“Departure Plan” by Soilwork
Soilwork’s “Departure Plan” reads like a song of encouragement, with the prospect of suicide apparently being the backdrop. In other words, the addressee appears to be someone who is considering such drastic action. But Soilwork lead singer Speed is here to tell him or her that they need to rather develop another “departure plan”.
This phrase is never mentioned forthrightly in the song. However, based on the third verse, what it alludes to is “a plan” to ‘escape’, as in get away from the aspects of life which are stressing the addressee out without taking his or her own life. And in that regard, the singer states that this particular individual has a “passion for art”, with such being this person’s “well hidden cure”, as in a remedy they can use to overcome their obvious depression.
Thus in the chorus we have Soilwork exclaiming that this particular case should not be handled with “sympathy” but rather calls on the addressee to “rise”, along with the singer, to overcome this situation. This basically reads like a request for this person to realize their own self-worth. Indeed even in their present state of ‘vulnerability’, the singer still considers this individual to be “admirable”.
And considering that the chorus is repeated five times, it is easy to conclude that such is the overall theme of the track – helping said individual overcome depression via taking them by the hand – but also through the utilization of tough love. And the desired result, as the outro points out, is for this person to “never ever hurt (him or herself) again”.
Release Date of “Departure Plan”
“Departure Plan” was released by Nuclear Blast on the 22nd day of April 2003. It was one of the songs released as part of Soilwork’s fifth-studio album, interestingly titled Figure Number Five.
The song was issued as a double A-sided single in the European country of Germany. It was issued with another notable track from the album titled “Rejection Role”, being on the other side.
Who wrote “Departure Plan”?
This track was written by Soilwork’s lead singer Björn “Speed” Strid and the band’s keyboardist Sven Karlsson.
Studio Production
Production credits for this track went to the entirety of the band.
