Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos

March 25, 2002 • Nuclear Blast

Time for another trip down memory lane, this time all the way back to high school in 2004 or maybe 2005. I was finally starting to expand my metal horizons besides whatever garbage was on the radio (okay, yes, it was a slow process) and I had a friend or two who were into some good stuff (what passed for good stuff at the time). Natural Born Chaos blew my little mind at the time—or maybe that was just because of how loud my friend played it in his car.

Anyway.

Like every melodic death metal band who was around in the mid-2000s, Soilwork was a very silly band and this is some pretty silly music. The melodic-ness is laid on really thick for the most part—lots of harmonized vocal hooks, cheesy synths, relatively cliché chord progressions and such. That said, they do manage to write a few good riffs and when they decide to get actually heavy (e.g. "Follow the Hollow") it's actually some pretty good material. Maybe not enough actually-good material to fill ten songs, but it gets close. And even I have to admit that the technical aspect of this album is pretty good. The drumming is satisfying, the mix is nice and punchy—heck, even the guitar solos are pretty good and I usually don't care much about guitar solos.

Then again, there's a big nostalgia factor here. When I first heard this album, it was when I actually had time to read and remember the lyrics, and quite a few of these songs I still know how to play on bass. These melodies and riffs are etched in my brain forever. Had I first heard of this album today, I probably would be entertained for a while and then forget it shortly after, but as it stands I can't not enjoy it.