Customer Reviews

Steelbath Suicide

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Soilwork have proven themselves worthy of carrying the torch of Gothenburg metal. They do it VERY well, too. Although they sound a lot like At The Gates on this release, who the hell cares? That's not necessarily a bad thing at all. They are incredibly heavy but they still manage to hold good melody. The opening instrumental, "Entering The Angel Diabolique," is a great introduction to the band that foreshadows the coming greatness. They establish themselves well by proving that they can conjure great headbanging riffs and infectious solos. The album then goes into full blast on "Sadistic Lullabye." This album is indeed a GREAT buy for any fan of melodic death metal or those who enjoy the Gothenburg sounds of bands like At The Gates, In Flames, etc.

Some highlights:

Entering The Angel Diabolique: Although rather brief, the opening instrumental is unbelievable. It features great melodic lines from Svartz and Wichers, and just mad cool riffs.

Sadistic Lullabye: Soilwork reveal another face of their vicious metal attack by speeding things up a bit. Again, great melodic lines and thrashy riffs make this song one of the best the CD has to offer.

Skin After Skin: This song has an interesting structure and also features cool harmonized parts throughout. The speed is there, but it varies to avoid monotony. Cool riffs, cool chorus, as always. One of my faves.

Steelbath Suicide: Soilwork offer their ode to the metal bands of the 80's. The result is one of the best songs on the album. Awesome riffs, great solos.

Razor Lives: One of the best songs on the album. There's not much more to say, it just rules. All the Soilwork trademarks are there (speed, melody, etc.).

Overall, "Steelbath Suicide" is a fantastic album that carries the Gothenburg torch well and makes a seemless transition into the post-At The Gates era. Buy this now, metalheads.

This is the classic debut Soilwork, recently re-released with bonus tracks! If you own "Chainheart machine", this album is essential to your collection. IF you are a fan of Swedish death metal you MUST own this.

I'm writing this to counter that other bad review too. The person who wrote that is an idiot. They paid attention to nothing but the vocal style, and maybe the guitar tone a little bit. Soilwork's riff structures are nothing like In Flames, and if the vocals are a ripoff (and its worth noting that all other Soilwork albums have mixed vocals), then In Flames by that logic, In Flames are just a Death ripoff anyway. Soilwork is doing a latter day Swedish version of thrash, In Flames does psuedo-classical riffs. Saying this album is an In Flames ripoff is like saying Testament ripped off Metallica or that Metallica ripped off Diamondhead. So Soilwork didn't invent a new sub-genre. Sorry!

Yeah well something like that, the album is sweedish death metal...which after having gotten into more brutal metal overall, difference between American and Sweedish is that Sweedish has more duel guitars while American feels heavier. Well enough of that, both genres are great and this album is awesome. From the beginning intro to all kinds of songs with great riffs, its just great that this formula works. I've heard people compare them to In Flames, and yeh ok i guess that works but so what, it's like comparing Metallica and Megadeth, i guess u can but why bother, all 4 are great bands and Soilwork is different from In Flames...and if u like Soilwork and havent gotten into In Flames, i suggest buying their best album, Clayman. Soilwork has a lot to offer and all of their albums are great stuff.

NOTE: I thought I would write this review to counter 2 really bad reviews from someone below who will not go mentioned because the point of reviews is to get opinions across and not turn into a "mud-slinging" contest. Well, Soilwork is a GREAT band, I've heard people say its not original, well if you think that then WAKE UP practically all Swedish death metal has the same kind of sound to it. Soilwork is different from In Flames because it incorporates moments of actual singing, and great slightly high-pitched distorted wraith-like sections to the lyrics. The bass is very audible, drumbs are fast-paced and done with skill, riffs are great. Like just about every Swedish Death/Thrash metal band. (Please do not bring down the reviews TWICE because you forgot to post something in your previous review, thank you)

Soilwork have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Now that their debut has been reissued by Century Media, all three of their full lenght albums are available in the major music stores. "Steelbath Suicide" sounds similar to their two more recent releases, but one can see the progression that they have made. This album is a little more raw sounding and does not include as many keyboards as "The Chainheart Machine" and "A Predator's Portrait". The instrumentation is fantastic, as it always is with this band. The guitars are loud and in your face; the bass is thick; the drums pound. The vocals are of the growl/shout type, the same as in their other releases. My favorite song is "Skin After Skin", but every song here is strong. If you like In Flames, At The Gates, Gardenian, etc., you will enjoy this album as well.

This debut album is absolutely fantastic in every way. From the awesome intro instrumental to the powerful closing track. Soilwork combines grinding guitars that are heavy enough to knock your socks off with complex, classic Metallica style solos and riffs reminiscent of Ride the Lightning. Definitely, my personal favorite tracks are Razorlives, Skin After Skin, and Demon In Veins. All of them combine great buzz-saw guitars with riffs reminiscent of Iron Maiden and early Metallica. Definitely a must buy for any metalhead.

This is Soilwork's first release back in 1998. This was when they were straight up thrash melodic death metal! Depending on your taste of music, if you are into old school gothenburg style brutality the first three Soilwork albums will satisfy those senses. Amazingly put together with Soilworks own style unlike hundreds of other bands that ripped off "At The Gates". Their next release "Chainheart Machine", which is much more original than this release set standards for dozens of other bands!

This is one of the best albums by Soilwork along with Chainheart Massacre. Soilwork, along with the other Gothenberg bands just show how amazing Swedish melodeath is.

No clean vocals or popiness here people. This was what Soilwork entered as: brutal, melodic, and At The Gates-ish. Pretty much all the material here is fast as hell with Bjorn topping off some familiar Tomas Lindberg vox. It does get a bit tiring because there is almost no variety, but the band members make up for any problems with it.

Peter Wichers of the crew lets loose everything he had on this album, shredding endlessly and outperforming anything he churned out on the latest Soilwork records. The first track is proof of what Soilwork was once able to do. Many of the newer fans are afraid or turned off by this and "The Chainheart Machine". I was too, especially at the covers (silly me), but I ended up growing over the vocals and started embracing this as soon as I did.

Outstanding debut which would only be surpassed by the next album, but you should hear this any way you can nonetheless!