Why SOILWORK Will Never Perform 'Natural Born Chaos' And 'Stabbing The Drama' Albums In Their Entirety

Vocalist Björn Strid of Swedish metallers SOILWORK, who will reach the 25-year milestone in 2020, says that there are no plans for his band to perform any of its classic albums in their entirety anytime soon.

"We didn't really celebrate the 20th anniversary," Björn told the "BREWtally Speaking" podcast (hear audio below). "I don't know. It just didn't happen. Every other band does that, and somehow we're sort of stubborn, like, 'No, we're not gonna do that, because that's what everybody else is doing.'

"I am a fairly nostalgic person, but somehow, with SOILWORK, it's always [about] moving forward.

"We got some offers to play 'Natural Born Chaos' [2002] in its entirety, and also 'Stabbing The Drama' [2005], but we won't do that, because, to begin with, it's not the same lineup," he continued. "And I don't think it's fair to the old lineup, or the new one, to do 'Natural Born Chaos' or 'Stabbing The Drama' in its entirety.

"I think we're moving forward, and if somebody asked me to do maybe 'The Living Infinite' [2013], that's a different story," he added. "That's something that we would like to do. It's gonna be a hell of a project, because it's a double record. We've only played maybe, like, six songs, seven songs from that album live, so that would be a hell of a project. But that's something that I could see us doing, because it would make sense. But, then again, we're always trying to move forward, and there's already way too much of the, sort of, 'Performing their classic album,' blah blah blah.

"It should be enough with a new album to draw people. It's almost like bands need to perform their classics. It all makes sense. But I think it's also destroying the music scene a little bit when bands are forced to perform classic albums in their entirety in order to draw people. It should be enough with a new album, like it used to be."

SOILWORK's eleventh studio album, "Verkligheten", was released on January 11 via Nuclear Blast. The first-edition digipack, as well as the vinyl versions, also contain the exclusive "Underworld" EP, containing four more songs. The digipack version also features special artwork with lavish foil print.

"Verkligheten" is SOILWORK's first to feature drummer Bastian Thusgaard, who replaced Dirk Verbeuren in 2016.