2019 is shaping up to be the “Year That All My Favourite Bands Release Albums”, so I thought, why not start a blog and review them?
First offering of the year: “Verkligheten” by Soilwork. This is the eleventh album by this melodic death metal band from Sweden. Verkligheten is the Swedish word for “Reality” and no, I do not know how to pronounce it. What I do know is that it is an album filled with punishing guitar lines that contrasts with soaring melodies in the catchy choruses.
The album starts with the instrumental opener “Verkligheten”. This song is very laid back, and feels mostly out of place with the rest of the album. It feels like it could set the tone of anticipation at a live show, but it is overall underwhelming and out of place on the album.
The good news is that the album jumps right away into the pounding drums and punishing riffs of the aptly named “Arrival”. The song starts off heavy, but promptly gives way into Bjorn “Speed” Strid’s clean vocals in a sing-along chorus. Soilwork then exploits this formula of heavy verses-catchy choruses for the rest of the album and its largely indistinguishable songs.
The one knock on this album is that all the songs seem to blend together. I’ve listened to the album about 10 times now, and I can only really clearly identify “Verkligheten”, “Full Moon Shoals”, “Skalfagel” and “The Wolves are Back in Town.” The rest just sounds like one giant song with many variations on a similar chorus.
That being said, it is still enjoyable music. Strid’s vocals are strong throughout the album. The screams are forceful and solid, even bordering on melodic at times. The clean vocals are as strong as he has ever done. Fans of melodic metal will likely find this effort to be pleasurable.
Overall perception: “Verkligheten” is a solid, yet formulaic album. The songs tend to sound very similar, but not in a bad way.
Highlights:“Skalfagel” (featuring Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy). The chorus is just so darn catchy and powerful. White-Gluz’ vocals add a nice contrast and punch to Strid’s. “Full Moon Shoals” is also a solid track.
Skip Over: The songs are solid enough to all merit a listen, but you won’t be missing out by skipping the opener “Verkligheten”.
Overall Score: 7/10
Random Thoughts 