''The Panic Broadcast'' is the eighth studio album by the Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Soilwork Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Helsingborg. They are signed to Nuclear Blast. Formed in late 1995 by Björn Strid and Peter Wichers, originally under the name ''Inferior Breed'', the band changed their name in late 1996 to S ...

, released 2 July in Europe and 13 July in North America, 2010. The album marks the return of long-time Soilwork guitarist and founder

Peter Wichers Peter Wichers is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and record producer best known as one of the founding members of melodic death metal band Soilwork. From 1995 until late 2005, when he announced his departure from the band, and again from 2008 un ...

, who also took on the role as the album's producer, though Wichers would leave Soilwork in 2012. The album also features the debut of guitarist Sylvain Coudret who replaced longtime guitarist Ola Frenning in 2008. Mixing was done by

Jens Bogren Jens Peter Daniel Bogren (born 13 November 1979) is a Swedish record producer, mixer and recording engineer specializing in heavy metal music. He has worked on albums by Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Sepultura, Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Katatonia, Babym ...

. According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, The Panic Broadcast sold around 5,257 copies in its first week of sales in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The album debuted at #88 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, making it their highest-charting album in their entire career at the time.

Album

Musically, this album found the band moving back more to their speed-laden, melodic death metal roots, though the already present alternative and metalcore sound still remains. In an interview with

SuicideGirls SuicideGirls is an online community-based website that revolves around pin-up photography sets of models known as the Suicide Girls. The website was founded in 2001 by Selena Mooney ("Missy Suicide") and Sean Suhl ("Spooky"). Most of the site ...

.com, Wichers spoke about what direction the band might take musically with its next album. "We talked about maybe taking a little bit of a different approach for the next record," he said. "Having me and Sylvain back in the band, I think that we're probably going to try to do stuff that might be a little more technical. We want to keep the element of the catchy chorus but at the same time maybe have bit more guitar solos than on ''

Sworn to a Great Divide ''Sworn to a Great Divide'' is the seventh studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. The album was released on 19 October 2007 for Europe and on 23 October 2007 for the US, both through Nuclear Blast. Everything aside from vocal ...

'' and also let Dirk erbeuren, drumsget more space on the record for drumming. That was one of the things I think that 'Sworn to a Great Divide' was lacking a little bit. It's a good record but I think that with such talented musicians the next album definitely needs to have more performance." Peter Wichers also stated that this album will have more

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

elements that previous albums and even said that one of the riffs for 'The Thrill' was inspired by a bluegrass riff. Lead vocalist

Björn Strid Björn Ove Ingemar "Speed" Strid (born 10 September 1978) is a Swedish vocalist who has worked with bands such as Allegaeon, Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000, Coldseed, The Night Flight Orchestra, Act of Denial, Gizmachi, and most notably Soilw ...

confirmed 18 February 2010 that the drums for the album had already been recorded. He also confirmed the names of six tracks: "The Thrill", "Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter", "The Akuma Afterglow", "Let This River Flow", "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and "Two Lives Worth of Reckoning". The complete track listing was revealed on 8 April. On 17 May 2010, the band released "Two Lives Worth of Reckoning" on their MySpace.

Track listing

Personnel

Soilwork *Björn "Speed" Strid –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Peter Wichers –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

*Ola Flink –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Sven Karlsson –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s *

Dirk Verbeuren Dirk Verbeuren (born 8 January 1975) is a Belgian musician and the current drummer of American thrash metal band Megadeth, amongst other projects. He previously was a member of the Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. Verbeuren recorded ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Sylvain Coudret –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

Technical personnel *Peter Wichers –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

- mixing

Reception

The NewReview gave the album a 4.0 out of 5 and stated "Soilwork is the kind of band so ahead of the curve they have the keys to the asphalt paving machine. ''The Panic Broadcast'' is another in a long line of Soilwork albums crammed full of metal goodness and makes you sorry you fell for cheap, trendy trash."

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panic Broadcast Soilwork albums 2010 albums Nuclear Blast albums