, with plenty of changes of intensity in addition to a playful chorus, full of drama. The brief instrumental interlude with jazz-fusion bits is priceless.
‘Needles and Kin’ is another fast song, full of adrenaline and with the collaboration of Tomi Joutsen from AMORPHIS. In the growling contest the Finn takes the advantage with a deeper and more powerful voice, but Speed shines with his clean voices, an area that he has been able to explore without limitations in his parallel project. The regular version of the album ends with ‘You Aquiver’, a song with an almost danceable beat, very melodic and energetic. For those loyal, collector fans, the digipack and double vinyl versions also include the EP “Underworld”, which contains three unreleased songs (‘Summerburned and Winterblown’, ‘In This Master’s Tale’ and ‘The Undying Eye’), plus the original version of ‘Needles and Kin’.
In conclusion, “Verkligheten” is an extremely dynamic album, drifting naturally between countless musical genres. The variety of styles incorporated, the quality of the musicians involved, together with those catchy melodic choruses, make SOILWORK an extremely attractive band for those who keep their minds open to a musical experience beyond any expectations. Without reinventing the wheel, these Swedes have managed to mix the ingredients in the right way to come up with an entertaining album that will generate a lot of noise during this year. It probably will not be the favorite record for old-school or more traditional metal fans, but one would assume that they are not keeping track of this band anymore.
Swedish visionary metallers SOILWORK have released a short teaser for the upcoming music video for the next single, ‘Witan’:
The song is taken from their impatiently awaited 11th album, »Verkligheten«, which marks their first in more than three years and also the first to feature Thusgaard on drums, who replaced Dirk Verbeuren in 2016.
»Verkligheten« is set to be released on January 11, 2019 via Nuclear Blast. The first edition digipack as well as the vinyl versions will also contain the exclusive »Underworld« EP, carrying 4 more songs.
The digipack version will also feature special artwork with lavish foil print.
The album as well as accompanying merchandise is now available for pre-order in various formats (Deluxe Box-Set including Digipack CD, lanyard with lavish metal application (mock missing), metal pin, patch, sticker, signed photo card and poster, Digipack CD + T-Shirt bundle, Digipack CD, black/orange/purple vinyl as well as digital download/stream).
Working as a guitarist and songwriter in a number of bands, such as Thorium (BE), Ostrogoth, Neo Prophet, 23 Acez and others, Tom Tee also spent several years writing and recording a large number of songs of his own, in various styles and genres of Metal.
Wanting to break free from the mould of writing music in function of what would fit a certain band’s style, he set out to realize a long overdue dream – creating albums and projects that would not only unite influences from all the kinds of Metal he’d loved since his teenage years, but would also bring together a plethora of awesome vocalists from all across the scene. Due to the large number of tracks that are continuously being written, the decision was made to release not just one project, but two within the space of a year.
Dubbed ENTERING POLARIS and IN MOTION respectively, one album unites the more melodic and often Prog/Power Metal –oriented tracks, while the other taps sternly into the vein of melodic Death- and Thrash Metal. Mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni (DGM) at Domination Studios, IN MOTION’s debut album ‘Thriving Force’ will see the light of day on February 22nd 2019 on Freya Records. ENTERING POLARIS‘ debut record ‘Godseed’ was released on the same label earlier this year.
The full cast of guest vocalists for the IN MOTION album:
David Davidson (Revocation)
Björn Strid (Soilwork)
Pierre “Shawter” Maille (Dagoba)
Jasper Daelman (ex- Anti-Icon)
Matthieu Romarin (Uneven Structure)
Jeffrey Rademakers (Spartan)
Mike Slembrouck (After All, Rik Priem’s Prime)
Benny “Zors” Willaert (23 Acez, Black Snow, Gemini Season)
Sindre Nedland (In Vain)
Ranging from Melodic Death Metal to modern Progressive Thrash Metal, IN MOTION’s ‘Thriving Force’ offers a collection of complex tracks that burst with energy, aggression and atmosphere – and featuring a stellar cast of vocalists with wildly differing styles.
Lyrically, the album explores mainly metaphysical themes in a broad sci-fi context, musing on the roles of men and gods in the possibly strange and far-flung futures of our universe. Inspired among many others by bands such as Gojira, Sylosis, Hacride, Scar Symmetry, Rush, and too many more to count, In Motion is heavy, thrashy and often groovy – but also progressive, haunting and atmospheric, and with a few unexpected detours along the way.
Swedish visionary metallers SOILWORK have released the brand new track, ‘Full Moon Shoals’, from their impatiently awaited 11th album, “Verkligheten”, which marks their first in more than three years and also the first to feature Bastian Thusgaard on drums, who replaced Dirk Verbeuren in 2016.
»Verkligheten« is set to be released on January 11, 2019 via Nuclear Blast. The first edition digipack as well as the vinyl versions will also contain the exclusive »Underworld« EP, carrying 4 more songs.
