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by Martin Popoff

'Stalemate' also addresses the title's (and title track's) theme... "That's really a message to bands nowadays... it's pretty much all about hype, and we really want to stab that hype. There are a lot of bands out there that just take worn-out riffs and make it on hype. They're just so 'cool' but they have no distinctiveness to their music whatsoever. So it's like a message to those guys, telling them to really go try find their own sound."

Do you think a lot of them are stealing the Soilwork sound? "It happens," says Bjorn. "Sometimes it's just an honour. When they do it good, I think it's great. In that sense it's an honour. I'm not saying we had our own sound from the beginning; it takes time. But it's really a message to reconsider a bit and try to find your own sound and not be so focused on being so tough and so metal."

Things did not go well in the studio. Used to using ProTools, the band used a different system (Mackie), with both the band and producer Daniel Bergstrand ensconced in a studio neither were familiar with, resulting in the band running a week late while working "f**king 12 hours a day for seven weeks."

"This is even worse than recording with Devin Townsend," adds Speed, "which was great, of course, but it was like eight hours a day singing for two weeks and I was locked in with Devin in there. It was a great experience but I was f**king exhausted; it was pure hell sometimes. But this new album was even worse. I mean, we got a little bit scared, because Daniel doesn't have a spare hard drive. So we were kind of nervous the whole time. He'd say, 'Yeah, cool down, cool down. It's OK.'"

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