EP Review: Soilwork – A Whisp Of the Atlantic (Nuclear Blast)

Carl Fisher 2 min read

Swedish metallers Soilwork will release a new EP entitled ‘A Whisp Of the Atlantic’ on December 4th 2020 via Nuclear Blast. Their latest release following 2019’s album ‘Verkligheten’ and the Underworld EP that same year.

After a very fruitful and busy 2019, it’s a surprise to see Soilwork back with a brand new EP already. However, what’s even more surprising is what appears on it as this is no ‘by the numbers’ release.

5 tracks long and coming in at 37 minutes long, almost half that runtime is taken up by the opening and title track, A Whisp of the Atlantic. Undisputedly the most ambitious piece of music Soilwork have ever recorded. A progressive mammoth-sized piece of music that travels incredible lengths along a melodic death metal road. It’s got Soilwork’s trademark kicks and punches but is the band delivering an unbelievably expansive effort.

Detailed melodies, layered keys with chunky riffs, soaring vocals and more intense shouts of passion, bursts of harmonious heaviness, a squealing guitar solo, jazzy outro and tempo shifts that boggle the mind. It’s a treat, something you might expect more from the likes of Opeth then Soilwork but is certainly a unique listen.

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If you’re not completely spent after that, things take a more traditional Soilwork approach with the blast of heated heaviness that is Feverish and Desperado. An energetic pair and with a majestic level of melodic detail that sits so comfortably in the mind. Classy as hell and very memorable.

Whereas Death Diviner brings a ton of groove with its riffs while dropping the pulse for a more relaxed, yet still powerful effort. Power that comes from the consistently brilliant vocals. Before The Nothingness and the Devil ends this creature of a listen on such a classic-Soilwork high.

Personally, it’s the four tracks that follow the epic title track that hit the mark more for me. It’s impossible to not admire what Soilwork accomplished on that immense effort but it’s certainly going to polarise opinion.

Soilwork – A Whisp Of the Atlantic Full Track Listing:

1. A Whisp Of the Atlantic
2. Feverish
3. Desperado
4. Death Diviner
5. The Nothingness and The Devil




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Soilwork - A Whisp Of the Atlantic (Nuclear Blast)
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