Soilwork

Live at The Fonda Theatre

Los Angeles, CA

May 7th, 2016

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Soilwork return to North America as special guests of the awesome Fear Factory. Soilwork are a Swedish Melodic Death Metal band that have been around for two decades now and have been at the forefront of their genre while pushing boundaries.

They are most known for developing a signature sound where the juxtaposition of harsh growled vocals transitions to melodic clean singing within the same song.

Their lyrics are also comprised of this pairing of opposites as the songs range in subject matter from deep rooted aggression and violent reactions to the beauty of existence and the transcendental realm of what lies beyond.

The music is driven by dual lead guitars, heavy drum beats, and raging bass which give them their metal foundation but is also layered with synthesizers that lend the atmospheric and melodic touches to the songs.

Founding member and cohesive glue of the operation is Björn "Speed" Strid on vocals.  He is the only member to have carried the torch of the band from the early days two decades prior to its current state as world renowned powerhouse.

Sven Karlsson has been with him for fifteen of those years on keyboards and Dirk Verbeuren has been playing drums for nearly that long.

Lead guitar duties seemed to have fluctuated the most over the years with members coming and going and coming again but Sylvain Coudret has been playing with them for over 8 years now.

On the other lead guitar, they had a guest musician playing for this tour as their permanent member is also a doctor and as Björn put it, had to actually be one for a while. The new guy was really good and pulled off all the parts.

Rounding out the band is Markus Wibom on bass guitar who joined up with the outfit just last year but this is already the second time I have seen him touring with them so he is becoming a familiar face.

I myself got into Soilwork three albums back with "The Panic Broadcast". Since then, they have released "The Living Infinite", and most recently, "The Ride Majestic" which is the namesake of the tour they are on now. With that being said, they didn't play many songs off the new album, but at least they played the title track as the opener of the set.

I am not familiar with their entire back catalog so did not know every song they played but enjoyed "The Living Infinite I" off the album of the same name and also loved "Crestfallen" and "Follow the Hollow".

One of their most popular albums seems to be "Stabbing the Drama" and they played the most songs of the set off of this release including the title track as their last song of the night.

Soilwork have an incredible amount of energy and kept the circle pit moving the entire show. I am continuously impressed with Björn's vocal range and prowess. If he chose to only sing clean and melodic (and about more vapid subject matter) he probably could become a famous pop star. Thankfully his tastes run elsewhere and he delves into the music genre he does.

The set flew by and they were done before the audience was ready for them to leave but with the mighty Fear Factory up next, the set was as full of fan favorites as they could fit in. It was awesome seeing them live and I can't wait for them to come through again, especially to hear some more songs from their latest release.

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