Soilwork

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Background information
Origin	Helsingborg, Sweden
Genre(s)	Melodic death metal
Years active	1996 – present
Label(s)	Nuclear Blast Century Media Listenable Records
Associated acts	In Flames
Website	www.soilwork.org
Members
Björn "Speed" Strid Ola Frenning Daniel Antonsson Sven Karlsson Ola Flink Dirk Verbeuren
Former members
Peter Wichers Henry Ranta Carlos Del Olmo Holmberg Ludvig Svartz Jimmy Persons Ricky Evensend

Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band formed in late 1995, originally under the name Inferior Breed. In 1996, they changed their name to Soilwork to better fit their new sound. Their sound is a fusion of the classic Gothenburg metal sound with power-groove riffs of late 1970s, early 1980s British, and European metal. However, in their most recent albums Soilwork have also introduced elements from American alternative metal and adopted a more melodic sound. Their most recent work has more singing and lighter melodies than their earlier work, as well as a more polished production that brings out the strength of the drums and vocals.

In 2005, the band began to gain minor commercial success in the United States. Stabbing the Drama reached #12 and #21 on the Billboard Heatseeker and Independent album charts, respectively. They played the 2005 Ozzfest alongside their label mates, In Flames.

1 Peter Wicher's departure
2 Band members
3 Discography
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Peter Wicher's departure

In late 2005, guitarist Peter Wichers left the band due to tour exhaustion and other personal issues. Wichers now does music production for other bands. Of all the line-up changes with Soilwork, this one comes as the biggest and most disappointing to Soilwork fans, as Wichers was a very important member of the band and has a style of guitar-playing that many believe cannot be duplicated.

As of February 4, 2007, Soilwork were in search for a new guitarist living in Sweden to replace Peter Wichers. On the tours in 2006 they were using Andreas Holma (ex-Hypocrisy) and other session guitarists as short-term replacements. After their 2006 U.S. tour, they planned to choose one of the guitarists they had been touring with. On February 17 2007, the band announced while performing at the House of Metal Festival in Umeå that Daniel Antonsson was the permanent new guitarist.

The successor album to Stabbing the Drama is presently being written, the band entered the studio on March 1, 2007.

[edit] Band members

[edit] Current members

Björn "Speed" Strid – Vocals
Ola Frenning – Guitars
Daniel Antonsson – Guitars
Sven Karlsson – Keyboards
Ola Flink – Bass
Dirk Verbeuren – Drums

[edit] Former band members

Peter Wichers – Guitars
Ludvig Svartz – Guitars
Carlos Del Olmo Holmberg – Keyboards
Henry Ranta – Drums
Jimmy Persons – Drums
Ricky Evensend – Drums

[edit] Session members

Andreas Holma – Guitars (filled in on UK tour '06 after Peter Wicher's departure)
David – Guitars (filled in on NA tour '06 after Peter Wicher's departure)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Album Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	Peak	Sales
	1998	Steelbath Suicide	Listenable Records Century Media	-	-
	2000	The Chainheart Machine	Listenable Records Century Media	-	-
	2001	A Predator's Portrait	Nuclear Blast	-	-
	2002	Natural Born Chaos	Nuclear Blast	-	-
	2003	Figure Number Five	Nuclear Blast	-	-
	2005	Stabbing the Drama	Nuclear Blast	-	-

[edit] Demos/EPs

In Dreams We Fall Into The Eternal Lake (1997, demo)
The Early Chapters (2003, EP)

[edit] Singles

Like the Average Stalker (2001)
As We Speak (2002)
Light the Torch (2003)
Rejection Role (2003)
Stabbing the Drama (2005)
Nerve (2005)

[edit] Trivia

Their music video for their song "Rejection Role" is a reverse of In Flames' video for "Trigger". Both are filmed in the same location, and include the performing band being heckled by the other. The two bands at one point in both videos confront each other for a fight on a set of steps. While the fight itself is not shown, the winner of the fight is assumed to be the performing band in each video. This is shown by one member of the other band having a black eye afterwards.
There are two movie quotes that appear on The Chainheart Machine. The first is, "Your suffering will be legendary even in hell" taken from Hellbound: Hellraiser II which appears in the title track. The second is, "So you wanna play rough. Say hello to my little friend" taken from Scarface which appears in "Bulletbeast".
The name "Soilwork" is a play on the concept of working from the ground up.
Obviously the band's oldest member, guitarist Ola Frenning claims a few times on his online profile that his birthday is in "August 19??", or, if asking for his age, simply writes "too old for this shit."
The "Light the Torch" music video is a non-commercial school project made for Soilwork. It was produced in Sweden over a span of four months by four students studying computer graphics. This video was aired on European MTV.