Soilwork Album: “Stabbing the Drama”

This cd is like coccaine rolled in sugar and dipped in choclate, it is addicting and you cant stop listening to it. To all you fools that say "sold out" put down the Crue album and wake up it's 05' not 85. After seeing these guys on tour recently with Mnemic (also awesome) they are even more amazing and really cool (met them after show). So don't have any doubts about buying this cd you will no regret it one bit. And P.S. don't listen to most on the F*ckin idiots that say Soilwork is a "sell out".

It's about friggin' time, too. For a stretch there, I thought Soilwork were done for, caught up in the mediocrity and mundanity of 75% of today's metal. With "Stabbing the Drama," these guys bring back the Soilwork of the beginning, when they were still creative and interesting. But, you have to cut them some slack. Afterall, Soilwork are in a sub-genre of metal where its probably most difficult to succeed or stand out. This album is full of plenty of consistantly cool riffs, throat-wrenching vocals, and provocative drumming. Even though there is a lot to say that is positive about this disc, for me, there is just a little too much filler. Tracks such as "One with the Flies" and "Fate in Motion" don't have anything about them that stands out. Sometimes I even find myself not listening to them at all. Notwithstanding, here are the classic favorites :

1. Stabbing The Drama - "Im waiting, for something to show my punshiment, for being down so low," sings the chorus of the attention-grabbing title track.

5. Nerve - I like the intro, where the riff follows the unique double-kick pattern. Another song where the chorus shines.

6. Stalemate - Boy, do the riffs pull this song together, here. Aside from my favorite track, "Blind Eye Halo," this is the heaviest onslaught of the CD.

7. Distance - Wait, maybe this song has the best chorus, I'm not sure. Even though I love it, this song becomes a tad repetitive upon its ending.

10. Blind Eye Halo - Absolutely punishing. It will pick you up and throw you down the stairs. The best drumming and guitar solos on the disc, in my opinion. Blown away by this track.

If you're a metal fan, you should probably check this out, because it is rather entertaining. However, make sure you don't put it at the top of your list, for you may be disappointed. Thank you for your time.

If you're looking for some real metal with some keyboards and electronic samples in the background, along with some heaviness and intensity, then Soilwork's "Stabbing The Drama" is the cure for you. It is a little bit better than "Figure Number Five" and it sounds so much louder. I could not stop listening to that record because it is so good! I definately give it 5 stars and recommend this record to any metalhead out there in the USA!

Well, I just got this cd and like the guy above me i was considering skipping it...but i have been jammin all the great old soilwork recently and those guys have really got my respect so i had to. First off its still not everything we have ben longing for in the bands recent efforts, (lengthy articulate solos etc) but i think the band has really found there sound on this one. The song writing is very solid and most of the chorus parts are very memorable and thank god not cheezzzy. voclas from "speed" are his best ever. The solos suck for the most part...I think there's like 5 on the whole cd but like i said these songs are still for the most part solid. The riffs are very good but right when your expecting a huge expolding solo from witchers or frenning you get a mini scale or nothing but another riff. With all that said this is a great album for a new fan of the band to get into but like many fans of the old sound, we are still waiting

i might look at this album differently from most Soilwork listeners. I would say _Stabbing the Drama_ is a big improvement over _Natural Born Chaos_ and _Figure Number Five_, and it's sort of a medium between the two. Just for reference, _A Predator's Portrait_ is one of my all time favorite metal discs, simply perfect. _Steelbath Suicide_ and _Chainheart Machine_ are also fantastic. all three of those are brutal and furious. That said, I even liked FNF for the most part, because of the vocals and catchy songs, but the guitars and drums and METALNESS of it seemed more half-hearted IMO, a downgrade from _Natural Born Chaos_ but that album had its own shortcomings like sounding pretty homogeneous.

_Stabbing the Drama_ has the same catchy aspect as these previous albums (NBC/FNF) but the writing on the whole seems stronger. Heck, this band's songwriting is downright outstanding in my opinion, they write GREAT catchy metal songs, their melodic acumen is outstanding and Speed is an extremely empathetic vocalist. The album shows a tremendous refinement of the band's main direction for the last while, and if you take the last three albums as a class, this is the most well-rounded and best-written accomplishment of those. but here the songs have more variety and better quality from beginning to end (i haven't heard the newest one, _Sworn to a Great Divide_)

I would honestly think of this has heavy pop music, which to me isn't a bad thing although such a description is probably a major turn-off to most people. like pop music, the main focus is the vocals and the hooks. The general form of structure and arrangement is pretty straightforward, and by now Speed's approach to vocals is pretty predictable. Speed's voice is amazing though, whether the harsh voice or clean voice, and he's gotten much better with each album. That said, the music is much more... i dunno, fleshed out than the last few. Fat, chunky-choppy riffs and absolutely AMAZING drumming (forget Ranta, the new drummer is a fiend, did i mention that?), and very tasteful synths all drive the hooks home with amazing force behind the vocalist in the spotlight. pop music, even really good pop music, doesn't really show this kind of deadly chops.

I'd say if you really _disliked_ everything since APP, STD won't change your mind -- BUT if you liked the general approach of the previous two albums but thought they could be a little better SOMEHOW, then you should pick this up if you haven't because it rules, although i wager the fan likes or would like NBC more than this one. I think this is just as addictive as those, but more well written so it has much better lasting power. i personally have deep regrets about not getting it until very recently.