PAIN of SALVATION |
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Pain of Salvation
are: Tracklisting: "One Hour By The Concrete Lake" is a concept album and deals with subjects such as the environment, military, water consumption, nuclear weapons, power and how it's all interconnected with each other. The opening track 'Spirit Of The Land' is a short track that is mainly made up of haunting synth sounds which flows into... 'Inside', carrying on with the synth sounds drums are soon added and from then on, the track slowly builds up. Then in comes a keyboards sequence and then the whole band comes in. The vocals are excellent and remind me a little of Dream Theater. There's some narration in the middle then the whole thing quietens down to leave just a piano with the vocals. Not long after, the band are back and there's quite a heavy section, a bit like Sepultura, then it quietens down again. Quite a mixed track really, I was quite taken aback by the really heavier stuff, not that I mind, I like the heavier stuff too, and to be honest it works very well. The third track is 'The Big Machine' and reminds me a bit of Faith No More in the way it has been constructed and the way the vocals delivery is carried out. This track has more of a bluesy feel to it, and is quite slow at times. There's still quite some heavier guitar coming in occasionally though. The vocals on this track range from normal to screaming/shouting and there's a kind of medieval choir sound included too. The next track is 'New Year's Eve', this is a strange track, the bass and keyboards play the same notes, but not at the same time. It doesn't flow as easily as the previous track and constantly changes direction, mood and tempo. 'Handful Of Nothing', starts off with some atmospheric noises and then gradually builds up with the bass, drums and guitar. The tempo of this track is quite fast although the mood changes quite often. The tempo does slow down in the middle for a short while, but the music still remains fairly heavy. Once again towards the end the music slows down and the guitar work becomes more intricate. The vocals at this time are more dramatic and emotional. The sixth track 'Water', starts off heavily and then quietens down, later returning with some moments of heaviness. In fact, the whole track is a juxtaposition of mellow melodic parts with some excellent intricate guitar entwined with some quite heavy riffs. The next track 'Home', starts off with intricate guitar, nice piano, quite a strong drum sound and atmospheric keyboards and shortly after builds up pace very quickly. After a while the track mellows to some nice intricate guitar work, with the strong drum beat remaining. The vocals are excellent, being fairly mellow and carrying so much emotion. There are moments when a heavier guitar sound comes in and towards the middle the track picks up pace and there some excellent guitar work. Then it mellows out once again, to some excellent keyboards and some more excellent guitar work. 'Black Hills', starts off quite heavy and in fact reminds me a little of Led Zeppelin, then in comes some intricate guitar work, the vocals on this track are fairly distorted, but still retain some emotion. This is quite a dark track. There are some fine instrumentals on this track with some superb keyboards and guitar. The ninth track 'Pilgrim', starts with intricate acoustic guitar, the vocals are fairly mellow at this stage. There's also some nice strings and atmospheric sounds which add a lot of atmosphere and emotion to this track. 'Shore Serenity', starting off with intricate guitar and some fine keyboards, a heavy guitar sound soon crashes in, but then this fades to more intricate guitar and then the vocals are added, once again carrying a fair degree of emotion. The final track 'Inside Out', starts off with some atmospheric sounds folowed by some nice keyboards sequences combined with quite a heavy guitar sound. This is another quite dark track in places, but there are also some excellent instrumental passages with some excellent piano and guitar. The vocals are once gain full of emotion. 'Inside Out' constantly changes direction, mood and tempo. Then after about 8 minutes, the track then fades away and all you can hear are atmospheric sounds, mainly percussion. Just before 11 minutes is up, the vocals come back and then then band fade in. The track then finishes with the sounds of a violin. Well, what can I say,
If you haven't already heard this album, then I can only say. Released in Europe
by InsideOut / SPV 085-31342 CD
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