Soilwork are numbered among the first bands that brought melodic death metal to life and have been providing the music-hungry metal fans with awesome records and divine live shows since 20 years already. Thanks to their well-balanced style, they can definitely be ranked among the best in the melodic death metal genre.
Ironically enough, Soilwork has also always been that one amazing band I've been knowing and loving ever since I got into metal, but under suspicious circumstances got lost in the monstrous amount of bands I've been discovering in recent years. When I heard about a live album due in 2015, though, I got interested again.
After a successful double album called "The Living Infinite" released in 2013, Soilwork are back in 2015 with their first live album recorded at Circus Club in Helsinki. Having given a wide catalogue of ten albums to choose from, Soilwork put 23 songs on their setlist ranging from highlights from their early works "Steelbath Suicide", "A Predator's Portrait" and "Natural Born Chaos" to their more known and popular songs taken from records like "Figure Number Five", "Stabbing The Drama" and "The Panic Broadcast" as well as to new tracks from their most recent album "The Living Infinite". Soilwork didn't leave out any album, which is really positive because someone completely new to the band is given a relatively good impression of the band's style. This way, Soilwork also please loyal fans by keeping their setlist nice and diverse.
The band has a diverse yet distinctive sound that combines the brutality of death and thrash metal with melodic elements and it really comes into its own on "Live In The Heart Of Helsinki". All instruments are clearly audible, as much as Björn Strid's varied vocals from brutal and aggressive through to clean and emotional blew me away once more time and I'm convinced they will again years from now.
One of the numerous highlights of this live album is the duet with Floor Jansen (Nightwish, ReVamp). She and Strid already worked together for the track "Disdain" which can be found on ReVamp's first album and I've always liked how their voices assort with each other. "Let This River Flow" turned into a powerful song with Jansen's exceptional vocals on it.
Some more highlights are "Bastard Chain", "Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter" and "The Living Infinite", as well as the last track "Stabbing The Drama", which didn't leave my mind since the last 24 hours.
The band sounds present at all times and captured a truly awesome show we all can be part of now. People, go and get this DVD or at least the audio version of it. You won't regret it!
