File Under: Metal rating: B- tracks 1. Pride 2. Cross My Heart 3. Halo (UK REMIX) related links Soil J Records

By no means does Soil's most recent release, Pride EP, lack a swift kick in the balls for the listener, but it does have a handful of other draw backs. The first, and most striking is the fact that metal is pretty much dead, at least creatively, and this EP pretty much supports that whole idea. There isn't really anything new here, even thought two of the songs are catchy and radio friendly at the very least.

Three tracks make this EP a very quick listen (so quick some might question whether or not this is really an EP or actually a single in disguise) and it doesn't take much time to see what Soil were incarnated to play really loud, and make people mosh. There is nothing wrong with it, especially if Soil had done it six years ago when the sound might have been considered fresh and on the cutting edge, but now it just sounds recycled. This fact doesn't make the EP unlistenable, in fact it makes it almost comforting to listen to, "Pride" and "Cross My Heart" sound as if they were tailor made for the radio, or just the listener who prefers to worship the metal gods of the second stage at Ozzfest. The remix of the track "Halo" rounds out the triumvirate of tracks on Pride, and, perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't know what makes this remix any different than the other tracks on the album, or in Soil's catalogue.

For what it is, Pride accomplishes a decent job, extremely quickly, but beyond that it still leaves a bit to be desired. Soil sound as if they would fit perfectly opening the next Linkin Park tour, but they won't be breaking down any walls of creativity garnering huge critical acclaim for their trying new things any time soon.

Jason Cipriano is the Senior Editor. Contact him at jasonc@rockzone.com.