It’s not easy for a band to lose a very important songwriter. So the question is how Soilwork recuperated from losing Peter Wichers and how this loss would affect their sound. Wichers has been replaced by guitarist Daniel Antonsson (Dimension Zero) on the new album Sworn to a Great Divide and the band is on tour with Dark Tranquillity. Sworn to a Great Divide is a great album, full of dynamics and variation, a razorsharp sound (produced by members of Darkane) and excellent songs. The band manages to find a perfect balance between thrash metal and melody, between clean singing and more aggressive vocals and between complex riffs and guitar solos. But the main selling point of Soilwork are the superior choruses, so the songs get stuck in your head easily. Songs like ‘Breeding Thorns’, ‘As The Sleeper Awakes’ and ’20 More Miles’ prove that Soilwork is working on a very high level and the deadly ‘The Pittsburgh Syndrome’ makes clear that the band still knows how to thrash too.