Soilwork: The Living Infinite

Almost a Cheap Trick album.

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This might sound daft, but Soilwork have come up with an album so melodic, it’s only a couple of steps removed from possibly being the latest Cheap Trick effort. If you took out some of the growling vocals and the occasional brutal riff, then what you’re left with is so tuneful and well constructed, it’s top-class melodic rock.

This is a double CD brimming with wonderful songs. Momentary Blues and Tongue are instantly catchy, while The Windswept Mercy (featuring a guest appearance from Justin Sullivan of New Model Army) is a bold stroke of graceful metal, and Antidotes In Passing is drenched with emotional virtuoso guitar momentum.

While Soilwork’s pedigree lies in the Gothenburg metal scene, what prevents The Living Infinite from fulfilling its full potential are the band’s steadfast ties to that style. If they’d broken free, allowing the music to bloom, this would be a sensational album.

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.