Soilwork - Sworn to a Great Divide

Soilwork's last two albums, Figure Number Five and Stabbing the Drama, were hit or miss with lots of fans. Unfortunately, Sworn to a Great Divide will most likely have the same impact. There are some great songs on here, but there are also some songs that are not so great. Fortunately this time around, the misses just miss because they are mediocre not because they are unlistenable.

The first thing that jumped out when the title track kicked in was this album is going to be more aggressive than their last two albums. Sworn to a Great Divide has the most aggressive and dynamic Soilwork material since Natural Born Chaos. Another thing that jumped out is the lack of keyboards on this album. This album has less keyboards than anything post-Predator's Portrait. The last thing I noticed is how much Björn "Speed" Strid improved as a vocalist. His voice is extremely strong, he has a great tone and forms great melodies.

"Sworn to a Great Divide", "Breeding Thorns", "Your Beloved Scapegoat", "The Pittsburgh Syndrome", "Sick Heart River" and "20 More Miles" are some of the strongest songs I have heard from Soilwork in quite some time. I think "20 More Miles" could be the best Soilwork song since "Song of the Damned". The rest of the songs range from meh to pretty good, but fail to leave the same impact.

It seems that Soilwork has become very comfortable with the sound they created with Natural Born Chaos and aren't doing much to stray from it. As long as I get a handful of solid songs, I will keep listening.