Review by Death8699 on October 16, 2018.

Soilwork's overall melodic death outputs have been solid. Their last release that I heard before this one was A Predator's Portrait and that remarkable album will remain their best for me, I think. When I first listened to The Panic Broadcast, I wasn't very impressed. However, on repeated listens, I've been able to appreciate it a lot more. It just took many spins to get into it. 

The guitars are tuned down a few steps and are mostly chunky mixed with melodic parts. "Speed", their vocalist, sings hoarse throat alongside the heavy rhythms, but meshes it with well the melodic parts. There are clean bits with the guitars and some keyboard action. The melodies were hard at first to get into. All of the rhythm guitar sections were solid and thick. They are catchier the more you listen to this. I was hoping that the riffs would be more intriguing like they were on A Predator's Portrait and it did happen for me after about 5-6 listens. The songs are about 4-5 minutes in length and all of the tracks were filled with constant wages of superiority. Again, rhythms were very well thought out, they didn't sound very bland. The chords feature that heavy/chunky guitar with melodic pieces that were quite memorable.

There were only a few leads by Sylvain throughout this album. They were pretty well orchestrated, but just not enough of them. The rhythms overpowered everything. As much as I tried to enjoy the music on here, it simply did take quite some time as I previously mentioned. "Speed" got on my nerves at first but the guitars and overall great melodic death superiority prevailed. I really got what I hoped for which was like their older more classic outputs. Another good thing that occurred here was the mixing. The guitars and the rhythms  were well heard throughout, however, I did have trouble hearing the bass guitar, it could've been louder. The drum bits were well orchestrated and the vocals were a little over the top an they kind of drowned out the guitar riffs. They were a bit too dominating.

A long album featuring 10 tracks calculating at about 47 minutes long. These melodic death metalers really filled my vigilance and I'm urging that everyone that is into melodic death should purchase this. I've noted that throughout this release, the vocals were overpowering but rhythm guitar blatantly worthy of praise and the overall worth did hit home with me. Best to purchase this ASAP if you want to hear dominating melodic death!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by JD on March 29, 2011.

Like a fine wine, most bands lucky enough to be around for many years get better. Some wines though turn into unpalatable vinegar. It is a crap shoot in the music world to go on the path of doing this for a living... one that all bands go through. Soilwork has been around for 15 years... what do they have to offer now? Read on.

Back in the day, these Swedish metallic monsters were some of the best Death Metallers around (check out their first three albums, if you have not yet). With complexity and musical brilliance of the members and also led by a vocalist that was at the top of his game they were the ones to beat. Sadly, this once mighty band has fallen from that great height - and I cringed when hearing that sickening splat at the end.

From making some great Melodic Death metal to now doing a disappointing combination of Metalcore and Modern Rock Soilwork have sunk into a pool of averageness, and disappeared below the choking waters of bland and tasteless music. Songs like the lackluster 'The Thrill' to the all too predictable 'Let This River Flow' show a band that is caught in the commercial trap, and all the life has be sucked out of them as they not once tries to break free.

Even vocalist Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid has been reduced to this weak shell of what he could really do. The mighty have fallen, and fallen hard into a vortex. I know some of you love this band now... after hearing "The Panic Broadcast".... Why? People: pick up their first few releases, then you’ll understand my total confusion with the band. This album cements them as the commercial sell-out kings, yet I hope that the band will turn back to their roots and make great music once again.

I am a optimist at heart, but even I am not holding my breath for the turn-around for this band.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 7
Originality: 3 (I can still hear that splat)
Overall: 3

Rating: 4.6 out of 10

Review by Michael on October 16, 2023.

My first encounter with the Swiss band Comaniac was when I saw them together with Cryptosis and Vektor in Dortmund last year and I have to say that they were pretty convincing live. With None For All they released their already fourth regular studio album and to anticipate my judgment a little bit with this one they are more varied than on the previous ones and sound fresher than they ever did.

Starting with 'Eye To Eye' they surprise with a slight traditional Swiss melody before they take out the thrash hammer. This song already shows a little bit the direction where the whole album goes. Some traditional American thrash in the style of Slayer and Exodus meet a lot of more progressive tunes and out comes some very technical mish-mash that sounds most of the time very interesting. Only here and there it is still a little bit bulky when it comes to some breaks and drumming. But with 'Desolation Manifest' they fully grabbed me while I was listening to it for the first time. Some really fast guitar leads with amazing melodies make this song a very great listening experience and the chorus is the topping on the whole. Wow, a great thrash ride this is! What I really like on the album is that they don't have a clear formula how to proceed but that the four guys go with a certain carefree mind towards all the nine songs on the album. So they really surprise with a lot of twists and turns in their songs and make None For All a really entertaining trip. Especially the acoustic passages that they incorporate into many songs make the album something pretty unique.

With 'Life Long Doll' they even have a semi-ballad on board which reminds me pretty much of the Depressive Age with their great song “World In Veins” from their controversial album “Symbols For The Blue Times” back from 1994. Not because of the vocals but especially with the melodies and also with the lyrical topic somehow.
But after this short halt the guys start thrashing again. 'Start The Madness' is another killer thrash song that has a lot of German thrash vibes (like Destruction or some actual bands like Traitor, Ravager etc.) in it. It's one of the fastest songs on the album and really kicks ass. In 'Nothing But Lies' the band builds up a lot of tension with increasing speed in the music which together with a lot of drama in the vocals and riffs leads to a very rousing song. Between the stars finally lifts the band up into the thrash heaven with catchy melodies and a lot of fantastic breaks in the song. The chorus again is amazing and if a lot of thrash bands would have done such a thing in the 90s this would be a classic one these days, word!

So, is there much to criticize on None For All? Well, not really. Maybe you can state that vocalist Jonas is a little bit limited in his vocal range but when you sum up all the songs, this isn't true at all because there are many parts like in the choruses or in 'Self Sacrifice' (another semi-ballad with a very gloomy atmosphere) where he does clean vocals. Of course there is still some space to reach the full amount of points but I hope that the guys will get much more attention with this album. It is a huge step forward and maybe it opens the door to the thrash Champions League.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Death8699 on October 16, 2018.

Soilwork's overall melodic death outputs have been solid. Their last release that I heard before this one was A Predator's Portrait and that remarkable album will remain their best for me, I think. When I first listened to The Panic Broadcast, I wasn't very impressed. However, on repeated listens, I've been able to appreciate it a lot more. It just took many spins to get into it. 

The guitars are tuned down a few steps and are mostly chunky mixed with melodic parts. "Speed", their vocalist, sings hoarse throat alongside the heavy rhythms, but meshes it with well the melodic parts. There are clean bits with the guitars and some keyboard action. The melodies were hard at first to get into. All of the rhythm guitar sections were solid and thick. They are catchier the more you listen to this. I was hoping that the riffs would be more intriguing like they were on A Predator's Portrait and it did happen for me after about 5-6 listens. The songs are about 4-5 minutes in length and all of the tracks were filled with constant wages of superiority. Again, rhythms were very well thought out, they didn't sound very bland. The chords feature that heavy/chunky guitar with melodic pieces that were quite memorable.

There were only a few leads by Sylvain throughout this album. They were pretty well orchestrated, but just not enough of them. The rhythms overpowered everything. As much as I tried to enjoy the music on here, it simply did take quite some time as I previously mentioned. "Speed" got on my nerves at first but the guitars and overall great melodic death superiority prevailed. I really got what I hoped for which was like their older more classic outputs. Another good thing that occurred here was the mixing. The guitars and the rhythms  were well heard throughout, however, I did have trouble hearing the bass guitar, it could've been louder. The drum bits were well orchestrated and the vocals were a little over the top an they kind of drowned out the guitar riffs. They were a bit too dominating.

A long album featuring 10 tracks calculating at about 47 minutes long. These melodic death metalers really filled my vigilance and I'm urging that everyone that is into melodic death should purchase this. I've noted that throughout this release, the vocals were overpowering but rhythm guitar blatantly worthy of praise and the overall worth did hit home with me. Best to purchase this ASAP if you want to hear dominating melodic death!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by JD on March 29, 2011.

Like a fine wine, most bands lucky enough to be around for many years get better. Some wines though turn into unpalatable vinegar. It is a crap shoot in the music world to go on the path of doing this for a living... one that all bands go through. Soilwork has been around for 15 years... what do they have to offer now? Read on.

Back in the day, these Swedish metallic monsters were some of the best Death Metallers around (check out their first three albums, if you have not yet). With complexity and musical brilliance of the members and also led by a vocalist that was at the top of his game they were the ones to beat. Sadly, this once mighty band has fallen from that great height - and I cringed when hearing that sickening splat at the end.

From making some great Melodic Death metal to now doing a disappointing combination of Metalcore and Modern Rock Soilwork have sunk into a pool of averageness, and disappeared below the choking waters of bland and tasteless music. Songs like the lackluster 'The Thrill' to the all too predictable 'Let This River Flow' show a band that is caught in the commercial trap, and all the life has be sucked out of them as they not once tries to break free.

Even vocalist Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid has been reduced to this weak shell of what he could really do. The mighty have fallen, and fallen hard into a vortex. I know some of you love this band now... after hearing "The Panic Broadcast".... Why? People: pick up their first few releases, then you’ll understand my total confusion with the band. This album cements them as the commercial sell-out kings, yet I hope that the band will turn back to their roots and make great music once again.

I am a optimist at heart, but even I am not holding my breath for the turn-around for this band.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 7
Originality: 3 (I can still hear that splat)
Overall: 3

Rating: 4.6 out of 10