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Soilwork Album: “Predator's Portrait [Japan Bonus Track]”
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Predator's Portrait [Japan Bonus Track] |
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Release Date:2005-08-16
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Metal
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:4988008584134
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Review - :
{$Soilwork} is a unique brand of coalesced Swedish {\metal}. Crafting melodies as dangerous as {$Dark Tranquillity} and {$In Flames}, godly solos as effortless as {$Arch Enemy} and {$Armageddon}, aggression as damn beautiful as {$At the Gates}, and clean vocals as soaring as {$Opeth}, {$Soilwork} combines these elements together with the band's own rare compositional skills and clever use of keyboards. Adding layers of atmospheric texture, rather than racing along with the guitars, the keyboards appear as translucent nuances, never clouding, only accentuating. Each song flows with a compositional sleight of hand, sounding thick and complex, but without any great exertion (similar to {$At the Gates}' {^Slaughter of the Soul}) from the band. The album simply makes sense, like a natural flow of the band's conscience, with its dense, '80s {\thrash}-driven guitars, tighter than thou rhythm section, and split vocal approach. {^A Predator's Portrait} makes their prior efforts, {^Chainheart Machine} and {^Steelbath Suicide}, look childish in a way. Both are still fantastic albums, but neither has even half the ambition this new album violently contains. Songs like {&"Needlefeast"} and {&"Bastard Chain"} dance through chugging, syncopated melodies, with delicious {$Tomas Lindberg} vocal lines reminiscent of early-'90s Swedish {\death} and early-'80s {\New Wave of British Heavy Metal} choruses. {$Björn Strid}'s newly refined clean vocals, sprinkled throughout most of the songs, recall a clean {$Dan Swanö}, or {$Mikael Åkerfeldt} from {$Opeth} melodic style. Questionable at first, upon multiple listens one discovers that this new addition to the repertoire works almost too well. So when the aforementioned {$Opeth} leader makes a guest vocal appearance on the title track, his dynamic style virtually goes unnoticed, blending into the music with jaw-dropping ease. Courageous guitars paint a lush harmonious canvas for the album, with solos that ache of the {$Amott} brothers ({$Michael} from {$Arch Enemy}/{$Carcass} and {$Christopher} from {$Armageddon}), especially on the title track, {&"Shadowchild"} (which features a godly {$Opeth}-esque chorus), and {&"Neurotica Rampage."} Fret dancing indeed, {$Peter Wiche} and {$Ola Frenning} should feel nothing but pride about their soaring accomplishments witnessed on this masterful recording. Even eyebrow-raising experiments such as {&"The Analyst,"} with its off-beat, poppish chorus, feel comfortable after repeated listens, making the album an almost uncontested success. In the ranks of a Swedish {\metal} scene that oftentimes sounds winded and unwilling to change, {$Soilwork} is a breath of fresh air that will continue to release stellar albums for countless years to come. {^A Predator's Portrait} is shining proof of this. [This Japanese release includes bonus material.] ~ Jason Hundey., All Music Guide
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![Soilwork Album: “Predator's Portrait [Japan Bonus Track]”](http://www.poprockbands.com/covers_yaS/soilwork/2005_170_170_Predator%2527s%2520Portrait%2520%255BJapan%2520Bonus%2520Track%255D.jpg "Soilwork Album: “Predator's Portrait [Japan Bonus Track]”")
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