The Chainheart Machine marked Soilwork's second full-length venture, as well as their first attempt at a conceptual album. This album was based around the item mentioned in the title: The Chainheart Machine. It also shows some great change from the band as far as the music went, still retaining the elements that made their debut full-length Steelbath Suicide such a good album, but really focusing more on writing tighter, more atmospheric Melodic Death then anything. Considered one of the band's best works, the music here showed great potential for this group, and seemed to act as a great blueprint for future recordings.
Right off the start with the title track, "The Chainheart Machine", you know this is going to be a hard hitting album thanks to the machine-like sounds that start the song, but it quickly becomes dwarfed by the five words every fan of this style knows. As soon as the opening line "I am the sledgehammer messiah" is belted out, everything comes to a stand still as the album pounds into a fast paced melodic world that sounds both depressing and chaotic, and will easily launch of Soilwork fan into a frenzy. This opening song doesn't get you ready for what's to come, it punches you in the face and makes you ready within in the first ten seconds with music that is so strong and well performed that you'll want to open up a mosh pit wherever you happen to be, or at least start destroying the nearest material, even during the catchy chorus where the whole melodic aspect of the style really comes into play with harmonized shouting vocals that right on par with the the guitar hooks.
There isn't anything really too stand outish about this album other then the fact that it's just solid Melodic Death Metal and doesn't lose focus after the start of the album. Granted there isn't much variety available on the album, but that is made up for by the lack of bad or filler material. The Chainheart Machine is composed only of solid songs that keep their consistancy from start to finish with the only real differences being which tracks are heavier, and which are catchier. There's no denying the impact "The Chainheart Machine" has from start to finish, and "Neon Rebels", as well as "Possessing the Angels", are definitely fast paced tracks that fuel the listeners adrenaline about the same way thanks to some more complex guitar work and structuring compared to the rest of the tracks on here, while "Generation Speedkill (Nice Day for a Public Suicide)" is as catchy as the chorus to "Chainheart Machine", but from the start of the song and not just during the chorus, and working through the album with some Thrash-fueled riffs and melodic bridges and choruses, leading to the most haunting of all the tracks, "Room No. 99". This song concludes the album nicely, as well as the story of the album, with it's fine blending of heavier, fast paced riffs and somewhat simple, yet dismal sounding chorus.
What it all comes down to is just how well constructed the album is. Compared to their debut, The Chainheart Machine shows some great maturity and better song writing overall, and gives hope that the band will continue to grow. Sure some of the tracks sound similar to one another at times, but there's plenty of heavier tracks that seperate themselves from the not-so-complex, more melodic based tracks, that will fuel your excitement throughout the album, and give off just enough variety to have you coming back for me. While "The Chainheart Machine" is really the only track on here that can whip anyone into a real frenzy, this marks a step in the right direction, and tracks like "Bulletbeast", "Million Flame", "Generation Speedkill (Nice Day for a Public Suicide)" and many more will have you coming back for some more repeat listens. If you haveb't heard this solid Melodic Death Metal effort, then now is a great time to look into it and see where the evolution of Soilwork all began.
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