Tag Archive: Soilwork

Obscure Gems: Stam1na – Raja

Jan.10, 2012

Stam1na are probably Finland’s most underrated band. Their sound is hard to describe, but if I had to take a guess, I’d call them “Prog Thrash”, which doesn’t really make sense but I’ll go with it. Their songs are entirely in Finnish, which is probably the main reason for their obscurity. The vocals are Soilwork-like, but much more frantic in their delivery, and the seven-string guitars follow suit with the vocals. In a way, they remind me of old Meshuggah, but with more traditional rhythms (not too traditional though) and more melodic vocals. It’s all the more impressive since the singer Antti ”Hyrde” Hyyrynen also plays guitar. While all their albums are good in their own way, I chose Raja because it’s more focused and refined than their other albums.

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Tags: Meshuggah, Raja, Soilwork, Stam1na, Textures

Bandhappy To Open For Registration Tomorrow, January 5th!

Filed Under: General News

Jan.04, 2012

One of the most exciting new things to come about in this metal scene in the last couple of years has got to be Matt Halpern’s innovative service Bandhappy. If you haven’t heard our harping on the subject enough to know what its all about, it’s the first website that allows live music lessons to take place between professional musicians and fans. It won’t be long before you can take lessons on the instrument of your choice from some of the following names:

Teachers that have already signed on include Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders), Rich Redmond (Jason Aldean), Gil Sharone (Stolen Babies), Jeff Loomis (Nevermore), Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan), Mike Mowery (Outerloop MGMT), Chris Adler (Lamb of God), Willie Adler (Lamb of God), AJ Minette (The Human Abstract), Evan Brewer (The Faceless), Paul Waggoner (Between the Buried and Me), Rody Walker (Protest the Hero), Peter Wichers (Soilwork), Louis Cato (Marcus Miller Band), Spencer Sotelo (Periphery), and more.

I can’t stress the “and more” enough, because the possibilities are vast. Registration privileges for students and teachers begins tomorrow at 11 am EST, and the first lessons will begin on Monday, January 9th. Exciting! Above, you can watch a tutorial that displays the ins and outs of using the site as a student. After the jump you can watch a similar tutorial for being a teacher on Bandhappy. Get involved!

- JR

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Tags: Animals As Leaders, Bandhappy, Between The Buried and Me, Dillinger Escape Plan, Jason Aldean, Lamb of God, Marcus Miller Band, Matt Halpern, Nevermore, Periphery, Protest the Hero, Soilwork, Stolen Babies, The Faceless, The Human Abstract

Devin Townsend Now In A Grind Band!?

Filed Under: New music

Nov.18, 2011

I’m a simple man. I think that’s obvious to everyone. I know what I likes and if there’s been any two things that have defined 2011 for me it’d have to be all the great grindcore releases (Rotten Sound, Gridlink, Wormrot, Brutal Truth etc) and Devin Townsend. So what better way to round off the year than with a little from column A and a little from column B?

Bent Sea is the latest project from the dynamic duo of Devin on bass and Dirk Verbeuren (of Scarve and Soilwork amongst others), alongside Aborted vocalist Sven de Caluwe. Whilst it’s probably common knowledge to a lot of you, I wasn’t aware! You can listen to the title track from their new EP Noistalgia here and even peruse their less than stellar website. Although, in 2011 how many bands out there still have a website!?

I likes it; completely inoffensive grind that brings to mind a really well produced Napalm Death. Obviously, you wouldn’t be able to tell it was Devin without being told but both de Caluwe and Verbeuren pull off great performances that are reminiscent of their respective projects. And at only $5.50 for 11 tracks from their webstore, it’s hard to complain. Just add Noistalgia to the list of great grind records in 2011.

- DL

Tags: Aborted, Bent Sea, Brutal Truth, Gridlink, napalm death, Noistalgia, Rotten Sound, Scarve, Soilwork, Wormrot

From The Archive: Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos

Filed Under: Albums You Should Hear, Bands That Made Me Heavy, From the Archive

Nov.02, 2011

From The Archive

The discovery of a new band is always exciting. Will it be something you’ve heard countless times? An experience that leaves a bad taste in your mouth? Or is it a treat from which you cannot stop consuming? I wanted to take a trip back in time to reminisce about bands/albums that not only introduced me to heavy music, but kept me coming back for more…

From The Archive: Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos

Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos

Around the time I was being introduced to melodic death metal (melo-death for all those hip to the lingo), all the usual suspects were accounted for; At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, Arch Enemy and so on. Now I could easily write up an article for each and every one of these bands, seeing as how they all played a part in my musical journey, but for this weeks installment, I’m going to discuss another well known melodic death metal band by the name of Soilwork and what I believe to be their best album, Natural Born Chaos.

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Tags: Natural Born Chaos, Soilwork

Members of Ordinance Cover Soilwork’s “Stabbing The Drama“

Filed Under: Video

Nov.01, 2011

Not content with releasing the excellent Internal Monolgues with Ordinance back in July, master drummer Alex Rudinger (also of Threat Signal) recently learned Soilwork‘s song “Stabbing The Drama” for a special occasion:

“A few months back Threat Signal had some gigs in Ontario, Canada. Bjorn Strid [Soilwork's vocalist] happened to be in the area and we decided that it would be cool to do a live cover of this song and have Bjorn perform with us. The show was a lot of fun and performing with a member of Soilwork was kind of a dream come true for me – I’ve been a huge fan since I was a kid.”

Not content with leaving it at that, Rudinger conscripted Ordinance bandmates Mike Semeksy and Greg Macklin to record the following video for it, laying down vocals and guitars/keys respectively. Czech it:

If you’re in Baltimore, Maryland on December 7th, make sure to catch Ordinance when they support Obscura with Abysmal Dawn and Enfold Darkness. You can also see them with Dead Walk The Earth, BlackHeart Ace and Last Nail Driven on December 16th in Newark.

After the jump, catch footage of Threat Signal performing with ‘Speed’ Strid!

- CG

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Tags: Alex Rudinger, Björn Strid, Greg Macklin, Mike Semesky, Ordinance, Soilwork, Stabbing The Drama, Threat Signal

Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire

Filed Under: Reviews

May.05, 2011

Scar Symmetry

The Unseen Empire

01. The Anomaly
02. Illuminoid Dream Sequence
03. Extinction Mantra
04. Seers of the Schaton
05. Domination Agenda
06. Astronomicon
07. Rise of the Reptilian Regime
08. The Draconian Arrival
09. Alpha and Omega

[05/17/11]
[Nuclear Blast]

Did you know the definition of insanity—according to Albert Einstein—is doing the same thing numerous times and expecting a different result? Interesting fact. I know a few people who were waiting out for the new Scar Symmetry and apparently expecting them to become a different band and were disappointed by The Unseen Empire. Really? Careers of metal bands tend to follow a trajectory that is easy to predict, and Scar Symmetry have always been remarkably consistent.

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Tags: Mercenary, Scar Symmetry, Soilwork

Across the Sun – Before The Night Takes Us

Filed Under: Reviews

Mar.16, 2011

Across the Sun

Before The Night Takes Us

01. Tipping the Scales
02. Song for the Hopeless
03. Seasons
04. Descent & Discovery
05. Ghosts of Grandeur
06. Before the Night Takes Us
07. A Moment of Clarity
08. Blessing in Disguise
09. In the Face of Adversity
10. Belay My Judgement

[03/15/11]
[Metal Blade Records]

I’ve mentioned previously that it took me some time to get into Portland’s Across the Sun, and my sentiments are worth repeating; despite the cited progressive metal influence and labeling via recommendation, Across the Sun felt more like Killswitch Engage with keyboards and a more profound sense of melody and direction. This isn’t such a bad thing at all despite my slightly flippant tone, seeing as how I “grew up” on Killswitch (so to speak) and any improvement on that style is welcome. Good lord, is it ever welcome.

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Tags: Across the Sun, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, Soilwork

Watch This New Soilwork Video And Have “Let This River Flow” Stuck In Your Head All Day

Filed Under: Video

Feb.25, 2011

It’s been playing in my mind almost nonstop since I first saw the video. Those damn Swedes know how to craft catchy melodies unlike any other.

The video is standard-fare live footage, but it gets the job done. Soilwork‘s latest album The Panic Broadcast is a damn fine album, and it’s out now on Nuclear Blast. Check out our review (courtesy of our writer Gein) of it here and go give the rest a listen if you somehow haven’t.

- JR

Tags: Soilwork

DEVIN WATCH: Update!

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Feb.21, 2011

I spent this weekend like I spend every weekend, cold and alone in my basement mashing the F5 button on twitter in the hopes that there will be another Deconstruction update big enough that I can kid myself it’s worth posting. Lo and behold the basement angels heard my prayers and provided me with this video from SickDrummer that seems to have laid pretty low despite it being put up a month ago:

Also, yesterday Devin tweeted another thanks, this time to a ‘Paul M’ [which Devin confirmed as Paul Masvidal on his official forums - Ed.] This brings the list of guests so far up to: Ihsahn (Ihsahn/Emperor), Dirk Verbeuren (Aborted/Soilwork), Joe Duplantier (Gojira), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Floor Jansen (After Forever/ReVamp), Tommy Rogers (Between The Buried And Me), Oderus Urungus (GWAR), Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah), and Paul Masvidal (Cynic).

Can you tell I’m just a little bit excited about this album? Now all we need is for Alkahest to tweet about Robin Staps, Misha Mansoor, Jus Oborn, Keith Buckley, J.R Hayes, John Dyer Baizley etc etc etc and we’re set for the best album ever.

-DL

Tags: Aborted, After Forever, Between The Buried and Me, Cynic, Devin Townsend Project, Emperor, Gojira, Gwar, Ihsahn, Meshuggah, Opeth, ReVamp, Soilwork, The Dillinger Escape Plan

Devin Townsend Tidbits

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Jan.26, 2011

Right now Devin Townsend‘s twitter account is a gold mine of small bits of information that are getting me majorly excited for the upcoming releases; Ghost and Deconstruction. So I compiled a list of the more important ones:

Ihsahn is a guest musician on Deconstruction. Majorly excited for this, After was a prog masterpiece so it should be very interesting to see what he brings to what is supposed to be the heaviest album of the set. I swear I remember reading that there would be quite a few guest appearances on it but this is the first I’ve heard of other than Dirk Verbeuren (Aborted/Soilwork etc) on drums.
The boxset (containing all four Devin Townsend Project releases) has been mentioned again and should apparently include all the Protools sessions as a bonus. Devin’s always been known for his dense and complex recordings so I’m looking forward to picking through those.
Century Media will release a live EP for free on their website sometime next week. Live Devy is always good.
Finally, not from the twitter account but Metal Hammer are reporting that Devin is set to appear on a Frank Sinatra tribute album, the unfortunately titled Sin-atra. He’s contributing a cover of “New York, New York” and will appear alongside others such as Joey Belladonna (Anthrax), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) and Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (Judas Priest/Iced Earth etc).