The Living Infinite

The Living Infinite
Studio album by Soilwork
Released	March 1, 2013
Genre	Melodic death metal, alternative metal, progressive metal
Length	84:19
Label	Nuclear Blast
Producer	Jens Bogren, Soilwork
Soilwork chronology
The Panic Broadcast (2010) The Living Infinite (2013) Beyond the Infinite (2014)

The Living Infinite is the ninth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released on 27 February 2013 in Asia, 1 March 2013 in Europe, on 4 March 2013 in the UK and on March 5, 2013 in the US. It is the band's first double album. It is also the first Soilwork release to feature new guitarist David Andersson; founding guitarist Peter Wichers left Soilwork for the second time in 2012, making this the second album to not feature him. This also marks the band's last album with longtime bassist Ola Flink who parted ways with the band right before the recording of the next album The Ride Majestic.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	84%[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[2]
Allmusic	[3]
Blabbermouth	9.5/10[4]
Decibel Magazine	[5]
Exclaim!	9/10[6]
Metal Forces	9/10[7]
Metal Hammer	favorable[8]
Metal Storm	favorable[9]
Sputnikmusic	4.3/5[10]

The album received high acclaim. Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic gave the album a "Superb" rating of 4.3/5, praising the album's heavier sound, dynamic songwriting and melodic, progressive content. Calling it Soilwork's "strongest, most consistent album to date", he stated that the band "have simultaneously stepped back to their past while maintaining their current sound, but they have also diversified their formula more than ever before – and they did so without a single filler track."^[10] However, writing for Decibel Magazine, Adrien Begrand stated that "the primary flaw of The Living Infinite is its lack of variety, the cookie-cutter nature of the songwriting wearing thin after the halfway point".^[5]

Public reception

The Living Infinite was quite well received by the public. On Rate Your Music the album has an average rating of 3.56 of 5, based on more than 700 ratings,^[11] and on Sputnikmusic the album has an "excellent" average rating of 4.1 of 5, based on more than 750 ratings.^[12]

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debued at No. 60 on the Billboard 200,^[13] and No. 20 on the Top Rock Albums,^[14] selling 7,800 copies in its first week.^[15] The album has sold 26,000 copies in the US as of August 2015.^[16]

Track listing

All music arranged by Soilwork.

Disc 1
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Spectrum of Eternity"	Strid	Strid, Andersson	4:01
2.	"Memories Confined"	Strid	Karlsson	3:25
3.	"This Momentary Bliss"	Strid	Strid, Andersson	3:45
4.	"Tongue"	Strid	Andersson	4:17
5.	"The Living Infinite I"	Strid	Strid	3:50
6.	"Let the First Wave Rise"	Andersson	Andersson	2:52
7.	"Vesta"	Strid	Strid	4:18
8.	"Realm of the Wasted"	Strid	Coudret	4:29
9.	"The Windswept Mercy"	Strid	Strid	4:14
10.	"Whispers and Lights"	Strid	Andersson	5:09
Total length:				40:20

Disc 2
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Entering Aeons" (instrumental)		Andersson	2:34
2.	"Long Live the Misanthrope"	Strid	Andersson	5:26
3.	"Drowning With Silence"	Strid	Andersson	4:28
4.	"Antidotes in Passing"	Strid	Andersson	4:15
5.	"Leech"	Strid	Coudret	4:20
6.	"The Living Infinite II"	Strid	Strid	5:39
7.	"Loyal Shadow" (instrumental)		Coudret	2:34
8.	"Rise Above the Sentiment"	Strid	Strid	4:03
9.	"Parasite Blues"	Strid	Strid, Andersson	5:16
10.	"Owls Predict, Oracles Stand Guard"	Flink	Karlsson	5:24
Total length:				43:59

Credits

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.^[17]

Personnel

Soilwork

• Björn Strid – vocals
• David Andersson – guitar
• Sylvain Coudret – guitar
• Ola Flink – bass
• Sven Karlsson – keyboards
• Dirk Verbeuren – drums

Guest musicians

• Justin Sullivan – vocals on "The Windswept Mercy"

Additional musicians

• Hanna Carlsson – cello on "Spectrum of Eternity", "The Living Infinite II"; piano on "Spectrum of Eternity"

Production

• Soilwork – production
• Jens Bogren – production, mixing, mastering
• Johan Örnborg – production assistance
• Linus Corneliusson – production assistance

Artwork and design

• Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (Mnemic, eftemie.com) – album cover
• Hannah Verbeuren (hannahvphotography.com) – photography

Studios

• Fascination Street – mixing, mastering

Charts

Chart	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[18]	22
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19]	115
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20]	97
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[21]	10
French Albums (SNEP)[22]	128
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23]	17
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24]	61
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25]	19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26]	36
UK Albums (OCC)[27]	188
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28]	30
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[29]	9
US Billboard 200[30]	60
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[31]	11
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[32]	2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[33]	20

References

1. The Living Infinite at Metacritic
2. Bowar, Chad. "Soilwork - The Living Infinite Review". heavymetal.about.com. About.com. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
3. Heaney, Gregory. The Living Infinite - Soilwork at AllMusic
4. Van Horn, Jr., Ray. "CD Reviews - The Living Infinite Soilwork". www.blabbermouth.net. Blabbermouth. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
5. Begrand, Adrian (April 2013). "Soilwork, The Living Infinite". Decibel Magazine (102): 84.
6. Deneau, Max (March 5, 2013). "Soilwork The Living Infinite". exclaim.ca. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
7. Fisher, Mark. "SOILWORK – The Living Infinite (2013)". www.metalforcesmagazine.com. Metal Forces. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
8. Dome, Malcolm (March 27, 2013). "Soilwork: The Living Infinite". metalhammer.teamrock.com. Team Rock Limited. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
9. Train, Dane (March 12, 2013). "Soilwork - The Living Infinite review". www.metalstorm.net. Metal Storm. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
10. Spencer, Trey (March 3, 2013). "Review: Soilwork - The Living Infinite". www.sputnikmusic.com. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
11. "The Living Infinite by Soilwork (Album, Melodic Death Metal)". rateyourmusic.com. Sonemic. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
12. "Soilwork - The Living Infinite User Opinions". www.sputnikmusic.com. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
13. "Billboard 200: March 23, 2013". Billboard.
14. "Rock Albums: March 23, 2013". Billboard.
15. "SOILWORK: 'The Living Infinite' First-Week Sales Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. March 13, 2013.
16. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015.
17. The Living Infinite (liner notes). Soilwork. Nuclear Blast. 2013.
18. "Austriancharts.at – Soilwork – The Living Infinite" (in German). Hung Medien.
19. "Ultratop.be – Soilwork – The Living Infinite" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
20. "Ultratop.be – Soilwork – The Living Infinite" (in French). Hung Medien.
21. "Soilwork: The Living Infinite" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
22. "Lescharts.com – Soilwork – The Living Infinite". Hung Medien.
23. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
24. "リヴィング・インフィニット – ソイルワーク – ORICON STYLE".
25. "Swedishcharts.com – Soilwork – The Living Infinite". Hung Medien.
26. "Swisscharts.com – Soilwork – The Living Infinite". Hung Medien.
27. "Chart Log UK – Weekly Updates Sales 2013".
28. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company.
29. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
30. "Soilwork – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Soilwork.
31. "Soilwork – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Soilwork.
32. "Soilwork – Chart history" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for Soilwork.
33. "Soilwork – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Soilwork.

External links

• The Living Infinite at AllMusic
• The Living Infinite at Nuclear Blast