Verkligheten (English: Reality) is the eleventh studio album by the Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork (meaning "working from the ground up").
Quick background: Soilwork was formed in late 1995 by Björn "Speed" Strid and Peter Wichers who left the band in 2012 due to "creative differences". The band has been through other several line-up changes most notably loosing their drummer Dirk Verbeuren to join Megadeth in 2016.
The last two albums The Living Infinite (2013) and The Ride Majestic (2015) were very well received by critics and fans. In parallel singer Speed and guitar player David Andersson have also been enjoying success with their hard rock band The Night Flight Orchestra. I personally got to know Soilwork during the Sworn to a Great Divide tour in 2008. Ironically, an album that received mixed reviews and nowadays no songs out of it have been on the live set for many years. Soilwork brings a unique form of Swedish melo death by adding clear vocal melodies and unique piano parts into their music.
It's been a long wait to get Verkligheten because ''The Ride Majestic Tour'' went on massively for more than two years until the fall of 2017. But the wait was worth it as Verkligheten is magnificent. It's a cohesive album but also very diverse. The band has experimented more and took more chances sonically which all paid off. Each song has its own character and interesting elements while not loosing the Soilwork identity. Meaning the catchy melodies combined with aggressiveness and furious tempo at times. The balance between clean and growling vocals and the keyboard base sound is as prominent as before. While the vibe from the last two great albums is still there, one of the things that is specially clear on this new album is the influence of classic heavy metal elements probably driven by the success of The Night Flight Orchestra latest albums.
Even with 12 songs, the album flows very well, keeps your attention and it's not too long. In addition to the excellent song writing and execution, the diversity of sounds from track to track keeps you on the edge. It all contributes to avoid a common problem in death metal which is the blending of songs together. It's not the case with Verkligheten. Some tracks are fast and aggressive like "Arrival" , "Bleeder Despoiler" and "The Wolves Are Back in Town". Others heavily influenced by NFO like "Full Moon Shoals" (great 80's-like guitar riff), "The Nurturing Glance" (one of my favorite tracks, another great riff and the coolest guitar solo) and "The Ageless Whisper". "Stålfågel" (feat. Alissa White-Gluz) is very catchy and distinct due to the almost pop-music beat without loosing its heaviness. There's the groovy "Witan". And then, when the album could feel a bit long they cleverly included "Needles and Kin" (feat. Tomi Joutsen from Amorphis). It's a heavy and fast track with black- metal-like riff and Tomi's vocals fit very well.
I suspect Verkligheten will resonate very well with old and new Soilwork fans. Despite the recent changes, it looks like this formation has reached stability and creativity peak. People will recognize the musical elements this formation has created in the latest two albums, but they've taken the sound even further by trying new elements and not discarding the success of NFO. The first release of the year is already a contender to be among my top 10 albums of 2019.
SCORE: 83/100
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