After the atrocity that was Figure Number Five, Soilwork bring us their latest release, Stabbing The Drama, or, as the band refers to it on some shirts and panties, S.T.D. But the question is whether or not this release will be like their last album, or if they got their shit back in order. Well, we can safely say that everything is in somewhat of an order.
And by "somewhat of an order", what is meant is that many of the songs seem to follow a pattern. Sadly, the band has looked at the positive feedback from Natural Born Chaos and blended that with the sound found on Figure Number Five, creating a rather mainstream melodic death metal sound. As proof, all you have to do is check out the song "Weapon Of Vanity", a much lighter song compared to Soilwork's previous track record, and more of a catchy, upbeat radio friendly song. Also, "The Crestfallen" may cause you to have a secondary voice singing the chorus to "No More Angels" from Natural Born Chaos after the first verse. And one has to mention the rather bland and overly light "Nerve", with it's slow paced moments with distorted vocals, and really bland guitar riffs.
Even though one can look at this album as the blueprint for a more mainstream version of this band, it does have it's moments. The title track, "Stabbing The Drama", is actually a rather good song to start the album off with, and "One With The Flies" with an intro that builds up the rather heavy song nicely. "Stalemate" is prehaps the only real stand out track on the album, though, due to how fast it is in comparison to everything else, and "Distance" is just one really catchy and well done song. Some of the riffs on this release are actually rather good, including those that appear on "Weapon Of Vanity" and at the end of "The Crestfallen". The solos on here, however, do leave a lot to be desired, and the drumming is pretty good, even on some of the slower songs.
Basically, the album follows the same scream verse, sing chorus, format that a lot of bands seem to following now, with one exception: Once in a while there is a random screaming or singing section. Due to this, it has caused this once astounding band to sound like another mediocre act, which is very sad due to how talented the group is. While it's not the greatest release, it'll probably be the last decent release we see from Soilwork in a long time. With the exception of roughly four songs, this release will eventually bore even the most dedicate Soilwork fans.
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