Soilwork
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There’s no denying that one of the biggest melodic death metal acts on the scene today is Swedish outfit, Soilwork.
Over the last decade, Soilwork have seemingly gone from strength to strength, with the band pushing their sound beyond the confides of what is generally considered the typical melodic death metal mould with every new release, which in turn draws more and more followers to Soilwork’s cause.
In mid-October of last year, Soilwork released their seventh full-length album Sworn To A Great Divide to overwhelmingly high praise, followed immediately with a European tour alongside Dark Tranquillity, Caliban and Sonic Syndicate.
Keen to keep the momentum going, the band stuck to the road for a quick month long North American tour with Killswitch Engage, DevilDriver and Lamb Of God, followed by a Finnish/Baltic tour with Path Of No Return.
Having just wrapped up their month long second ‘Scum Of The Earth’ North American tour (with Throwdown, Through The Eyes Of The Dead and War Of Ages), I caught up with Soilwork vocalist Björn ‘Speed’ Strid, who’s taking a well-earned break from the road in Phoenix after completing some 32 shows in a short 34 days! While soaking in the perfect weather, I asked Strid about the Soilwork’s return to a thrashier sound on their latest release Sworn To A Great Divide.
“Well I guess we were really looking back a little bit while making this album. We wanted to bring back the thrashier influences that we had back in the day and kind of mix them up with the more recent heaviness and direction of sound we’ve had on our last couple of releases. We also added some more atmospheric touches to the sound as well. To be honest, I guess we were looking back on the Natural Born Chaos album a little bit than the others. That album really had the perfect balance between the heaviness and the melodies. I mean we didn’t want to make a Natural Born Chaos II, because that would be pointless. But we did want to capture that feeling and that balance, while taking it all to a new level. And I think we managed to achieve that.”
But while Soilwork are pleased with their efforts on Sworn To A Great Divide, Strid isn’t blind to the fact that the press have been less than impressed.
“I’m totally happy with how the album turned out. I’m no so sure about the press, because the feedback has been fifty/fifty both for and against. But the most important thing is that we as a band are happy with the album, and that the fans are happy with the album. And let me tell you, most of the fans out there seem to be really happy with the album. I mean they’re coming to the shows, and singing the songs along with us. And to me, that’s a good sign.”
Another good sign for the band is the sales figures that accompany the new album, with the group’s latest effort one of the band’s fastest selling albums to date.
“Yes, that’s true,” admits Strid. “I’m not quite sure about Europe, but it seems to be going really well there too. But here in the US, the album helped us get up on the Billboard charts for the first time (entering in on the chart at #148). And the album is actually selling better than Stabbing The Drama as well. I think that it’s really cool that even though we’re onto our seventh album, it feels like we just keep on going up. I guess that’s kind of unique. Usually if a band is ever going to make it big, they usually do that after their second album. In cases like that, they usually go up, and eventually go down after that. But for us, we just seem to be going further and further up with each new release. And now that we’re on our seventh release, I think that’s pretty cool. I mean, we’ve really taken the slow road, that’s for sure! (laughs) But I think in doing so, we’ve built up a really loyal fan base, who are always there to buy our albums. Of course, we always try and reach new fans as well, and in the last few years, we’re been able to broaden our fan base and make things even bigger through good tours and playing all over the planet.”
While a return to the band’s thrashier roots has played a part in helping shape Sworn To A Great Divide in a musical sense, Strid also credits working with producer Devin Townsend once again (former Strapping Young Lad frontman, and who last worked with the band on Natural Born Chaos) in helping him break new ground on the vocal front.
“It was a little bit different this time around since I recorded the vocals at his home studio. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t like to travel too much. Basically he feels more comfortable being at home, so I decided to go over to Vancouver and record the vocals at his house. It was really cool to live with Devin at his home for two weeks, because I got to know him a lot better. It was like two buddy recording vocals in his basement. There was no pressure to it, so it was a lot of fun. Sure we worked hard. Sometimes we would work like a full eight hours of the day. It was crazy, but we had a lot of fun. I don’t know what it is, but he makes me feel so relaxed, and he allows me want to explore with my vocals a lot. He’s not the type of producer to settle with just the one take and then move onto the next song. He helped me play around and find some new things and experiment more with my own voice. So I’m really happy with the results. There’s a lot of singing styles on Sworn To A Great Divide, and he helped me take that it to that next step.”
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