Album Review: Soilwork - A Whisp Of The Atlantic
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
A Whisp Of The Atlantic is the new E.P. from Swedish melodic death metal stalwarts Soilwork. I’ll fully admit that I’m a bit of a Soilwork fanboy and so any new material from them always gets me very excited. Thankfully this E.P. does not disappoint and carries on the fine trajectory of quality melodic death metal the band have been on for the past few years although it also sees the band exploring some different territory.
The E.P. starts with the 16 minute plus title track which is described by guitarist David Andersson as ‘the most pretentious and progressive song created by Soilwork this far’. This is a statement that is hard to argue with as it is a truly expansive song that shifts and ebbs between different sounds and sees the Soilwork sound taken to its progressive extremes. It contains left feel turns such as piano led melodies and even the appearance of a saxophone but whilst still retaining all the qualities one comes to expect of a Soilwork song such as big hooks, furious melodic desth metal musicianship and a chorus that is catchier than COVID-19. It is a song heavily inspired by the progressive rock epics of the 1970’s and it’s a song that truly lives up to those influences.
The four songs that follow are all far more in the traditional Soilwork mould. The retro synth opening of Feverish makes you wonder whether you have started listening to The Night Flight Orchestra (AOR side project of Björn "Speed" Strid and David Andersson) before the blastbeats kick in and you are in doubt that this is a Soilwork song. It carries on the approach of material on previous album Verklighteten in that it is a mix of melodic death metal ferocity and out and out catchiness. Death Diviner (which was released a single earlier in the year) possibly wins the award of the catchiest song Soilwork have released to date (it even dethrones Stålfågel which takes some doing!). It sees the band on hugely melodic form and sees Björn "Speed" Strid giving one of his finest vocal performances to date.
Soilwork continue their purple patch of high quality releases with A Whisp Of The Atlantic. It sees Soilwork exploring the progressive outreaches of their sound whilst also providing the more traditional sounding style that has been prevalent on their last few albums. As a Soilwork fan this E.P. really did not disappoint and it is a release that will appeal to a broad spectrum of metal fans whether their tastes be in the more extreme, melodic and progressive style.
