I haven't heard Pain of Salvation music since I stopped listening to Entropia years ago. But lately I've been browsing their music on youtube,finding that I really like some of it. I generally go through a discography chronologically. Is there any weak link in this catalog?
I like that band led by Daniel Gildenlöw. I really enjoy Road Salt One and Two.
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Have they had a different leader?
Lost me after Scarsick. The Road Salts had some decent moments here and there but were mired to me by this attempt to produce a more retro sound rather than the sort of immersive-ish, conceptual, and dramatic experimentation of the previous ones.
No, still Gildenlow. I can't comment on the Road Salt albums, as I've not heard those. Also, I'm not a huge fan, but I would say that Scarsick is a weak link. At least, that was where I lost interest completely.
No no. Daniel Gildenlöw is the leader from the beginning.Originally Posted by davis
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
For me, I can't say there is a weak link. Some will say Scarsick onwards but I have quite a soft spot for that and the 2 Road Salt albums. Most people would probably agree that their finest are Remedy Lane, The Perfect Element and Be. Others may say Be was too pretentious!
OK, here we go.
The first four are similar and are prog-metal with a weird edge. All excellent and mandatory.
The next two CDs are Daniel trying to to stretch the boundaries in every direction with varied results. Be is darker and more art rock. Scarsick is a mixture of many things. I like both but I'm a fanboy.
The Road Salt CDs are more straight ahead rock with progressive elements.
"The woods would be very silent if the only birds that sang were those who sang best..." - Henry David Thoreau
I am a huge PoS fan based on their albums up through 'BE'.
They completely lost me after that.
Based on Entropia, One Hour by the Concrete Lake, Perfect Element, Remedy Lane, and BE to a lesser extent, they still remain my favorite prog-metal band. Love the 'unplugged' on too.
And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell
You'll likely hear that Scarsick or BE are the weak items in their catalog, but both of those are worth exploring if you enjoy everything else. One thing with PoS is that Daniel has never been afraid to switch it up and try new things (like, recently, almost a whole new band) - and this makes for a fairly diverse if somewhat uneven discography.
Personally, I loved BE - and found that reading along with the liner notes for each song really helped me get more into the concept. Plus there's some pretty interesting reading material referenced in those notes, if your'e looking.
For my dollar though, Remedy Lane is the highpoint so far.
They lost me with Scarsick. Everything before that is stellar.
Actually, I take part of that back: Scarsick has its moments, but it is a tremendous drop in quality compared to what had come before it. It just didn't seem thought through. I still have the album and listen to it once in a while but it removed Pain of Salvation from my blind-buy list. I approached the Road Salt albums with more caution and wasn't thrilled with what I heard.
My advice is to stick to the first five, plus the great acoustic live album 12:5.
NP: Supertramp Crime of the Century
The above comments are pretty much exactly what I would say about the band’s output with the exception of “Scarsick” as it is the one album I don’t own. The first four are all very similar and very good. “Be” is a significant departure, but although it has a few weak spots overall it is a very good album, but quite different from the ones that came before it. I enjoy both of the “Road Salt” albums too. They kind of fit somewhere in between the early stuff and the middle stuff. The song “1979” off of “Road Salt” is one of my favorite songs by anyone in the last couple of years.
I'll echo what the others have said. Up until Scarsick is excellent, high quality prog-metal (although the metal quotient on Be is quite small). The Road Salt duo removes the prog/progressive elements (and the metal ones really) and adds bluesy & hard rock influences. Scarsick is the hingepoint where they started to strip away the prog stuff, and is usually where the prog fans get off the train (quite understandably). That said, Scarsick does have a few glimmers of hope, whereas I find the Road Salts to be unlistable for any extended period of time.
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
I traded in Scarsick (I rarely trade discs in) and haven't looked back. Enjoy everything from the catalog prior to this, including "Be", another controversial release. Just re-visited the wonderfully-theatrical DVD of the "Be" show the other night.
The DVD commentary is quite interesting on that from memory and the Portnoy nugges.....
I love their music up to BE...
After that it's hit or miss with their output...
I still claim they are one of my favorites even if I don't listen to their last three discs...
Enjoy the moment... It's the only way to fly!
I like their early records and I'm a fan of 'Scarsick'. I thought it was a great prog metal record, with emphasis on metal. I used to have 'Be' and, although I liked the concept, I didn't find myself returning to it. There were very little memorable melodic songs there to hold my attention. That being said, it is their best produced album, I was in awe on how it sounded. Where they lost me was with the 'Road Salt' albums. I didn't mind the change in direction, but the songs didn''t do it for me. I found it unmemorable and boring for the most part. I actually prefer their 'Linoleum' EP better than the 'Road Salt' albums. 'Remedy Lane' is still my favorite of their discography.
Last edited by Gerardo; 04-11-2014 at 01:43 PM.
I heard 'Be' today and liked some of it a lot and loved the rest. Not sure which I'll listen to next but I'm stuck on POS for now.
I'll toss in another positive vote for Scarsick and the Road Salts. I've listened to those albums more than their earlier stuff.
I used to be a big fan, especially of One Hour by the Concrete Lake, but have mostly lost my taste for them. Still, they sometimes pull off musical passages that are pretty mind-bending, and are certainly a lot better than some similar cheesy prog metal bands.
Love The Perfect Element, Remedy Land, Be which would all be in the top 10 disks in my playlist. After that very spotty.
But there are two tracks on Road Salt One which are excellent:
Is this band still making music? Would be great if they released an album more along the lines of their earlier work.
QFT - But, I also liked Scarsick's quirkiness and strong jab at the US! Go Daniel. The Road Salt releases lost me completely. These days my go to are the first four, specifically Remedy Lane and Entropia.
Duncan's going to make a Horns Emoticon!!!
Do any of you know that Dan is sick right now? "Pain of Salvation forced to leave Daniel at home for PN14 cruise.
As most of you may already know, Daniel recently underwent a series of surgeries after having contracted a very serious infection (Necrotising Fasciitis, aka "flesh-eating bacteria"). We all hoped for a quick comeback and that he would make it in time for the Prog Nation At Sea cruise. Unfortunately, while his life isn't in any danger, the healing process will take much longer than expected. Now, after four weeks, he is still in the hospital, having to be put under with general anesthesia every second day for wound care.
This of course put us in a very difficult position, but when Daniel suggested that we go through with the show without him, we rose to the challenge, dead set on doing the best of the situation. So, in mutual agreement we have opted to go ahead with the gig and make it a very special one. We don't want to let those of you who come to see us down. We understand that this might still come as a disappointment to some, but we can assure you that we'll do our very best to put on a show that Daniel would be very proud of.
Daniel: "As much at it kills me, not being able to go, I know they can pull off a great gig. Ragnar (Zolberg, also front man of Icelandic band Sign) will be the main lead singer with his fantastic voice, and then we have Léo, who sings beautifully too, and Clay Withrow (front man of US band Vangough) stepping in to save us again with his singing and guitar playing. I'm really happy that they're doing this, and I really urge all fans to watch this show! If nothing else, than do it for me – I would love to see it myself!"
what jabs? is this going to deteriorate into politics?
Daniel has always had some pretty strong political opinions that show up in a lot of his lyrics (and interviews), so it is not really off topic. He basically boycotted playing in the U.S. for a period of time, which turned some people off at the time.
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