You’d think that two years after their masterful double album ‘The Living Infinite’ and having already released the killer ‘Live In The Heart Of Helsinki’ album / dvd already this year these hardworking Swedes might fancy a bit of time off. But no – here they are with their tenth studio album ‘The Ride Majestic’.
Well how do you follow ‘The Living Infinite’? That album itself had a massive question mark over it prior to release what with original guitarist & songwriter Peter Wichers departure prior to recording…. Oh and it being an attention stretching twenty song double album. Of course we shouldn’t have worried – vocalist Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid took over the song-writing and created a master class in melodic death metal that was certainly one of my faves that year and it got a great reception.
Now how do you follow that? Especially in such a short time frame.
You can’t really. But what you can do is put out another killer record which, if it doesn’t hit the bullseye as often as ‘The Living Infinite’, is still leagues ahead of any other ‘melodeath’ album you’ll hear this year.
It’s worth noting that ‘The Ride Majestic’ is a much more serious (in terms of subject matter) album than anything else in the bands back catalogue, with central themes of loss and death, not the eaten by zombies kind, more of loss of loved ones and family. Don’t worry – Soilwork haven’t turned into Paradise Lost but there’s definitely an overarching hint of darkness here which is obviously inspired by a hard year for Strid who suffered a series of bereavements. This is probably why some of the songs are less ‘instant’ than others but the massive hooks the band is known for are still there in spades.
Album opener and title track is a typical Soilwork classic with immense melodies and some cracking riffage. Strid is in fine voice and new bass player Marcus Wibom is nailing the bottom end down handsomely.
The proggy ‘Alight In The Aftermath’ flows beautifully from typical Dirk Verbeuren blasts (seriously – just how amazing a drummer is this guy?) to… well…. more blasts but with a really cool melody over the top.
One of the best tracks ‘Death In General’ is up next and this really reminded me of the fastest song Queensryche never wrote. A haunting melody, which crops up in a few places on the record, leads into a fine vocal performance from ‘Speed’ and a barbed bit of riffing from Sylvain Coudrett & David Andersson.
Actually ‘Petrichor By Sulphur’ is my fave track – starts off like a 5FDP song but obviously develops into something far superior with a wonderful head banging chorus. Seriously this track is dripping with hooks.
The rest of the record upholds, more or less, the high standard set by these songs and you won’t be bored at all. One or two tracks – maybe – aren’t quite as instant as others but that’s testament to just how good the songwriting is more than a negative reflection on those songs.
‘The Ride Majestic’ is a brilliant record and really everything you’d want from a Soilwork album. The consistency of song writing, the catchy memorable songs and the amazing musicianship puts them head & shoulders above their peers. This band sets themselves some monumentally high standards and hits the mark every time.
9/10 Mark Eve
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