Pain Of Salvation
Road Salt One

For a band like Pain of Salvation, and especially for a person like Daniel Gildenlow (increasingly the absolute leader of the group), words like "change," "metamorphosis," "evolution," are more than important: they are fundamental. Vital. They are the supporting base, the foundation on which the complex of Eskilstuna rests.

Since 1997 (the year of the release of the debut “Entropia”) to today, the Swedish group has always been involved in a constant process of musical change, of searching for new solutions and atmospheres, but in recent years, this process has reached its peak and its maximum extension: "BE" was the first strong signal that things had substantially changed compared to the past, "Scarsick" with its dry and direct arrangements and its straight-to-face music was the point of no return, "Linoleum" clearly explained how it is useless to wait for records identical to the first masterpieces.

Because he, Daniel Gildenlow, is not interested in recreating a new "Remedy Lane" or a new "The Perfect Element," at least musically speaking (in the meantime, we are waiting for the third part of the saga of He and She). He, the Swede, does not fossilize on the usual solutions and the usual tricks of an experienced composer. He wants to try new paths, wants to attempt roads somewhat unusual for a band like Pain of Salvation, because like anything else, a musical group also needs to change, to evolve. The same theory of evolution is there to witness it: if a species does not adapt to the changes of the environment and time, it dies. Only those who adapt and change can continue to live. Only those who move to the next level of evolution.

And that's exactly what Pain of Salvation do: they evolve. Despite possessive and selfish fans who would like them crystallized on the same patterns and the same genre, Gildenlow follows his path, not caring about the criticisms and complaints of long-standing supporters. Finding themselves once again with a renewed line-up (the Frenchman Léo Margarit replaces the previous drummer Johan Langell), the group continues with this new album the path already undertaken with the previous “Scarsick”: playing with genres and song form, decomposing and transforming them at will.

This "Road Salt One" (whose second part is awaited for next October) is certainly the most heterogeneous and varied album in the band's discography: it moves easily from old-school progressive (“No Way”) to a poignant ballad (“Sisters”) to raw blues (“Tell Me You Don't Know”) to alternative rock hints (“Curiosity”) even reaching echoes of waltz, which bring to mind the atmospheres of some pieces by the Diablo Swing Orchestra or the early Mechanical Poet (the very particular “Sleeping Under The Stars”, which is a candidate to be the new “Disco Queen”); and in this climate of variety, each member of the group is valued, with a devastating rhythm section and Gildenlow's voice soaring above everyone, Gildenlow who in the 55 minutes that make up “Road Salt One” perhaps delivers the best performance of his entire career, managing to sing in any possible tone, eliciting emotions even when the music is subdued or almost entirely absent (“Of Dust”). But somehow, there remains an anchor to the past: the concept, albeit quite nebulous for now since the second part of this epic is still missing, reprises some themes already addressed in “Remedy Lane”; particularly sex, the true leitmotif of the album, here used as a metaphor and pathway for dissatisfaction, pain, suffering, and disappointment, characteristics that are somewhat shared by all characters in Pain of Salvation's albums.

Thus, 2010 gifts us a group that, faithful to its reputation as a chameleon-like band, changes skin once again and, while continuing to remain distant from the atmospheres of past records, manages to surprise and maintain the very high quality of its works; despite everything, Pain of Salvation continue to ride the wave.

And the evolution continues.