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SOILWORK
1999 - The Chainheart Machine.
way more Helter Skelter.

September 25, 1999 - 2024: 25 years of: The Chainheart Machine.

Lovely Sweden and it's rocknroll hooligans ...is there anything they can't do ?

Between oldschool deathnroll monsters ENTOMBED and before current horrormetal arena-fillers of GHOST ...SOILWORK were the shit. More melodic than EDGE OF SANITY and more aggressive than HAMMERFALL ...SOILWORK are the ultimate hybrid between all of the above, and more.

The mid 90s were deadly to deathmetal, the run had taken it's course, but in 1998 these Swedish boys injected fresh new blood with their impressive Steel Bath Suicide debut-CD. Both fans and the press rapidly caught the wave, but the real deal was put on tape for their second hot offering ...The Swedish Chainheart Massacre.

The intense title-track "The Chainheart Machine" opens-up with a looped mechanic-sample and all hell breaks loose. Riffs, rhythms and Björn Strid's sick mid-range hardcore vocals takes the torch and runs away with it. "Bulletbeast" follows-up and warms-up the room even more. Third track the energetic "Millionflame" is a fine example of melodic-brutality in modern-metal.

The driving riff to "Generation Speedkill" is like a chainsaw straight to the chest, while "Possessing The Angels" is one of the greatest Swedish deathmetal-songs not written by ARCH ENEMY. The heavy start-stop riff of "Room No. 99" closes the CD with another in-your-face knock-out punch.

The dawn of the new millennium was a rich and interesting time, as new young players incorporated oldschool vibes with cutting-edge technologies ...all of this before the Y2K blow-out. This Machine is: fierce thrash / death with classic powermetal melodies, all fueled by Scandinavian angst. If you miss the glorious era of Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious, your prayers have been answered.

Sweden, bloody Sweden !

Some countries are lucky to have a healthy metal-scene and some countries are even luckier to have not one, but two healthy and influential metal-scenes. While the original deathmetal circle was set in 1989's Stockholm area with ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER and UNLEASHED ...the melodic-death brotherhood of 1995's Gothenburg area was blessed with AT THE GATES, DARK TRANQUILITY and the inextinguishable IN FLAMES. How can one country kick so much ass, what are you feeding these boys ?

SOILWORK shall swing the axe again with might, on 2001's A Predator's Portait CD.

*
The Chainheart Machine = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3o6KVfioJ0&list=OLAK5uy_keMGi19NWslzjHigvs0YNlXy5w8C7g_IM
Live in France in 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOLbrFy0GY8
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173mRZ8sFes