The Living Infinite

The Living Infinite is the ninth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released on 27 February 2013 in Asia, 1 March 2013 in Europe, on 4 March 2013 in the UK and on 5 March 2013 in the US. It is the band's first double album. It is also the first Soilwork release to feature guitarist David Andersson; founding guitarist Peter Wichers left Soilwork for the second time in 2012, making this the second album to not feature him. This also marks the band's last album with longtime bassist Ola Flink who parted ways with the band right before the recording of the next album The Ride Majestic.

Critical reception
The album received high acclaim. Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic gave the album a "Superb" rating of 4.3/5, praising the album's heavier sound, dynamic songwriting and melodic, progressive content. Calling it Soilwork's "strongest, most consistent album to date", he stated that the band "have simultaneously stepped back to their past while maintaining their current sound, but they have also diversified their formula more than ever before – and they did so without a single filler track." However, writing for Decibel Magazine, Adrien Begrand stated that "the primary flaw of The Living Infinite is its lack of variety, the cookie-cutter nature of the songwriting wearing thin after the halfway point".

Commercial performance
In the United States, the album debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard 200, and No. 20 on the Top Rock Albums, selling 7,800 copies in its first week. The album has sold 26,000 copies in the US as of August 2015.

Credits
Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Personnel

 * Soilwork
 * Björn Strid – vocals
 * Sylvain Coudret – guitars
 * David Andersson – guitars
 * Ola Flink – bass
 * Sven Karlsson – keyboards
 * Dirk Verbeuren – drums


 * Guest musicians
 * Justin Sullivan – vocals on "The Windswept Mercy"


 * Additional musicians
 * Hanna Carlsson – cello on "Spectrum of Eternity", "The Living Infinite II"; piano on "Spectrum of Eternity"


 * Production
 * Soilwork – production
 * Jens Bogren – production, mixing, mastering
 * Johan Örnborg – production assistance
 * Linus Corneliusson – production assistance


 * Artwork and design
 * Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (Mnemic, eftemie.com) – album cover
 * Hannah Verbeuren (hannahvphotography.com) – photography

Studios

 * Fascination Street – mixing, mastering