Album Info Hide Show Artist: Soilwork Album: A Predator’s Portrait Released: Germany, 2022 Tracklist: A-I Bastard Chain 4:02 A-II Like The Average Stalker 4:30 A-III Needlefeast 4:06 A-IV Neurotica Rampage 4:45 A-V The Analyst 4:42 B-I Grand Failure Anthem 5:20 B-II Structure Divine 4:06 B-III Shadowchild 4:38 B-IV Final Fatal Force 4:59 B-V A Predator’s Portrait 4:36 Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store We are a small independent record store located at 211 High St, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir) We buy and sell new and used vinyl records – if you have a collection you’d like to sell please click here . We ship Australia wide for a flat rate of $10 for standard shipping or $15 for express post. Free Shipping for orders $150 and over. You can also pick up your order in store, just select Local Pickup at the checkout. We also ship internationally – prices vary depending on weight and location. 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If you change your mind you have 30 days to return your record but you must cover the cost of returning it to the store. You can contact our Melbourne record shop at (03) 9939 3807 or at [email protected] Happy Listening! Description Hide Show Some records feel like a hinge in a bands story, and A Predators Portrait is exactly that for Soilwork. Released in February 2001 through Nuclear Blast, it arrives right between the whiplash of their early era and the gleaming precision that would define the next few albums. You can hear the Stockholm and Gothenburg lineage in the riffing and drum attack, but theres a new confidence in the way melody is threaded through everything. That shift is anchored by Bjrn Speed Strid letting clean vocals into the frame for the first time on a Soilwork full-length, and it changes the emotional weather of the whole album without blunting its teeth. The lineup here is a classic roll call for fans: Strid up front, Peter Wichers and Ola Frenning on guitars, Ola Flink on bass, and Henry Ranta behind the kit, with keyboard textures rounding out the edges. Tracked at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg with Fredrik Nordstrm involved in the production, the album has that unmistakable early 2000s Swedish metal clarity. Guitars bite, drums sit tight in the pocket, and the vocal layers cut through without washing out the rhythm section. Its heavy, but it breathes. Bastard Chain still feels like a statement of intent. The riff snakes forward with a mechanical snap, then opens into a chorus you can howl at 1 am on a late tram home. Like the Average Stalker pushes harder, a flurry of double kicks and tremolo picking chased by synth touches that float just above the chaos. Needlefeast is where the clean vocals flip the mood again; the verse snarls, the chorus lifts, and the bands knack for hooks starts to feel like a second engine rather than a garnish. The title track sits near the heart of it all, a head-down chug with just enough harmonic colour to keep your hands hovering over the rewind button. Part of the albums appeal is how it draws a clean line from Steelbath Suicide and The Chainheart Machine to the widescreen polish of Natural Born Chaos the following year. You get that classic Soilwork momentum, the sense that the riffs are pushing a huge machine forward, yet theres space for melody to land and linger. Wichers and Frenning trade parts with real intent. Nothing feels like filler; each motif does its job and clears the lane. Rantas drumming is brisk and economical, less about flash than feel, which was never given enough credit at the time. Strid sits on top of it all with a delivery thats still raw around the edges, but you can hear him finding the melodic phrasing hed refine later. Its worth mentioning how well this record translates to format. On A Predators Portrait vinyl, the low end has more thump and the cymbals feel less brittle, which suits the Studio Fredman production. If youre crate digging for Soilwork vinyl, this is the one that sparks debates at the counter about whether the band peaked in their melodic death metal phase or nailed it later with the bigger, cleaner mixes. Either way, its a keeper, especially if you like that hinge-point energy. Plenty of Melbourne record store regulars will nod along to that. Critical reception at the time clocked the same thing fans felt. Reviewers noted the growing melodic instincts without calling it a sellout, and a lot of listeners now point to this as the moment Soilwork carved out their own lane in the Swedish scene rather than chasing anyone elses sound. The songs endure. Put on Grand Failure Anthem and you get everything in four minutes: kick drum drive, ironclad riff, a chorus that hits the chest, and those synths sneaking in like neon at dusk. If youre building a collection of Soilwork albums on vinyl, start here and then stitch outwards. It makes sense of what came before and after, and it still punches above its weight two decades on. For anyone looking to buy Soilwork records online, keep an eye on reissues; copies move fast, especially in the usual vinyl records Australia haunts. However you queue it up, A Predators Portrait remains a sharp, muscular snapshot of a band stepping into their own voice, balancing adrenaline with melody in a way that would shape the next stretch of their career. Product Reviews Hide Show Write a Review