Soilwork kicks up Springfield

One of Sweden’s premiere metal exports, Soilwork, gave Virginia fans two chances to catch their live shows this time around.
The group opened its U.S. tour for its latest album, “Stabbing the Drama,” Oct. 5 at the Jaxx Concert Hall and Night Club in Springfield, Va. They are also hitting up the NorVa in Norfolk Nov. 3.
Soilwork distinguishes themselves from the rest of the Swedish melodic metal bunch of bands with a good mix of groovy European thrash and good old American bluesy rock.
The band has been auditioning new guitar players on the last two European tours and continues to do so with a fill-in guitar player taking over for ex-guitarist and founder, Peter Wichers. The new guitarist, David Andersson, played Peter’s guitar parts as if he had been practicing them in his bedroom for hours like an obsessed fan.
“Peter is a very smart guitar player. When you first listen to his solos, they sound really complicated to play, but when you figure them out, they really aren’t as crazy as they sound,” Andersson said. “Not difficult solos to play, but he is very smart. He put them together so well.”
He hardly needed to glance down at his fret board, lifting his head high in the air with a cunning grin on his face. Andersson knew he was good.
Front man Bjorn “Speed” Strid brought Adam Block, a VCU student who has operated the Official Soilwork fan Web site soilworkers.com for the last five years, on stage to sing a song.
This show in particular had the best set list of the five Soilwork concerts that I have seen. Opting to mix things up this time around since “Stabbing the Drama” came out last year, Soilwork added some golden oldies like “Wings of Domain,” “Spirits of the Future Sun” and “Neurotica Rampage” alongside newer, catchier tracks from its last two releases.
Soilwork is always a blast to see live and never gets old, even after seeing the band two or three times every year.