Sometimes in order to get the gospel message across, people like to stand on a soap box to shove their views down people's throats. Unfortunately, such a practice is a mainstay with several Christian artists who replace tactfulness with forceful tactics in order to let their point of view out. Perhaps Solid State's latest hard rock band named themselves Soapbox in protest of such a "ministry" method, and instead seek to get their point across with ease and simplicity.
Although the lyrics on the majority of the disc are far from intelligible the first few times through, the message begins to stand out a bit more with multiple spins of "Guilty," "Angel," and "Evil Mind." Perhaps the most aggressive message comes during "Fight the Racism," a topic often brought up in the mainstream alternative music community during tours like "Ska Against Racism" and "Plea For Peace." Soapbox's tackling of the subject earns them a bit more credibility, knowing the spiritual worldview they are coming from, and the fact that all of God's creation should come together in unity.
Musically, the band totes an aggressive retro punk sound like Black Flag, while combining the more modern hard edged sounds of its label mates Selfmindead and Blindside, and of course Refused, the Swedes that 'shaped punk to come' for every good Scandinavian to scurry to rip off (and for good reason) in their departure. They sound inexperienced in comparison to the latter on songs like "Way Too Much, Way Too Sick" and "Gone," but show promise and probability of maturing on future releases. Although Soapbox hails from Sweden, they'll be trekking the States throughout the summer.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Jessica HeikoopSoapbox is a four-man (Krister Mortsell, Andreas Rejdvik, Par E. Augustin and Simon Branstrom) hardcore band hailing from Sweden. A Divided Man, their first full-length album, was released on Solid State Records in the USA in May 2001. As I'm not really a fan of hardcore, this wasn't really my type of thing to listen to. But in all fairness, this band really does have talent in what they do.…Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestA Divided Man is the follow-up album of the six-song EP Soapbox released last year. On the new album there are 15 songs plus a bonustrack. Five of the songs were on the EP too, like Guilty. In that song they sang quite appropriately: "I want something more, I want something more to happen". Well, here they are with eleven new songs to happen. Just like on the EP they bring a nice mix of hardcore…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by D_ListerThese guys certainly picked the right name for their band. What I mean is they focus on issues quite a lot in their music. I think the title of the song 'Fight the Racism' gives that one away. 'Killer' is a stand against destroying mother earth. 'Way too Much Way too Sick' is a showing of what pornography really is, the selling of women. There are other songs that aren't specifically issue songs…Similar sounding releases
2002Sleeping by the RiversideA Breath Between Battles
2004Evergreen TerraceWriters Block
2005The DeadlyThe Wolves Are Here Again
2002The Curse / Go! For the Throat / Knives Out / Paint It BlackThe Philadelphia Sound
2002Love Is RedAll That's Ahead Points To Forever
2003The First StepOpen Hearts and Clear Minds
