Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast

Published June 28 2010

*=Staff's pick	Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter* Two Lives Worth Of Reckoning* The Thrill Deliverance Is Mine Night Comes Clean King Of The Treshold Let This River Flow* Epitome The Akuma Afterglow Enter Dog Of Pavlov*

Genre	Melodic Death Metal	Björn Strid	Vocals
Tracks	10	Peter Wichers	Guitar
Runningtime	47 Min.	Sylvain Coudret	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Ola Flink	Bass
Release	02 July 2010	Dirk Verbeuren	Drums
Country	Sweden	Sven Karlsson	Keyboard
Producer	Peter Wichers
Similar artists	---

Soilwork are back with the follow-up record to Sworn To A Great Divide, and let me tell you right from the start that this marks a return of a re-charged Soilwork.

After the somewhat bland record that was Sworn To A Great Divide, a record that singer Björn Strid was tired of even from the releasedate, Soilwork are back to the old hard hitting form that has marked most of the band's previous releases. This record also marks the return of guitarist/producer Peter Wichers, along with new addition Sylvain Coudret - and those guys work are already sending sparks all around the place.

As usual the rythmsection of Verbeuren and Flink is as good as one has come to expect from these guys. Verbeuren has brought some serious chops to this record - and his style is very easily recognized as one of the best in the business. And Björn Strid, having overcome some serious personal difficulties, is singing like he hasn't sung in a long time. His performance is marked by severe energy and ease, regardless of he's singing clean-vocals or screams, his performance is sounding very good.

Soilwork have been around for a while, and if you heard the band before The Panic Broadcast will not surprise you. This may sound like criticism, but when you have reached such an exceptional level as this band, it's very easy to like what you're hearing even though the band's music isn't totally original.

Productionwise there's little more one can ask for - the fat yet very clear production is a party to my ears, and the chunkiness doesn't block out the fact that you still can hear every instrument and effort very clearly.

The songs are, well, awesome for the most part. The only track I have problem with is Epitome that sounds, sadly extremely boring - mostly because the first verse has a repeated text that frankly you quickly get tired of. The rest of the material is very good. I especially like Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter which demonstrates in spades the uniqueness of Verbeuren's playing. He's grooveblasting like a madman!

The first track I heard from the record on the band's myspace, Two Lives Worth Of Reckoning became an instant favorite with it's very strong chorus. Believe me when I say that these tracks are only some of the kick-ass material on this record, and for those of us that has longed for a more vivid Soilwork than on Sworn To A Great Divide, well, this is it.