Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Björn “Speed” Strid, the frontman for Soilwork, recently discussed the status of the songwriting sessions for the band’s 2022 follow-up to their “Övergivenheten” album in an interview with Metal Anthology, as per Blabbermouth. According to Strid, the composition process has evolved since Soilwork guitarist David Andersson passed away in September 2022.
Yeah, [David] was very much of a driving force. So I think it’s a bit more of a group effort now, like a collective thing. And it feels like we’re entering a bit of a new era. And I think next album will be slightly different from ‘Övergivenheten’, but it will have some of those elements — the atmosphere, but maybe more mixed with the sort of old, heavier stuff from the 2000s. But, yeah, it’s very much of a group effort and, obviously, [longtime touring guitarist] Simon [Johansson] joining the fold as well has brought some fresh blood, both on a personal level and songwriting-wise and everything. So we’re looking forward to create this new album together.
Simon Johansson continued:
Yeah, it’s interesting. We’re learning to write together in a way, because we haven’t really done it. And [bassist] Rasmus [Ehrnborn] is also new, kind of, so it’s kind of like a new constellation having to create music. But it’s working well. I mean, ‘Spirit [Of No Return]'[which came out in October 2024] turned out well. And we have a lot of really promising songs for the new album. We have a lot written already — more than one album.
Simon responded as follows when asked if the next Soilwork release would be a double album.
No, that won’t happen. We’re gonna do a moderate, normal-length album. But it’s gonna be a cool one. But it’s always nice to have extra songs, for whatever purpose, to choose from, to start with. And then, of course, you can maybe release some singles [ahead of the full-length].
Björn confirmed when asked if the new Soilwork work would be “a little bit a throwback to the faster” flavor of some of the band’s previous endeavors.
No. More like heavier — the heaviness, I would say, that we had on maybe [2001’s] ‘A Predator’s Portrait’ and [2002’s] ‘Natural Born Chaos’, maybe a little bit of [2005’s] ‘Stabbing [The Drama]’ too, but I kind of wanted to bring back the heaviness a bit and sort of mix it up with a more recent atmosphere, the epicness. So, that’s sort of what I’m picturing, personally. I don’t know if [the other] guys picture the same thing, but we have been discussing it a little bit, so it seems like we’re on the same page.
Johansson stated:
And then you never know what happens during an album process. It could take some turn or whatever, but that’s also the beauty of it. Because, for me, many times it’s been, like, the least favorite song, [when you] start recording an album, it’s, like, ‘Oh, that one isn’t that good.’ And then you start to add things and all of a sudden that is the best song. It’s super interesting. It’s so fun to be in that process.
But who is the producer for this new album? Strid replied.
We’ve had some producers, but this one we’re gonna gonna be pretty much self-produced. We’ll record at Simon’s studio. So all of us are kind of [involved]; it’s like a group effort.
Simon added:
We also have this engineer, mixing guy that is working with us and has been working with us for a couple of albums. He also has ideas. He contributes whatever good things he can come up with. So we kind do it together, that part, I think.
