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Band:Soilwork Album:Sworn to a Great Divide Record Company:Nuclear Blast America Writer: Mark Carras Media: MySpace Click Album Cover To Buy Now

So I seem to have an interview with Björn "Speed" Strid that was lost on my hard drive when my computer died. So that interview will have to wait until I can hook my hard drive to another computer, but I can do this cd review right now. My introduction to the band was with 2001's A Predator's Portrait. I dismissed the band as another boring cookie monster band at this point. I had already been so burned out on that vocal style that I had (and still do) have a trigger finger on the cd eject button when I hear it. So when Natural Born Chaos came out I was shocked. I totally loved that cd and listened to it more times then I probably should have. I had built it up in my head to the point that 2003's Figure Number Five was bound to be a disappointment. I have since found that I do in fact enjoy that cd more then originally. Then by the time 2005's Stabbing the Drama came out, I think the band had gone into automatic. Between the band member rotation and probably a little fatigue from the constant cycle of new cd and constant touring, the band had started doing things without much artistic thought. Now here we are at 2007's Sworn to a Great Divide and I have to be honest that I wasn't too excited to listen to it. The label even sent me a full version with "o" card cover and DVD extra. It sat on my desk for months getting buried under many other promos a tenth as good. Then I was forced to give it an honest listen so I could do a phoner with Mr Strid. It was onl then that I found out that Soilwork is back and better then they have in a very long time! I am a fan once again.

Now one of the things that make Soilwork so great in my book is the vocals. The funny thing is that I like his growl vocal better then his clean vocal. Most of you readers know that I am insanely picky when it comes t a growl vocal. I think 99% of them growlers out there do the growl vocal because they can be lazy with it. Although there is probably about ten growlers and screamers that I would enjoy, off the top of my head I can think of two. Bjorn and our very own Deathboy from the band Tasty Gore. One is very melodic Swedish thrash (some would say more rock now) and the other proudly grindcore. All that being said, part of what I didn't like about everything between this new cd and Natural Born Chaos is that there wasn't enough growl vocals. For this reason I much preferred Bjorn's other band Terror 2000. I still would rather hear more of his growl vocal, but for some reason his clean vocal doesn't bug me as much on this cd as much as the 2 previous ones. Not sure why. I still love the last Terror 200 cd more though.

So does this Rock My Monkey? Yes! If you are a Soilwork fan then check this out. If you have not been a huge fan of their past two releases, still give this one a shot. Although I don't hear this years "The Flameout", I still think it is overall a good cd. I am sure I will listen to this one well after this review is posted. About that interview, give me a day or so. I have been thinking about doing a "Hangover special" with a ton of New Year day interviews to close out this year.

Band:Soilwork Album:Sworn to a Great Divide Record Company:Nuclear Blast America Writer: Mark Carras Media: MySpace Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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