Pain of Salvation

Pain of Salvation – 12:5

Here’s an extremely interesting album by one of the best bands around. Pain of Salvation’s music just keeps growing on you over time. Their previous effort, Remedy Lane is an album I still listen to regularly even after a couple of years.

12:5 is a live, acoustic album with tracks from their previous albums built around three themes; Genesis, Genesister and Genesinister.

Recorded in Sweden with an enthusiastic audience, the result is just incredible! The sound is of such high quality that it sounds like a studio album. And the songs, played this way, lose nothing of their power or beauty.

I greatly recommend this album for anyone who has never heard them or for anyone who is a devoted fan.

Remedy Lane

After making it past the first song of their previous album (The Perfect Element I) I’d found Pain of Salvation to be a very promising band. I was very happy to put in this new album; much happier when it started playing.

It seems to me that the sound has matured to a point which places this band among the best of what’s out there. There is an intensity in their music which is difficult to find elsewhere. What’s more is that this intensity is not shown as simple riffs, but as very strong melodies carried by each instrument.

If I had to pick one song as demonstrating the full range of their sound, I’d go with Fandango. Many points go to the drummer for an intriguing style. I’m sure you’d recognize this guy anywhere. Strange patterns which probably make it difficult for the rest of the band to follow him, but add so much to the music.

With elements of Heavy Metal, pure Hard Rock, Progressive Rock in which they blend all sorts of other styles, Pain of Salvation are on their way to leave their mark on the world. In two words: buy it!

The Perfect Element 1

I must admit that the first track, Used, a very heavy Metal song, made me put this album away without going any further the first time around. But I believe that fair is fair, so I put it on again and skipped to the next.

And what a surprise. The sound becomes much better. That’s when it becomes a Metal Prog album where the heavy riffs accompany beautiful melodies. At times, it almost completely loses the metal edge, like in Morning on Earth, an almost Arena-like song.

The much more melodic, King of Lies says a lot more to me than Used.

Overall I’m very happy I gave the album a second chance and decided to skip over that first song. I still don’t like it, but the rest of the album certainly makes up for it.