Looks like another supergroup is in the making. This time around it's composed of Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, Faith No More's Billy Gould, Mastodon's Troy Sanders, Soilwork's Dirk Verbeuren, and producer Russ Russell (responsible for Napalm Death among other bands). Together, they are Tronos. A permanent vocalist has yet to be found, but for now Silje Wergeland of The Gathering has been tapped for guest vocals.
Russ Russel spilled the beans on this project along with sizable additional projects via TeamRock Radio. Give his words a listen on Metal Hammer right now! And be sure to stay tuned for more... much more.
It’s the start of July already. We’re already over halfway through 2013. Jeez time really does fly. The amount of metal of the highest quality that has hit the stores already is astounding. We've been doing our best to keep up with all the notable releases of the year and I think we've been doing a pretty decent job. Not too much has flown under the radar and I’ve personally had time to digest mostly everything I was excited for at the beginning of the year. I’ve been surprised by a lot of the music I’ve really been enjoying, some of which is a lot lighter than I ever would have predicted. Without further ado, here are the Best Of lists and some song highlights from our four main writers starting with my own (albums in no particular order). If you’ve missed any of these, definitely check em out.
Trisolino's List
Albums
Intronaut - “Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)” [LISTEN HERE]
Coheed and Cambria - “The Afterman: Descension” [LISTEN HERE]
Wormed - “Exodromos” [LISTEN HERE]
Anciients - “Heart of Oak” [LISTEN HERE]
Leprous - “Coal” [LISTEN HERE]
Arsis - “Unwelcome” [LISTEN HERE]
Heaven Shall Burn - “VETO” [LISTEN HERE]
The Ocean - “Pelagial” [LISTEN HERE]
The Monolith Deathcult - “Tetragrammaton” [LISTEN HERE]
A Pale Horse Named Death - “Lay My Soul to Waste” [LISTEN HERE]
Tesseract - “Altered State” [LISTEN HERE]
The Black Dahlia Murder - “Everblack” [LISTEN HERE]
Scale the Summit - “The Migration” [LISTEN HERE]
August Burns Red - “Rescue & Restore” [LISTEN HERE]
Palms - “Palms” [LISTEN HERE]
Well, we saw this one coming. Soilwork's new album, "The Living Infinite", definitely lived up to its expectations and even managed to exceed them. After releasing 8 critically acclaimed albums, the Swedish melodic death metal heavyweights have now
released their 9th as a double album. "The Living Infinite" has turned out to be a magical, monolithic masterpiece of the genre. It's an ambitious and
glorious project. Both intelligent and refined. There are no specific
differences between the two CDs so I would like to present the beautiful gems of this album one by one.
The first CD is opened by the powerful blast beats of the first single
"Spectrum of Eternity" followed by a slower "Memories Confined" and the
amazing second single "This Momentary Bliss", which is already
known for its amazing melodic flair. "Tongue" leaves an impression with its memorable
chorus and guitar solo, while "Let the First Wave Rise" strikes as one of the
faster and more aggressive songs of the album's first half. "Vesta"
is another remarkable track with its groovy and furious riffage
split up by an amazing chorus. You can find some heaviness in "Realm
Of The Wasted" and a softer approach in both "The Windswept Mercy" and
"Whispers and Light", which work together to close out the first CD.
The first half of "The Living Infinite" is a fucking blast! I actually needed a break after experiencing such an
amazing 40 minutes. Just WOW. Every single song from the first CD has its own unique characteristics
and charm. It's packed with unbelievebly awesome instrumentation, flawless vocals,
immense melodies, and a multitude of furious sound.
An instrumental song, "Entering Aeons",
introduces us to the second 40 minutes of kick assery. This half of the album really spreads its wings to take
flight with the second track "Long Live Misanthrope", the latest single
presented by the band. It indicates that the magnificence of
the first CD might endure in the second part. And surprise,
surprise... it actually does! You'll find some melodic songs like
"Drowning With Silence" and "Antidoters In Passing" as well as faster
and more ferocious ones like "Leech" and "Parasite Blues". Your ears will also come across a small instrumental song, "Loyal Shadow", with some amazing guitar
solos as well as the beautiful single "Rise Above The Sentiment". The
album is closed by "Owls Predict, Oracles Stand Guard", a dark and
dramatic song. It's slow in the beginning but fast and groovy in the second
half, serving as a worthy end to this huge album.
Both CDs also feature a
song called "The Living Infinite". Both of which are introduced by acoustic
guitar only to explode in the typical Soilwork fashion. With a
lethal riffage, memorable melodies, and amazing guitar solos, they both stand out. I also have to say the first
one features some really nice synth work towards the beginning.
Bjorn "Speed" Strid's
vocals, both clean and harsh, are just plain flawless. Dirk Verbeuren's
drumming is stunning to say the least. David Andersson and Sylvain
Coudret teamed up to deliver bright and creative guitar work. All in all, just
brilliant. This album makes for a damn near perfect
melodic death metal statement one can't help but love.
If I really had to find a defect in the album, I'd have to say that some of the
tracks (especially the two instrumental pieces of the second half) seem to have been written just to fill the tracklist and reach 20 songs. But since they still happen to be very good, I think
we can ignore this tiny flaw and fully approve this amazing work of art.
With such an amazing album, an 18 year long career under their belts, and In Flames slowly drifting through a softer rock-oriented sound, it seems Soilwork are now standing as the world's leading melodic death metal band.
Hell yeah! This
is definitely one of the most anticipated metal releases of 2013.
Soilwork are coming back with their ninth studio album that's looking
like the most ambitious and mature project of their 18 year long career.
That's right because "The Living Infinite" is going to be a double
album amounting to a total of 20 tracks! With probably a very long running
time, the album must have required a lot of serious work since the band's last
full-length album was released in 2010.
"The Living infinite" was recorded by
Jens Bogren (OPETH, AMON AMARTH, BLOODBATH) and the artwork was designed by
MNEMIC's guitarist Mircea Gabriel Eftemie! After some not exactly inspired albums,
it seems like this time Soilwork will bring Swedish melodic death metal to it's
past greatness, and there are already some reviews claiming that this might
really be a new masterpiece in the genre.
You can already listen to some
previews of 2 new tracks: "Spectrum Of Eternity" and "This
Momentary Bliss". They feature incredibly insane drumming and a sharp
melo-death riffage mixed with amazing melodies and devastating vocals. Soilwork have also just released a pretty bizarre music video for an amazing song
entitled "Rise Above Statement". This potentially amazing melodic death
metal statement drops on February 27th in Asia, March 1st in Europe, 4th in the
Uk, and 5th in North America, coming via Nuclear Blast Records.
Also, you lucky north-Americans will have the chance to catch them live with Jeff Loomis,
Blackguard, The Browining, and Wretched. This awesome line up will be touring
the US and Canada for a long time from March to May. So if you're a fan of old
good melodic death metal you must check out the songs below and, if you like
what you hear, go pre-order "The Living Infinite" right here at the
Nuclear Blast Shop.
Looks like another supergroup is in the making. This time around it's composed of Napalm Death's Mitch Harris, Faith No More's Billy Gould, Mastodon's Troy Sanders, Soilwork's Dirk Verbeuren, and producer Russ Russell (responsible for Napalm Death among other bands). Together, they are Tronos. A permanent vocalist has yet to be found, but for now Silje Wergeland of The Gathering has been tapped for guest vocals.
