''Figure Number Five'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Soilwork Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Helsingborg. They have released twelve studio albums. Formed in late 1995 by Björn Strid and Peter Wichers, the band was originally known as ''Inferior Breed''. In late 1996, they changed t ...

. The record was released on 22 April 2003 through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

label. On this release, the band introduces more elements of

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

into their

style. This would be the last album with Henry Ranta on drums before he left the band after its release. A few different editions of this album existed upon release. The normal release with eleven tracks, as well as a limited edition release with a second CD including their 1997 demo ''In Dreams We Fall into the Eternal Lake'' plus two songs from the '' Steelbath Suicide'' demo session. The limited

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

version of the album features two discs - this album and '' Natural Born Chaos'', black and the other a white-colored vinyl. The Japanese version of the album includes one bonus track, entitled "Bursting Out".

Background

This album marked keyboardist Sven Karlsson's first attempts at songwriting for the band. While it is not necessarily interconnected with the keyboardist songwriting, this album features more use of the keyboard and lighter melodies. The album is considered a more commercial sound by most fans of Swedish death metal, but it arguably gives the music a broader appeal. However, vocalist Björn Strid has said the album has good melodies but lacks in intensity and could have been better composed; many fans and critics considered the album "rushed".

Music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s were made for the songs "Rejection Role" and "Light the Torch". The music video for "Rejection Role" showed the band playing in a club and being constantly pestered and booed by the members of

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal, Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Frid ...

, with interspersed footage of other incidents between the two bands. In Flames's video for " Trigger" showed the situation ''vice versa'', In Flames playing and Soilwork as the bullies. The colour is also reversed in each video: blue for In Flames, red for Soilwork. Both videos also had the other band riding in a pickup truck to and from the club. While some believed the tension between the two bands to be real, in reality the groups are close friends and devised the idea of a dual-video concept as a joke. This was the last album to feature Henry Ranta on drums.

Reception

In 2005, ''Figure Number Five'' was ranked number 398 in '' Rock Hard'' magazine's book ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Band members

* Björn "Speed" Strid −

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Peter Wichers −

Guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Ola Frenning −

* Ola Flink −

Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Sven Karlsson − Keyboards * Henry Ranta −

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Guest musicians

* Jens Broman − Guest vocals on "Figure Number Five" * Richard Larsson −

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

on "Brickwalker" * Bryan Kaschak –

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on "Cranking the Sirens"

Release history

References

{{Authority control Soilwork albums 2003 albums Nuclear Blast albums