SOILWORK: SWEET LIVE BAND?

A member of a famous metal band who probably wishes to remain anonymous has said to me on more than one occasion that he believes Soilwork are a good live band, but not a great live band, and that they were only ever great [in the U.S.] one time: Ozzfest 2005. I was really surprised to hear him put it in these terms, because I’d had the exact same thoughts with regards to Ozzfest 2005… they were so, so, so tight. Not sure if it was the lineup at the time, the sound engineer, having practiced a lot beforehand, being psyched about the tour, playing outdoors or what… but they just sounded absolutely phenomenal, at least on the date I saw them in New Jersey. Since then, seeing Soilwork live has always been slightly anti-climactic mainly because the guitars seem muddy / lack definition, but it’s always fun nonetheless because I’m a total fanboy of their albums.

Anyway, all that doesn’t have much to do with anything other than that I thought of it because the new video for Soilwork’s “Let This River Flow” is a live clip. Honestly, despite how much we hyped it up pre-release, I’d kinda forgotten that Soilwork put out a new record last year, and that said record –– The Panic Broadcast — was pretty darn good. This was not one of my favorite songs from that record, though; no, I have nothing against Soilwork ballads (“Song of the Damned” anyone???), I just don’t happen to really like this song. Anyway, here it go:

-VN