Verkligheten


Verkligheten is the eleventh studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released on 11 January 2019 via Nuclear Blast. It is the first album to feature drummer Bastian Thusgaard as the replacement of longtime member Dirk Verbeuren. The album's release also marks the longest gap between Soilwork studio albums to date, with their previous album, The Ride Majestic, having been released nearly three and a half years earlier.

Background and recording

In a February 2017 interview with KaaosTV, frontman Björn "Speed" Strid revealed that the band would "slowly get into writing mode" for the follow-up to The Ride Majestic during the summer and enter the studio later that year. On 20 April 2017, the band officially announced Bastian Thusgaard as the permanent replacement to Dirk Verbeuren, who had departed from the band to join Megadeth in July 2016. The band also added that Thusgaard would be involved in the writing process of the new album.
On 4 April 2018, the band officially entered Nordic Sound Lab Studios in Skara, Sweden and the Panic Room in Skövde, Sweden with producer Thomas "PLEC" Johansson to begin recording their new album. The recording of the album was finished as of September 2018, scheduled for a tentative early 2019 release.
Strid commented on the new album:

Release

On 4 October 2018, the band posted an official teaser video for "Arrival", the first single of the new album. On 12 October 2018, the band revealed the title, tracklist and artwork of their new album Verkligheten, which would be released on 11 January 2019 via Nuclear Blast. A visualizer clip of "Arrival" was also available for streaming on the same day. On 26 October 2018, the band released the music video for the song "Full Moon Shoals". An animated music video directed by Elia Cristofoli for the song "Stålfågel" was released on 21 December 2018. The music video for the song "Witan" was available for streaming on 11 January 2019.

Track listing

Personnel

Soilwork
Additional musicians
Production and design