Soilwork is working on the follow-up to their 2022 record Övergivenheten and, given the heavier direction of the new single "Spirit Of No Return", it seems like we're in for something in line with their older material. Though don't take my word for it – Soilwork vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid said the same thing in an interview with Moshpit Passion.
Strid also noted that new guitarist Simon Johansson contributed to the new material. Johansson joined in 2023 and replaced longtime guitarist David Andersson, who died in 2022.
"Well, hard to say. I mean, we decided to just approach things quite slowly this time around because we've been through a lot, as I'm sure you know," said Strid. "Simon joined the fold now and he's a great guy and a fantastic guitar player. He's been playing with us live for a pretty long time, but he contributed with this new song and it has a little bit of a thrashier side to it and kind of like more Soilwork rootsy kind of feel, but also still blended with the more current elements that we're known for.
"So it's really hard to say exactly where we're gonna go, but I would say that the sound is gonna be slightly more metallic, whatever that means, but I also feel that we discovered so many amazing things through when we did A Whisp Of The Atlantic, with Verkligheten and with Övergivenheten, and those elements we wanna take with us. But I think there's also maybe old things that we want to revisit and bring back again. And I think this new one, it has more sort of like a metallic vibe over it, but we keep on evolving, and I never wanna fall into some kind of cliché or trying to rehash things. So I'm as curious as you are where we're gonna go.
"But I think this song is maybe giving you a little bit of a hint where we're going. But we always try to experiment as well. But it's too early to say if there's gonna be a full album anytime soon. I think we're approaching things slowly. We're getting close to start doing some songwriting. And it might happen on this tour. I have the guitars right here. So who knows what's gonna happen?!"
