Steelbath Suicide

By the later 90s, metal fans the world over were in such a froth over At the Gates' seminal Slaughter of the Soul that the Swedes had spawned myriad doppelgangers, whether directly aping that aggressive, melodic death attack or fusing with US metalcore breakdowns and clean vocals. You couldn't escape it, and a number of that record's protegees would go on to massive careers that arguably eclipsed the original what with their now-reconvened hiatus. Although I liked that record alongside the next bloke, the former gatekeeper in me was just not down with some of the more overt impostors trying to spin a buck, but found myself challenged with two Helsingborg bands that, for my ears, had already iterated upon that classic in positive and exciting directions. Now, I've already gone over the excellent Darkane at length, but what of those better-known wunderkinds Soilwork, who rode that horse to broader, more progressive lengths, and have enjoyed a transition from explosive hype to decades of consistent releases, with only a few lulls here or there?

Steelbath Suicide was unquestionably the closest they'd ever sound to the formidable AtG, but it was already at an evolved state due to the presence of the keyboards, the bigger chorus hooks and the more friendly style of lead guitar and harmony involved. It's as if someone took Slaughter of the Soul as the base and sprinkled in small amounts of Helloween, Dream Theater and another Swedish melodeath juggernaut of those times, In Flames, whose uplifting guitar rushes and dual harmonies clearly informed a number of the riffs here in tunes like the title track which could have appeared on Colony or Clayman with a few tweaks, or "The Aardvark Trail". In fact, the one really binding element are Speed's early vocals, which are quite close to Tomas Lindberg in sneering disposition, and like me, if you've spend many years listening to the guy across his collection of projects, you'll also remember that this is one of his more limited performances. It gets the trick done, and certainly there are a few riffing passages in tracks like "My Need" or "Sadistic Lullabye" that are likewise redolent of Slaughter tunes, but they open up their strings far more than he opens up his pipes through the eleven tracks here.

But don't get me wrong, this record is quite great from the onset, as we're smothered with the warm and resilient melodies of "Entering the Angel Diabolique", a 2+ minute instrumental that instantly catapulted them upon a potential higher tier of the niche alongside the aforementioned acts and Dark Tranquillity. There's a little bit of Jester Race vibe going on there, which is a ok by me, but you can already feel the presence of the synths, a few clean strings buried in the mix, and just a confidence that you are about to be treated to a fully satisfying experience, which you are. The tirade of clever, riffy cuts to follow this one are one of the most concise and consistent in the band's career..."Sadistic Lullabye", "Skin After Skin", and the incredible "Wings of Domain" are all well-worthy of a "Blinded by Fear" or "Slaughter o of the Soul" proper, and due to the presence of the extra instrument, they bring an atmosphere that was not present in that style prior. The intricacy and intensity of the track list does not abate there, as it's an album you can still listen straight through to this day, but a few of the tunes might fall a fraction shorter in the memorability department.

It's obviously one of the most guitar-driven of their efforts, and the dynamic range is palpable, from the thrashier bludgeons, to the catchy chorus chord patterns, to the well-developed leads that almost seemed out of place for a band this young. Soilwork was clearly bringing the breadth of classic and progressive metal to that trending melodeath intensity, and some of the solos on this one are among the best they'd ever record. The production is pretty good, perhaps a little washed out by loudness war standards, but you can hear everything clearly, and I feel like the more processed, cubicle tones on the record were an aesthetic that did match up the futuristic artwork and contemporary lyrical themes. If you wanted Slaughter of the Soul to Enter the Matrix, well here you have it. There was also a groove metal element present even here, something they'd explore more blatantly later on, but it was tasteful and even used to great success in, say, "Demon in the Veins", when Speed starts screaming in the chorus and the little flourish of melody caps him off over the churning rhythm guitar.

Jimmy Persson's drums were solid, it really takes a lot to keep up with such an all encompassing style, but he does so with room to spare, so even though he wouldn't be sticking with the band, he helped them off to the races. The synthesizers also perform the difficult task of having their presence felt in certain spaces without ever cluttering up the other instruments, so one shouldn't expect the showiness felt in more distinctly 'prog metal' bands...that will increase later. All told, this is an album that feels just as impactful as when it first dropped, perhaps not ever my favorite but certainly the catalyst for what remains my favorite period in the band's discography, a reliable evergreen that I'll still be breaking out every year or so.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Before Soilwork, there was pure-melodic-death-metal Soilwork. The year is 1998, so well after the first wave of Swedish death metal, and what would become one of the country's better known bands were releasing their debut. A solid foothold in the industry with 'Steelbath Suicide', and the band never looked back. They certainly changed overtime - a lot - but never looked back.

So as mentioned they missed the boat so to speak (the first death metal movement) and that made them a band that could straight away draw inspiration directly from melodic death metal itself, rather than see their sound gradually transform from death metal to melo-death like Hypocrisy or At the Gates had to do. And it shows on the record as it is as Swedish sounding a metal album for that period as you'll find. It's overflowing with melody, harmonies and leads. The rhythm guitars are abrasive and full sounding, and the riffs contribute to the general melodic drive of the album as they're often harmonized as well. The vocals, although forceful and skillfully executed, are the usual melodic death metal standard. There's a little bit of synth in the back in parts, and when they're on they give the tracks an even fuller melodic edge and help set the band apart a little, however they're not nearly as frequent or central as they would be on later albums.

Overall this is tastefully made melo-death with copious amounts of melody, which isn't cheaply distributed into the album but still in obviously abundant quantities. The two instrumentals are particularly pleasant representations and ambassadors of the album's concept, with 'Entering the Angel Diabolique' as the opener welcoming the listener with its prolific profusion of melody. A couple more tracks may stand out depending on who's listening, like the popular 'Wings of Domain' or the lesser known album closer 'The Aardvark Trail' wherein the Soilwork trademark sound is more noticeable, like prehistoric traces of the real thing to come. The album despite its overall quality generally comes across as a little flat, a little bit on the generic melo-death side and lacking in definition, and not quite totally unique, especially when compared to later albums where the band would completely distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack.

Soilwork, in their early years, were considered one of the pioneers of the highly debataed melodic death metal genre. This album only proves they are some of the best.

Most of the songs on this album follow your standard song structure so you get nothing unique or special with that. Same ol' verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus x2. While some may despise typical song structures, they work very well on Steelbath Suicide. Every song is intense and the album only gets better the further you are. The first few songs are the weaker points, but they're by no means bad. They're superb, but the latter tracks outweigh the slow start. The only exception to this is the intro song (instrumental) and "Wings of Domain" which is arguably the best track on this monster.

Every song contains a fast, tearing thrash riff with a lead on top of it. That may sound repetitive, but each lead is significantly different and when you have an incredible vocalist, Bjorn "Sped" Strid, you can't go wrong. On top of the fantastic leads and rhythm guitar, you have incredibly technical and memorable solos. The speeds of them fluctuate so you're always getting something fresh and contrasting. They don't sound forced like many bands do to show their technical prowess which is a huge relief. To compliment the laudable musicianship, the drummer, while not doing anything new or unsound in the metal genre, fits perfectly and really gives each song a bang. Tempo changing is persistent, but not forced. The bassist adds nothing new as well, but he follows the guitar and he doesn't stick out (which would bring these songs down).

The production on this album is excellent. Every instrument can be heard clearly which is very surprising considering the age and status of this album. Impressive, to say the least.

Much diversity is to be found on your journey through Steelbath Suicide, but it's going to require a few spins to digest it all. I found that as one of the cons of this album. At first this album comes across as incessant, fast riffing, synths and screams, but upon scrutinizing, you find the gem inside this masterpiece. If all melo-death sounded like this, the genre would be praised universally.

I was quite young when this album came out, in the same year of the Darkane one. I remember that everybody was astonished and totally surprised for these great releases. The genres were more or less similar, with that sharp production and hyper powerful sounds. The music was the perfect mix of the classic melodic death metal with a bit of thrash metal and the new born Swedish sound (not the Entombed one…)

These guys, despite the young age, were awesome for the technical level and the fact that they were debutant. They were still violent, aggressive and quite melodic instead of being crappy like in the last efforts. The guitars riffs are the classic Swedish one with really fast palm muting riffs and several, clear cut drums up tempo. The thing that surprised more or less everybody, was that they didn’t create just the classic melodic death metal guitars lines, but they added something more in them, making them become even something artificial and cold.

The instrumental intro, for example, has not the classic melodies you could find almost everywhere in that period in Sweden. The solos are really epic and dreaming, perfectly balanced with the power of the rhythmic guitars. The vocals by a teenager guy who’s name was “Speed” Strid, were already vicious but not exaggerated, also in the volumes, so they couldn’t overwhelm the instruments. Another thing I loved here was the catchiness of the songs, filtrated through the violence; the use of some keys, like in “My Need” or “Skin After Skin” songs, is good for the whole atmosphere. The solo in this last song are far more melodic and really great.

“Wings Of Domain”, I think is the most melodic song here, while the title track is easily one of the best. The refrain is perfect, like the balance between the mid paced tempo and the up one with a beautiful solo inspired by the traditional metal. Another characteristic I appreciated a lot in their debut is that yet we can’t find clear chorus during the melodic breaks, but only the violent vocals by Strid. Those chorus, like in the following albums, united to the stopped chords parts, would have been terrible. They were the point of discordance and disappointment for the old fans.

The only weak point in this album is the song “In A Close Encounter” with an exaggerated use of some effects by a synth to ruin a bit a song, that should and could have been done better, with an higher presence of the guitars. Anyway, going on, there aren’t dull points at all. The albums flows really well and the several tempo/atmosphere changes contribute in making this album an impressive debut by a band that, slowly, would have become too commercial, losing the aggression and the inspiration.

The classic Soilwork sound is home to three albums, Steelbath Suicide, The Chainheart Machine and A Predator's Portrait. Steelbath Suicide, like the other two is all about the Speed and thrashy side of metal, which is exactly how vocalist Björn Strid got the nickname 'Speed', his love for the faster of metal, and Speed is what this album is about, relentless drumming, fast riffage, and fastly screamed vocals. If you like speed, this is an album for you, although the solos usually take place during a slow melodic break, so expect things to slow down occasionally.

The production here is really thick and dense, but not gritty or dirty. Nothing really seems lost in the production which means it's suceeded, but it's nothing overly special.

The musicianship on this album is in fine form, excellet guitar work like the other classic Soilwork albums. Also, Peter Wichers has said his favorite album, or one of them is Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, and you can hear the influence in his playing, even to this day in 05. Occasionally, at the end of a riff or lead, you'll hear a small wind-up sound that Dimebag made so popular, throughout Soilwork's changes, that Dimebag influence is still there. The drumming is competent, gets the job done, nothing to get worked over. Bass, well it's hard to hear with the wall of production; no comment. Speeds vocals are standard, really good and original. If you like solos this album is for you, each song has a sky rocketing solo at some point.

In terms of song writing, strong and inspiried. Really catchy leads and melodies, strong riffs, and a good headbanging rhythm.

I'd recommend this album to a metalhead, as it's the only crowd for an album of its creed. It's catchy, heavy and brutal with stellar musicianship. Go for it, I say.

This was one of my first metal albums i got and i don't think i could of chosen a better album to get me off on the right foot.
The opening track Entering The Angel Diabolique has an excellent guitar riff and gets you well prepared for the following track Sadistic Lullabye, nice drum roll/beat to start it off then its straight into it, tends to stand out quiet abit, an awesome lead guitar riff and a heavy backing rythm guitar and Bjorn screaming like hell "I'm the master of pain, waiting in vain, my pride is slain, watch me die during a sadistic lullabye!" and i don't think any Soilwork chorus can top that one there, i guess its true what they say first impressions last.

Anyway moving on album has some very addictive high points too it, the guitar solo in My Need made me wanna pick the guitar up and sit there until i learnt it (but couldn't be fucked). The track Steelbath Suicide has unbelievable drum work hat really goes off to Jimmy Persson for it. In A Close Encounter has a very sinister type towards the start and ending of the song, goes back to what we've been hearing but before too long we're met with a slow drum beat a hint of acoustic guitar a little lead guitar work, then pushed straight backing to song and into the solo. Razorlives has a very nice beat indeed to it guitar work at the start is mildly awesome (if that word makes sence) and met with another track that you'll be glad you listened to.

All in all, this is a great album to start off into the metal world one of my first (metal) albums i got and i still enjoy listening to it. I suggest to anybody stepping into the metal world to give this album a listen too.

(Still abit of a newbie at the review side of things any tips by the webmaster would be appreciated, hope this was better then my last attempt)

So this isn't quite up to the quality level of Arch Enemy, but it is still pretty decent when the Gothenburg genre is considered. The worst problem that it has is a general lack of really killer riffs, instead choosing to concentrate on a few unspectacular ones as the backbone of every song.

It seems that the main riff style is to have a fast lick alternated with some slower, less well-defined chords. For a good example of this, see the second track (Sadistic Lullabye) under the main verses... for example around 0.17, there is that fast riff that sounds almost like something Sepultura may have considered, and then the rest of the verses continue and under that there is a random set of chords. Then, the counterpoint melody at around 0.48 in - an Iron Maiden riff, stripped of its catchiness, and repeated a few times. That's typical Gothenburg for you, and that song pretty much defines how the whole album operates.

The other thing is of course the slower "melodic" breakdowns - a really hideous section of whisper-growled (read: geigh almost mallcore) vocals, there is a decent solo. The lead guitar in here is pretty good, but the problem is is that underneath the poor chord-progression riffs continue - in other words, one cannot get GOOD RIFFS, or one cannot get riffs that highlight the solo. Very distracting.

There are some decent riffs to be found here... for example, the intro riff to "My Need" is pretty good. But then they ride it far too much, still using it under the verses, and then there is a really silly break to "complement" that. Again, the use of melody is not very well done - between the riffs-and-verses part, and the solo, they seem to heavily indicate the use of throwing in a silly hardcore-ish breakdown.

Skin After Skin has some decent thrashy riffs under the verses - specifically around 0.46 in, that is total headbanging material. The concept of a great riff is not entirely foreign, but again after about 12 seconds, a silly whispered breakdown occurs - ruining an almost-decent under-vocals riff, before that too is gone, replaced by a very bad Gothenburg-ish riff at around 1.15 in. This is very modern, and straying very close to mallcore for me. Nonetheless, this may be the highlight of the album, because it throws in some decent riffs.

After a while, the album tends to reduce itself to "more of the same". The problem is similar to so many modern albums - the overall song macrostructure ideas are so far removed from those of the classics. Many seemingly random ideas are thrown together in a total mishmash, especially a lot of poorly executed ones. For example, the chorus of "Steelbath Suicide" is very uninspired, and underneath it the Swedish-melodic riffs get very old, very fast. Another example, "Demon In Veins", which has some of the best lead guitar packaging on the whole album... decent riffage and keyboards highlight a very, very good solo. Too bad that what comes before and after that section is crappy Gothenburg and an uninspired, shouting hardcore-ish grating chorus.

Even some of the thrash riffing tends to sound completely out of place - for example the main chorus riff of "Razor Lives" sounds like half of it was played at double-speed and half at normal speed - it does not sync properly with the rhythm section.

So the good points of this album... some very decent lead guitar work, and the occasional great, catchy memorable riff. However, a lot of the time, the riff work is very subpar - that hideous "melodic" stuff that is sufficiently removed from thrash, combined with the obligatory use of some Pantera/Machine Head riffs (see the middle section of "In A Close Encounter"), and then some very badly executed whiney interludes... yep, it's a Gothenburg album, above all else. I would not recommend this one. Get some thrash instead!