Having only discovered the delights of Soilwork around the “Natural Born Chaos” era (released in 2002 and produced by Devin Townsend) I thankfully managed to avoid developing a “they were much better when they were death metal” attitude that seems to be rife amongst the band’s more hardcore devotees. I also appreciate that, whilst their last effort “Figure Number Five” sacrificed some of their heavy sound for a more crisp & uplifting anthemic tone – it was a damn catchy album – and I didn’t have a problem with that at all.

Sadly, I can’t be quite so positive about their latest release “Stabbing the Drama”.

This is a tricky CD to write about – from a reviewer’s point of view - mainly because it’s quite hard to pinpoint what exactly is wrong with it. There is just something not right about this record. Things start promisingly enough – the title track kicks off the album in particular anthemic “sing-a-long” fashion. Indeed, the initial impression is even greater than some of the catchy-as-flu tracks from “Figure Number Five”. Sadly, once you get four or five songs further, you realise perhaps the first track you heard was actually the high peak of a very steep, very forgettable downhill slope.

Perhaps I’m being a tad harsh. I find my foot tapping fairly frequently throughout “One With the Flies”, and find myself nodding along merrily to the double bass drum beats of “Nerve”. I also recall really loving the track “Observation Slave” – but I couldn’t tell you what it sounds like if you asked me! And that’s just it. As enjoyable as it is (and with the exception of the excellent title track “Stabbing the Drama”) once the stop button is pressed - I really can’t recall much about the album at all. It seems to be a black hole made into music. Anything after around track 5 is extremely hard to distinguish from track to track. It’s a shame really – bar the terrible pop dirge of “Distance” - I couldn’t realistically accuse any track on the album of being “bad”.

I think the record suffers from a band trying to “compromise” – I could of course be totally wrong, but hear me out. They’ve taken the intense, heavy elements of “Natural Born Chaos”, and also the catchy choruses of “Figure Number Five” and attempted to blend them together - to keep all the different fans happy. At least that’s my theory. Sadly, the result is a watered down album - that doesn’t quite hit the spot – on either the heaviness or the catchiness front. I feel music should always be a totally selfish process, it should be something you create because you want to. When bands “try to keep the fans happy” the music is seldom interesting, and often lacking in soul.

While I wouldn’t go as far as saying “Stabbing the Drama” lacks soul, it certainly lacks something. The result is an album that is just “quite good” within the genre and nothing exceptional.

Standout Tracks:  Stabbing the Drama, Observation Slave, Nerve.

Overall Score:   7 /10