Soilwork's overall melodic death outputs have been solid. Their last release that I heard before this one was 'A Predator's Portrait' (2001). That remarkable album I think for me will remain their best. When I first listened to 'The Panic Broadcast', I wasn't very impressed. However, on repeated listens, I've been able to appreciate it a lot more. It just took many spins to get into it.

The guitars are tuned down a few steps and are mostly chunky mixed with melodic parts. Björn "Speed" Strid, their vocalist, sings hoarse throat alongside the heavy rhythms, but meshes it with well the melodic parts. There are clean bits with the guitars and some keyboard action. The melodies were hard at first to get into. All of the rhythm guitar sections were solid and thick. They are catchier the more you listen to this.

I was hoping that the riffs would be intriguing for me like they were on 'A Predator's Portrait'. It did happen on here after about 5-6 listens to. The songs are about 4-5 minutes in length. All of the tracks were filled with constant wages of superiority. Again, rhythms were very well thought out, they didn't sound very bland. The chords feature that heavy/chunky guitar with melodic pieces that were quite memorable.

There were only a few leads by Sylvain Coudret throughout this album. They were pretty well orchestrated, but just not enough of them. The rhythms overpowered everything. As much as I tried to enjoy the music on here, it simply did take quite time as I previously mentioned. "Speed" got on my nerves at first and the guitars overall were filled with great melodic death superiority. I really got what I hoped for which was like their older more classic outputs.

Another good thing that occurred here was the mixing. The guitars were well heard throughout, that is, the rhythms to be precise. However, I did have trouble hearing the bass guitar, it could've been louder. The drum bits were well orchestrated and the vocals were a little over the top, but not that bad. They kind of drowned out the guitar riffs but were dominating.

A long album featuring 10 tracks calculating at about 47 minutes long, these melodic death metalers really filled me vigilance. I'm urging that everyone into melodic death should purchase this. I've noted that throughout this release, the vocals were overpowering, the rhythm guitar blatantly worthy of praise and the overall worth did hit home with me. Best to purchase this ASAP if you want to hear dominating melodic death!

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
08/29/2011 18:58