Warthur Like many other prog metal bands which seem to get universal praise from others, I find Pain of Salvation a very hit and miss affair. Once again, the band's histrionic and melodramatic musical style tips over the borderline into irritating cheesiness for my tastes, and the album's concept seems just as irritating preachy as One Hour By the Concrete Lake or Entropia. The studio production is impeccable, but to me that's part of the problem - the band seem to be more interested in trying out all the studio tricks they are in the simple skill of writing a good tune. Frankly, this seems to be the problem with many prog bands - they're so dedicated to being progger-than-thou that they neglect more basic skills of the rock musician's craft, to their detriment.

Conor Fynes 'Remedy Lane' - Pain of Salvation (9/10)

One of my all-time favourite records, Pain Of Salvation have crafted a true work worthy of being called a masterpiece. There is a fantastic sense of flow on this album, and the concept (albeit a bit hard to follow) is interesting and emotionally driven. What you get is an incredibly empathetic work, taking you from feelings of Sadness to Fear to Heartbreak and the occasional glimpse of Love and Devotion.

Lyrically, 'Remedy Lane' is semi-autobiographical, concerning different, important times in Daniel Gildenlow's (the songwriter and vocalist) life. Much of the content revolves around the apparently torrid lifelong romance between the protagonist and his love. What comes through is a great amount of sincerity, and a sense that Gildenlow truly means and cares about the music he is writting/performing. The feeling is rare to be felt, especially in the progressive metal genre.

The music is beautiful, to be blunt. Even the heavier parts such as the highly progressive polyrhythmic 'Rope Ends' emit a vulnerable, lamentable beauty about them.

An hour of such a gut wrenching, depressing, and invigorating journey can leave one pressed for tears... A true, beautiful masterpiece, and will always hold a special, relatable place in my heart.

AtomicCrimsonRush I first encountered this amazing album online hailed as one of the greatest prog albums of all time so I had to check it out. I was not disappointed.

Daniel Gildenlow is the backbone behind this sprawling saga of a woman who decided she could not take it any more and therefore indulged in the final solution, a walk down 'remedy lane'.

The musicianship is excellent throughout from D Gildenlow (Guitars,Vocals), Fredrik Hermansson (Keyboards), Johan Langell (Drums, Vocals), Johan Hallgren (Guitar, Vocals) and K Gildenlow (Bass, Vocals).

There are three chapters that unfold the captivating and distressing emotional story.

Chapter 1 is comprised of 'Ending Theme', 'Fandango', 'A Trace of Blood', and 'This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)'. This chapter begins with melancholy symphonic styles and then launches into full blown prog metal with the awesome 'Fandango'. This track is my favourite on the album and features some of the most complex out of synch drumming you will hear. It is stunning how the drums are off kilter at times adding to the sense of madness and alienation. The fractured rhythms and metrical patterns are unburdened by lilting, shimmering keyboards and arresting low pitched guitars. The riffing is hypnotic as are the vocals of Gildenlow, that are as bizarre as the lyrics. The other tracks are very solemn, somber ballads that are at times beautifull but cast a shadow of darkness to come.

Chapter 2 comprises 'Undertow', 'Rope Ends', 'Chain Sling', and 'Dryad of the Woods'. This is the most haunting chapter beginning with the powerfully executed 'Undertow'. 'Rope Ends' is the most memorable track for me as it features the chilling lyrics about how the lady hung herself with her husband's Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore silk tie. The illustrations in the booklet are unforgettable. The chorus is melodic and very sad echoing the pain of the traumatic female's mind. 'Chain Sling' is a very off kilter track with strange harmonies, and 'Dryad of the Woods' is a wonderful instrumental that slows things down acoustically somewhat to prepare us for chapter 3.

Chapter 3 consists of 'Remedy Lane', 'Waking Every God', 'Second Love', and 'Beyond The Pale'. The first track is a veritable summary of all the events thus far. The pace is slowed down with symphonic ambience with 'Waking Every God' and 'Second Love'. One of the best POS tracks is 'Beyond the Pale' that is also the longest on 'Remedy Lane' at almost 10 minutes. This track features heavy metal guitar riffing and time signature changes throughout. It begins with a repetitive estranged pitchy guitar sweep. All is masterfully executed with glorious lead guitar breaks and the awesome vocals of Gildenlow. It finishes the album on a high note amidst all the darkness, like death coming to life.

So my first taste of Pain of Salvation has been a pleasurable one, hopefully many more to come. I liked how they structure their music and the songs are not as heavy as other metal prog bands I have heard. They have a quiet patient ambience blended with sharp blasts of metal distortion. The tracks are easy to listen to though the concept was a bit dark and heavy handed for me. I have never been a fan of suicide depression themes as they are obviously downbeat and morbid. However, for pure innovation, this album is certainly worthy of any metal prog collection.

Negoba I have tried very hard to like this album. I think TPE deserves its place at the top of Prog Metal lists, and Remedy Lane often is rated on an equal footing. (Across different sites and boards, this is variable) I obtained both albums at the same time, after having Entropia for several years. At first I thought that maybe my Pain of Salvation circuits had just been overloaded, so I've given it a couple months before trying again. And my opinion has deepened a bit, but in the end my overall feel has not changed. I actually find some of this album unpleasant to listen to. The clean guitar tones on this album are tinny and grating, but moreover, many of the ideas Gildenlow uses on this album just don't work. PoS pushes harder on this album than TPE, and there are indeed some great moments, (Fandango is my favorite). But the vocal delivery is much like a stage show (not that that's unique to this album) and too often melody gets lost in the place of overlong dramatics. Like a classical piece, there are again thematic melodic elements (unimaginatively named Ending Theme here, though I'm sure the authors found that ironic or clever). There are lots of highs and lows, heavy and soft, time changes, but much of it seems too intentional and doesn't flow. I really never get lost in the music itself.

The album begins with a section that feels like the start of act two rather than the start of act one, though the song itself (Of Two Beginnings) is strong enough once it gets going. In fact, the whole beginning I would rate as simply good with rough patches but the album heads south midway. Tracks 9-12 are extremely forgetable, most of all the cigarette lighter ballad Second Love. Luckily, the album ends on a high note (Beyond the Pale) where the clucky plucked clean guitars actually make musical sense for the first time, though they still are pretty grating to my ear.

Before submitting a review this harsh, I went back one last time and scanned through the tracks, and thought to myself that there really is a lot of good material here. Perhaps it's just an early draft that needed more fine tuning. But in the end, where The Perfect Element continues to pull me in, impress me, and pique my musician's sense, Remedy Lane makes me search for interest, instantly brings out my inner critic, and simply doesn't succeed for me.

arcane-beautiful As with time, most bands would slowly decline with their creativity and even their musicianship. But with Pain Of Salvation, their music just increases by new creative heights. Although, Scarsick has been getting bad reviews and fans seemed to be a little ambiguous to it, I found it to be an amazing album. It not being their best, the songs are still very catchy and effective.

Remedy Lane is a mammoth of emotions, melancholy and beauty. The concept is incredibly personal to Daniel, using his own previous experiences mixed with fictional events that may have happened. The lyrics are incredibly amazing and would leave any poet in tears. The emotions and language used is amazing. At times, the lyrics could even make you cry, and words that could express emotions are pretty powerfull.

The concept of this album is easier to understand and a lot more emotional. Apparently these songs are so personal to Daniel, that he won't even play some of these songs live.

1.Of 2 Beginnings ? This is the intro basically. Very nice and sets the albums tone.

2.Ending Theme ? The chorus of this song is incredibly moving and quite catchy and sad. This song is epic and very bombastic. The concept shows us the protagonists in a Hungarian hotel room with a young prostitute?wow very deep.

3.Fandango ? This is basically the Stress of the album. Very polyrhythmic and disjunt. The music sets the emotional feel of the song, which is based on the 2 main characters meeting for the first time.

4.A Trace Of Blood ? An incredibly emotional song which is about Daniel's wife having a miscarriage. The music is formed well with amazing heartfelt lyrics. It's a shame they never play this live.

5.This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge) ? This a love song, written to Daniel's wife. Very soothing and moving.

6.Undertow ? This song is incredibly beautiful. I prefer the live version than the album; due to the fact I thought piano did the song more justice than guitar.

7.Rope Ends ? This is probably one of my favourtie songs off this album. It's also quite sad, due to the fact it is based off Daniels' wife's friend who tried to commit suicide and also one of Daniel's friends who attempted to commit suicide, but Daniel was there to support him, by lifting him from the ground. The song is very dramatic and has an amazing chorus. A classic Pain Of Salvation song really. It is very unique, and it's a shame that they don't play this song live.

8.Chain Sling ? This song has a very catchy jaunty riff. See the live version of this song on Ending Themes, I think that Johan's vocals are amazing, and to be honest, I think he has a more purer voice than Daniel.

9.Dryad Of The Woods ? An nice wee instrumental to lighten the mood.

10.Remedy Lane ? I like the way that the themes are presented. It's very weird to find 2 short instrumentals beside each other.

11.Waking Every God ? This song has a very early Dream Theater vibe to it. This song also has an amazing chorus.

12.Second Love ? Another love song, basically. Quite simple, but very beautiful.

13.Beyond The Pale ? This song is another epic mammoth. The vocals are incredibly emotional and honest. The dramatics are amazing and believable. This song ends the concept, with the cheeky cheating behaviour enacted, and the main character left pondering life, with the closing mantra, "We will always be more human than we wish to be." I think we all feel like that in life.

CONCLUSION: I think Be would be my favourite Pain Of Salvation album (as you will see in my next review), but this album comes a close second. Incredibly emotional and amazing musicianship. The songs are more structured and simpler than their other material, but the simple themes suit the mixed up concept.