Search - Soilwork :: Stabbing the Drama

Sometimes you should leave well enough alone

T. Gore | Neu Joisy | 02/17/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If there was one thing that Soilwork had shown during its first few albums, was the bands ability to mix so many forms of metal into one, and make it work. When I heard the first few works by this band, I had thought they were the most unique band since "Hypocrisy". Even though I am not die hard fan of Soilwork, I still enjoyed what they had to offer, and found myself sneaking in a listen every now and then. As the albums and time went on, it was apparent that Soilwork was starting to change over their musical style. They had seemed to abando some of their Death and Thrash metal sound, and were almost crossing into a more Nu Metal sound. That is fine. Even though some Metal Heads critize Nu Metal as being generic and poppy, that is a really broad statement. There are some Nu Metal bands that are fantastic. True, some are generic and sound like every other, but some try their best to create that sound, while still creating thier own "Bells and Whistles" to stand out from the rest. So on to "Stabbing the Drama" When I first heard it, I was ashamed that Soilwork would even be dabbling around with this generic sound. Gone was everything they had built, only to be torn down my genric pop Nu Metal core, almost like the band was releasing something for the masses of pop radio, and not for the fans who so dug the sounds that made them stand out from the rest. True, there are fans and people that will love this album, but I tend to be really critical of bands that have a ton of talent, and then release an album of this calibur. Korn, Metallica, Machine Head, Pantera and Coal Chamber are all bands that I had either loved the debuts, or some of the bands early works. Then it seemed that they crossed over in sound, and in my opinion, this was done not because of a want to make something different (most of us know that as we get older, we all seem to have changes or long for something different musically)but they did it to sell more albums and appeal to the masses. Some of those bands recovered, some didnt, but the damage was still done. So the conclusion is, what will you think of "Stabbing the Drama" It depends on what you are looking for. New to Soilwork? Like a more generic Sound or simple Metal? Yes, you might like it. Even fans of Soilwork might appricate the change here. I look at this as strictly a marketing gimmic. I also found myself not liking one single track. Not a ONE! Change can be good, but here, change isnt good. Sometimes it is just better to leave well enough alone."

Outstanding craftsmanship and kickazzery

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 08/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."