Label: InsideOut
Genre: Progressive Metal
Release Date: January 13th, 2017
Line-Up:
Daniel Gildenlöw
Gustaf Hielm
Leo Margarit
Daniel Karlsson
Ragnar Zolberg
Tracklist:
On a Tuesday
Tongue of God
Meaningless
Silent Gold
Full Throttle Tribe
Reasons
Angels of Broken Things
The Taming of the Beast
If This is the End
The Passing Light of Day
What Daniel Gildenlöw and his band mates offer with the newest Pain Of Salvation album is a jaw-dropping experience for a larger group of progressive metal fans. In case you’re looking for some ‘Tool-ish’ alternative sounds, this is the album to go for. If you’re more into melancholic soundscapes – here you go. Heavy riffs and a powerful guitar sound fascinate you? This album delivers. I guess I could continue for a bit longer here, but it’s more that this record marks a great start into 2017.
Pain Of Salvation has been around since the late 90’s, having released in the meantime a few records that are all based on progressive metal that’s always embedded in a heavy sounding context. Gildenlöw could keep this general pattern alive over all the years since the musician is/was involved in quite some other projects as well, outfits that gave him the freedom to try other things than what Pain Of Salvation stands for.
The latest output of Pain Of Salvation was back in 2014 when the band published an acoustic album called “Falling Home”. After having paid a bit more attention to the softer and fragile elements of Pain Of Salvation’s sound, the guys shifted gears for the new album “In the Passing Light Day”.
The album starts boldly. I can’t tell you what happened “On a Tuesday” but it seems like the day was pretty much of a mixed bag. This is reflected in the opener, which starts with a mighty riff, something I haven’t expected. The track lives by a constant interaction of contrasts – loud and silent, creepy and optimistic. Over ten minutes it’s Pain Of
Salvation celebrating prog metal with all nuances you could imagine. This song is definitely the highlight, but all the other ones can easily compete.
The female vocals, actually in a duet, of “Meaningless”, are outstanding. The silent moment provides a beautiful moment of reflection before the melodic “Full Throttle Tribe” increases intensity again. Whatever song you choose on this disc, it’s always a pleasuring moment.
Pain Of Salvation offers a musical kaleidoscope that is just awesome. I like every single track on this record, an album I can seriously recommend. The first benchmark for 2017 is set.
Reviewer: Markus Wiedenmann
Rating: 9/10
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