Steelbath Suicide

I have avoided Soilwork for years, as the bouncy Nu-metal-sih flavour of their newer albums with their clean sung choruses doesn't really sit that well with me. But someone recommended their older works to me, like any good investigator i started at the beginning with Steelbath Suicide. And i was completly blown away.After a grandiose guitar heavy intro Sadistic Lullaby gets down to buisness, and Soilwork are damn good at this buisness. The band play an incrediably intense form of melodic death. Some parts remind me of pre-Slaughter era At the Gates (i think they both tune very low in A) with their complex arrangments and lightning fast riffs. But Soilwork also remind me of Arch Enemy and Nightrage in that they incorporate a hefty amount of traditional heavy metal into their sound with some Pantera/Sabbath worthy grooves. There's also a bit of Carcass in there with the punishing mid-paced sections, and a hint of the cold industrial crucnch of Demanufacture era Fear Factory (especially on Demon in Veins). But comparisons to other bands don't really so Soilwork justice. They have elements of other bands but have molded them into their own unmistakeable sound. And what a sound it is. you can practically hear the viens bursting on each band member, such is the skill, passion and intensity behind each performance.Soilwork play fast, and often this album is pretty punishing and brutal in places. It may take a few listens to pick up on the more subtle touches and dreamlike melodies woven in amongst the crushing metal fury they do so well. They like to mix it up with interesting time changes, often flirting dangerously between fast thrash, huge grooves and chugging gallopy parts, while their use of keyboards is very cool. Alot of the time they are too low in the mix to really hear, but they come to the fore a few times to give a creepy, futuristic vibe not unlike Fear Factory when they were good. The drumming is solid, with some very interesting and un-metal rythms thrown in between the blast beats, and the guitar work is just fabulous and varied. Strid also gives a notable perfomance behind the mic with his voilently aggressive yet always decipherable screams and, thankfully for me, no clean sining.I loved listening to Steelbath Suicide. For me its got everything - power, complexity, ethereal melodies, punishing grooves, lots of creative touches and a pretty dark vibe all the way through that makes it great to rock out to. I can see why fans of newer works might not like this due to its heaviness, speed and lack of clean singing. But fans of older melodic death or death/extreme music in general should check this out.Reccomended

Steelbath Suicide is an important album. It isn't exactly groundbreaking. I wouldn't go as far as saying it is amazing either. But it does show something...there is still some life left in the Swedish melodic-death "gothenburg" scene. After a brief intro, the album kicks off with some intense death/thrash in the form of "Sadistic Lullaby". A great track, which sounds just as convincing in its faster (!), live form (a live bonus of this track is available on the recent re-issue, and it's awesome...).Soilwork have been compared to At The Gates on numerous occasions, and while I can see why, I think that is unfair. When you take into account that up until their final album, At The Gates were producing a very different kind of melodic death to the thrashy "Gothenburg" sound of "Slaughter of the Soul", you realise that Soilwork certainly have the potential to develop into something quite big. "Slaughter of the Soul" is a very good album, but in my opinion, isn't that representative of what At The Gates were about. "Steelbath Suicide" however makes it quite clear what Soilwork are all about. Thrashy, intense, highly melodic riffs, with some nice hooks and what can only be described as a groove, which they would go on to develop and refine by the time "A Predators Portrait" was completed.The album thrashes along nicely enough, with some nice leads, and a subtle use of keyboards, so low in the mix you can barely hear them, but they make a difference. Every now and again they slip into the heavy metal groove that would be a big part of their sound in albums to come. But for the best part it is typical thrashy melodi-death from beginning to end. "In a Close Encounter" offers some nice variation in the rhythmn, and the title track is cool, but on the whole, most of the riffs are pretty generic, and none of the tracks are really memorable, which is a shame.The songs on this album are most definately more than acceptable. But there is something missing. If this was the first Soilwork album I had heard, my interest in them may not have grown so rapidly. It is solid, but doesn't offer the listner anything that they haven't heard before. However, with the likes of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity moving away from the "gothenburg" sound to a more heavy metal sound on recent albums, the crown for kings of swedish melodic death is certainly open to be claimed. On the basis of this album, I would say that it doesn't belong to Soilwork, but this album is just the beginning of something very good indeed.

Unlike a lot of people I prefer this to the later Chainheart Machine, probably because the more simple arrangements make it less confusing and fussy. This is straightforward thrash metal in the style of At The Gates and Carnal Forge, with a little touch here and there of Fear Factory style electronics. The clean vocal that showed up on newer Soilwork CDs developed much later, so the vocal here is limited to barking and shouting, but it's still good, and again, the vocals are clearer than Chainheart Machine because of the simpler songs. Whether to go for this or Chainheart Machine is really up to you, it kind of depends on if you like clear melodys or complicated compositions. I get bits of this stuck in my head for days, whereas I'd be hard pushed to hum any of Chainheart Machine. All in all, this isn't as well produced or as far developed and sure of itself, but it's a lot more fun in my opinion. My favourite Soilwork CD bar Figure Number Five.

Listened to this monster to the death when first purchased back in the day. Awesome Metal! Original artwork (not the one showing) is better. Great playing. slamming guitars and drums playoffs! Awesome stuff! METAL!!!!! J Counsell.