Man, how the whole world's course can seemingly change in a little over two years time. In 2002, Soilwork was a really viable underground name, a group that had yet to be tarnished by a dud record (it was the diametric opposite actually, as these Swedes were coming off of the extremely well-received Natural Born Chaos album and tour). Fast-forward a bit to the here and now in '05, and you realize that initial news of an impending Soilwork disc is being met only with trepidation, mostly cuz the band almost teetered off into semi-redundancy and irrelevance via the rushed songwriting on the steadfastly mediocre Figure Number 5. Anyway, historical digressions aside, there's one thing we gotta internalize with Soilwork: this is a band hell-bent on continued evolution, constantly re-defining itself and un-perpetuating any myths as to how it existentially represents itself. And in that vein, Stabbing The Drama - despite its horrendously stumbling and awkward title - is a surprisingly solid listen, bringing the group to heights even greater than Natural Born Chaos' shiny veneer and perfect-pitched sheen. Most of the tracks here are standard rock songs really, with only Speed's growls differentiating them from most of the current Euro radio fare that screams commercially wicked style. So, like, Stabbing The Drama is essentially metal for the nose-in-the-air classes and not the masses, but there's also enough energy and hunger on the record to demand and necessitate Soilwork's presence in the minds of all, even if the sugar-sweet rushes are bound to ware people off or start to grate like Natural Born Chaos did. By the fuckin' way, check out the old-school nod to Gothenburg called 'Stalemate' and the blasts (!) on the super-aggressive 'Blind Eye Halo' - who woulda thought? In totality, this is the bottom line on Stabbing The Drama: welcome back to respectability, Soilwork.