Soilwork: All Albums Ranked
Soilwork were not only one of the originators of the hugely influential Swedish melodic death metal scene, but they seem to be getting increasingly popular, more than 25 years after their formation. Our resident Soilwork expert Richard Sharman has undertaken the tricky task of ranking the albums in order, and picking out some key (and lesser-known) tracks. What you do you think? Check out the Spotify playlist and have your say in the comments below!
This album marks the beginning of Soilwork’s history, and the band were barely in their 20s when it was released. ‘Steelbath Suicide’ is a bit rough with some awkward tempo changes here and there, but you can definitely tell they have potential.
Standout Tracks: ‘Sadistic Lullaby’, ‘Wings of Domain’, ‘Razorlives’
I’m struggling to get into rock riffs with double kick drums and calling it melodic death metal. It’s starting to sound more like Speed and Daniel’s side project The Night Flight Orchestra. Nothing wrong with the musicianship here, I just wish the songs were a little more memorable. I’ve listened to this album so many times to try and love it, yet here we are.
Standout Tracks: ‘Is It Your Darkness’, ‘Morgonäva Stormfägel’, ‘On The Wings Of A Goddess Through Flaming Sheets of Rain’
I had high expectations for this album after being pleasantly surprised by ‘The Living Infinite’. Unfortunately, ‘The Ride Majestic’ fell short for me. Especially disappointing since this is the last album to feature Dirk Verbeuren and Ola Flink on drums and bass respectively. With a lot of new bands and sounds emerging in 2015, ‘The Ride Majestic’ seemed a little old and tired.
Standout Tracks: ‘The Ride Majestic’, ‘Enemies in Fidelity’, ‘The Phantom’
The release of ‘Verkligheten’ fully cemented the new era for Soilwork. Less are the Dimebag inspired groove riffs from the inception of the band to the 2010s, now replaced with hard rock chord progressions with leads added for a more progressive approach. I’ve noticed less vocal harmonies on Speed’s choruses as well. I don’t love these changes, but I respect the band evolving and trying new ideas.
Standout Tracks: ‘Arrival’, ‘Bleeder Despoiler’, ‘Stålfågel’
When I heard Soilwork were bringing out a double album I worried that it would be a quantity over quality situation. To my surprise, there are some amazing songs on this effort. New guitarist David Andersson replacing the departed (again) Peter Wichers contributed songs for half of the album. Some of which were my favorites!
Standout tracks: ‘Tongue’, ‘Rise Above the Sentiment’, ‘This Momentary Bliss’
This album will always have a special place in my heart (no pun intended). It’s a tough listen the first time, as this is not the Soilwork we know today. It’s a much more aggressive approach, and Speed uses no clean vocals at all. Once you pick up on the intricacies of each musical passage, you’ll appreciate the level of progressive detail Soilwork put into this album.
Standout tracks: ‘Bulletbeast’, ‘Millionflame’, ‘Machine Gun Majesty’
I was really excited when rumors were spread about the possibility of this album being a sequel to ‘Natural Born Chaos’. Now, imagine my disappointment when I discovered ‘Sworn To A Great Divide’ is nothing like ‘Natural Born Chaos’ at all. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with this album, but this is obviously a more commercial effort allowing Speed to do his thing in less complex choruses.
Standout tracks: ‘Breeding Thorns’, ‘20 More Miles’, ‘Martyr’
‘The Panic Broadcast’ marks the return of founding member Peter Wichers, and even had him as producer for this album, an area I felt was lacking on ‘Sworn To A Great Divide’. This album also pushes the envelope with some more aggressive songs, as well as some softer tunes without sounding out of place. It’s a shame Peter only stuck around for this album as I would have loved to have seen his sequel to this effort.
Standout tracks: ‘Two Lives Worth of Reckoning’, ‘Night Comes Clean’, ‘The Akuma Afterglow’
I had a bias over this album for a long time since I was a huge fan of Henry Ranta, who departed after ‘Figure Number Five’. Listening back, ‘Stabbing The Drama’ is a solid album with great songwriting and technical musicianship used in tasteful fashion.
Standout tracks: ‘One With The flies’, ‘The Crestfallen’, ‘Observation Slave’
This is a transitional album from Soilwork’s beginnings of a traditional melodic death metal band. Speed is starting to use his trademark clean vocals here for the first time, and really adds a new dimension to their sound. They kept the epic guitar solos as found on Chainheart Machine, which I appreciated.
Standout Tracks: ‘Bastard Chain’, ‘Like the Average Stalker’, ‘Shadowchild’
After the release of ‘Natural Born Chaos’, many were eagerly awaiting a follow up of equal or greater value. ‘Figure Number Five’ has some of Soilwork’s best work, even if fans felt the writing process was rushed. I’m personally not a fan of ‘Brickwalker’ or ‘The Mindmaker’, but otherwise a fantastic album.
Standout tracks: ‘Overload’, ‘Light The Torch’, ‘Distortion Sleep’ (Let Sven Karlsson write more songs!)
This is arguably the album that put Soilwork on the map. The timing was perfect as metalcore was starting to hit its stride, and Speed’s voice lent itself well to the genre. I would go as far as saying this album is a masterpiece.
Standout tracks: ‘The Flameout’, ‘The Bringer’, ‘No More Angels’
