This is obviously stupid but it was a sentiment I held on to for years, one that probably peaked with Immortal's super lame comeback album, All Shall Fall. It was years before I could spin Pure Holocaust or Sons of Northern Darkness again. All because of the legacy, man. But over the past few years, I've begun to re-discover some of my early, spurned loves, and the joy we once shared together.
In my nascent metal years I was a pretty big Soilwork fan. I devoured their first few albums like a child discovering extreme sour candy. The Chainheart Machine, A Predator's Portrait, and Natural Born Chaos were perfect gateway albums into the world of extreme metal. They were fast and nimble but featured plenty of grooves and those BIG ROCK moments the mind needs to gain a footing on a new sonic landscape.
But as it turns out, the band and I were headed in opposite directions. While I went deeper into the world of death and black metal, they became a pretty shitty pop metal band, overstuffed with self-serious cleanly-sung choruses and glassy electronics. And while that stuff still sucks (Figure Number Five has a few cool moments but is still mostly awful), my new attitude dictated that I give their old stuff a try.
