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Album Reviews : Pain of Salvation – In the Passing Light of Day

By on January 24, 2017

painofsalvationinthepassingI remain unconvinced by Pain of Salvation. They have been around for a long, long time, have released no less than 10 albums, and every time they release a new one I get excited and am keen to listen to it, hopeful that this will be the one that ‘does it’ for me. But they always seem to let me down, and, after the reasonably promising opening that is On a Tuesday, In the Passing Light of Day is no exception.

The problem may lie in the fact that I love progressive rock and metal that goes BOOM! I like prog that is big, bad, bold and bombastic, that veritably bursts out of the speakers and smashes you around the head with its intricate instrumental fury, whilst the sound pursued by these Swedes is a little more lo-fi, a touch more melancholy, than the Dream Theaters, Periphery’s and Opeths of this world. To these ears, this band’s music struggles to get out of second gear. It plods along, rather than explodes, and this is arguably best illustrated by the track Meaningless, which really struggles to create any kind of vibe.

Full Throttle Tribe makes for a frustrating listen too. It meanders along for just over nine minutes, threatening to break out of its restraining chains, but never quite does. And the droney, slightly warped riff/groove that takes up the last minute and a half of the song simply doesn’t seem to work. It just makes you feel slightly uncomfortable.

Of course, it is all subjective, and there are listeners out there who prefer their prog to be more thoughtful, introspective, introverted, and this band and this album is definitely for them. To them, I say: go purchase this album, listen the fuck out of it, and enjoy.

Maybe it’s time to simply concede, to say ‘this band just isn’t for me’ and move on, leaving Pain of Salvation to their many adoring fans. I’m sure they are perfectly happy without me.

Band: Pain of Salvation
Album: In the Passing Light of Day
Year: 2017
Genre: Progressive Rock
Label: Inside Out
Origin: Sweden

About

Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.