SOILWORK's BJÖRN 'SPEED' STRID On Upcoming Album: 'It's Pretty Fast-Paced And 'Even More Intense'

Metal Wani editor Sairaj R. Kamath recently conducted an interview with vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid of Swedish metallers SOILWORK. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Asked about the direction of the material for SOILWORK's upcoming follow-up to 2013's "The Living Infinite", Strid said: "I feel it's pretty fast-paced. It's pretty intense — even more intense, I feel, than 'The Living Infinite'. It might be a little bit more brutal, in a sense, even though that's kind of a stupid word to use. We're definitely not slowing down. And I guess it is also a development from 'The Living Infinite' — just slightly faster, in a sense."

He continued: "When we made a double album, there's loads of room for more dynamics, having a more mellow song… It was easier to do it that way. And I don't know… We've just been developing our sound, and it turned out to be pretty fast paced and pretty technical, but yet pretty melodic and also atmospheric. But it's definitely very intense."

Strid also spoke the fact that some of SOILWORK's Swedish contemporaries, like IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILLITY, are getting more melodic and experimental in their sound while SOILWORK is seemingly getting more intense.

"Well, I guess you're right about that," Strid said. "There's a lot of bands coming from the same genre as us and also from the Scandinavian scene that have been changing their sound. That's really up to each and every band. I think they've been doing great. For example, IN FLAMES, I did see them live in Toronto a month ago, and I was really impressed how [their new] album ['Siren Charms'] went over live; I think it was a different experience, and it sounded pretty cool."

He continued: "Just because we're doing more fast-paced [stuff now] and we're not slowing down doesn't mean that we're doing that as a conscious decision: 'Just because everybody else is slowing down, let's make brutal music again.' It's not really our intention. It's more what we want to do right now. And by saying that it's fast-paced and brutal again, like the old days, in a sense, it doesn't mean that it's all nostalgic. It's also a development. Even though it's brutal and fast, it's in a different way nowadays, I feel. It's more interesting and we've grown as songwriters as well. But it's what we wanna do."

Strid added: "We never really discuss what we're gonna do: 'So, how should the new album sound?' We never, ever discuss it like that. We're just, like, 'Okay, so how do you feel about songwriting? Do you feel inspired?' it's, like, 'Yeah, yeah.' 'So maybe we should start thinking about recording a new album.' 'Okay. All right.' We start writing songs, and it just happens , in that sense, I guess. So it's interesting that the spark is there still, and that we really feel that it's interesting."

SOILWORK's new album, which is due later in the year, is once again being produced by Jens Bogren, who also worked on the band's last two CDs, "The Living Infinite" and "The Panic Broadcast".

SOILWORK will release its first live DVD/Blu-ray, "Live In The Heart Of Helsinki", on March 13 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was recorded during the band's special show on March 21, 2014 at Circus Club in the Finnish capital and features guest appearances by Floor Jansen (NIGHTWISH, REVAMP) and Nathan J. Biggs (SONIC SYNDICATE).

SOILWORK's ninth studio and first dual-disc album, "The Living Infinite", sold around 7,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 60. The effort also landed at No. 11 on the Independent Albums chart, and No. 2 on the Hard Music chart. "The Living Infinite" entered the iTunes Metal Top Albums chart at No. 1 and was the No. 1 most added album on the CMJ radio chart.