August 2015 Album of the Month: Soilwork’s The Ride Majestic
Monday, 7th September 2015
It seems like usually these start off by discussing how close a match it was between a few albums in the month. Not this month. One might say that Soilwork’s The Ride Majestic flat out obliterated the other choices for this month’s top honors in a way we haven’t seen with this column to this point. Easy to see why though, when you hear what the band has done with their tenth album, it’s nothing short of jaw-dropping. Varied dynamics, playful songwriting, and an effective re-imagining of the trademark Soilwork “sound” all come into play with The Ride Majestic. All but certain to be on at least a few staffers’ end of year lists in a few months. It’s that good!
An excerpt from Kyle McGinn’s 10/10 review, which posted on August 23rd:
So how do you follow up a critically well-received and innovative double-album? That is the question that had to plague Soilwork after the release of The Living Infinite. They had successfully proven that there was still plenty of gas left in the tank post-Wichers, and Infinite saw the band take some experimental leaps and bounds and saw some of their textbook formatting go out the window. Turns out all you have to do is take the best of what you did with a double-album and funnel it into the strongest 50-minutes that you’ve got (along with a few additional twists and turns of course).
There’s not a skippable track on The Ride Majestic, though it may take a few spins to truly “get” whats going on compared to some of the band’s discography. It’s clear that Soilwork are still hungry and willing to prove themselves, even after ten albums and a legacy of high-water marks – The Ride Majestic might just be the strongest album they’ve done since The Chainheart Machine (still one of this writer’s favorite albums of all time). It’s exciting to hear such a veteran band come up with genuinely exciting material this far into their career and retain that spark of creativity. If The Living Infinite once more secured Soilwork’s claim to the melodic death metal throne, The Ride Majestic will see them seated on it for the definite future.
Read the full review HERE.
