Verkligheten

Verkligheten is a work on which SOILWORK broadly drew the sharp aggression of melodic death metal and a hard-rock-open melodic sense. Low chugging riffs, sharp leads and racing drums build the songs’ frame, and the contrast between rough vocals and clean singing widens the emotional range. However fierce the songs, they never lose the melodic exit, and weight and accessibility coexist without weakening each other. On “Verkligheten,” “Arrival,” “Full Moon Shoals” and “The Wolves Are Back in Town,” in the short, sharply cutting scenes a modern metal pressure stands out, and in the larger-developing songs a Nordic melancholy and grand choruses leave an impression. Songs like “Bleeder Despoiler” and “Stålfågel” breathe the band’s many sides too. The technical playing always supports the emotion of the singing, and the riffs call in the next melody. Summing up the band’s path while also suggesting the power to step into a new scene, it is a full record.