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Soilwork > Sworn to a Great Divide > Reviews > NocturneFreeze
Soilwork - Sworn to a Great Divide

God exists… and he is mad! - 7%

NocturneFreeze, October 1st, 2009

Soilwork is pretty much the laughing stock of any melodic death metal band. Metaphorically, he is the nerdy schoolboy that wants to be like the football jocks, but just can’t because he isn’t cool enough! Here is a tip for the nerd, learn to be cool. It’s actually possible, just mimic the people that succeed in doing so. If Dark Tranquillity can actually be good while being modern melodeath all the way, Insomnium’s newest release is already a fan favourite, In Flames still getting better reviews than you, surely you must be doing something wrong.

Here is the tip of the day. Actually be melodeath… Surely, you’d think they try in doing so, but all I hear is groove metal to the core. Actually, some metalcore, so make that groovecore. Notice how that is not melodic enough, nor death enough. If anything, not even metal enough. It pains me to listen to their songs again, but to put my exact thoughts on paper I need to listen to the pansy bullcrap that is called Exile. “Faithless On my way Defenceless From my heart, Won't you be” Not exactly the love song I was seeking for. Stop being so pretentious and learn that heaviness can actually be emotional too. If you succeed at that, you succeed at being Insomnium, I mean, awesome melodic death.

But still, most songs are like this. The verse is either soft and completely ridden of anything exciting, or dominated by guitars that are dominated by the first fret of the E string. The chorus has a simple melody dominated by the vocals (which are terrible by the way). Sometimes there are some simple guitar melodies, but you don’t need 2 guitarists and a keyboardist to achieve that. It’s all purely for the modernisation. Having more than you need to. It helps with the production. Tight, but completely devoid of atmosphere. It’s comparable to that of Nocturnus (an old school death metal band) and any deathcore band. Soilwork represents the deathcore trend this time in this metaphor.

Perhaps there are some moments that don’t suck extremely bad. Not anything from the first 5 tracks though. Light Discovering Darkness has a cool guitar intro. It’s used again in the verse, but the whole groovecore songwriting destroys any atmosphere that could be there. The shouts… The obvious laid-back-ness, the forced so called melodies. Naw, not a recommended track. 20 More Miles is probably the closest to a recommended track, as it doesn’t suck that bad. Purely for that reason. But if anything, the songs are just as bad as the cover. Avoid with all cost, Really.