•
Rating:
Innovation.
Incredible innovation is the only word to describe the music of Pain of Salvation. It's hard to describe the evolution of this group that I've always underestimated. Yet I'm amazed by these guys who with each album deliver ideas that are always fresh, new, original, and surprising for their musical and stylistic unpredictability. This time Pain of Salvation surprised me, and fortunately, I didn't stop listening after the first 3 tracks. An album lasting 67 minutes, which in the end seems so short, fast, yet compelling and transporting.
Scarsick, the new album, represents yet another chapter of an evolution that seems endless. Gone are the depressive atmospheres of “Remedy Lane” and the inhuman experiments of the controversial “Be.” This work features direct songs, less challenging, at times not progressive at all, equipped with various nuances and influenced by rap and occasionally ska, before returning to the shores dear to Gildenlow's unique voice.
To dwell on what is implied, this album could reveal itself as the long-awaited “The Perfect Element pt2,” because of some similarities in titles and some refrains and choruses of certain songs like Kingdom of Loss and King of Loss, or Idiocracy and Idioglassia. Or even, throughout the album, there are self-references that allude to the older “Entropia”... But anyway, these are all rumors not confirmed by the band.
Speaking strictly of the music, the album, as mentioned earlier, appears direct and less complex and cerebral than “Be.” It starts strong with the title track “Scarsick,” with rap-like elements, energetic. There's a near-total lack of instrumental and solo lines which advantage a greater homogeneity. The band’s claustrophobic and depressive sound seems almost abandoned in favor of an aggressive sound as in “Spitfall,” where Daniel ventures into atypical rap vocals. Romantic and melancholic atmospheres return instead in “Cribcaged.” A beautiful track, in which Gildenlow finally convinces me with a suffering and highly expressive singing. The track is organized in a fascinating ascending climax that quickly leads to the ska of “America,” an excellent experiment I would say. Experimentation forcefully repeats in the following “Disco Queen.” A long and complex track, at times monotonous in a passion (intended in its religious sense) sound in the more bewildered melody. “Kingdom of Loss” reiterates and increasingly highlights Gildenlow's strong emotion, who interprets with genuine suffering a sweet and decadent song, in stark contrast to the childish joy of the two previous tracks. In a chilling emotional progression, we hear Pain Of Salvation bringing us back into the abyss of human emotions, continuing in a schizophrenic atmosphere with “Mrs Modern Mother Mary,” a short and effective song. Calm and oriental, at times tribal atmospheres echo in “Idiocracy” while the vocal aggression returns dominant in “Flame to the Moth,” in a fairly simple song with a predictable but effective chorus. It closes depressively with “Enter Rain,” in a burst of soft and at times psychedelic sounds, a fascinating manifesto of the experimental capabilities of this group.
Never have Pain of Salvation engaged me like this. Yet in this album, they managed to abandon that emotional heaviness that has always characterized them, creating a work certainly emotional, but accessible, certainly passionate but capable of engaging, certainly depressive but endowed with glimmers of light.
They always amaze, and once again.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Scarsick (07:08)
SICK
It's all SICK, I feel sick
I'll be sick, then it's fine
I'm conform to your norm
With a bucket full of me
I'll be free, finally
I will see what you mean with your freedom
This world you call home
Not alone, happy drone
Won't be sick of these cars
All these codes, and these bars
All these sickening scars
I'll believe in the way of the stripes and the superstars
I will fall in line and obey
'Cause the price is so small
Almost nothing at all
If I'm just losing ME
Then the ideals and truths
Will follow naturally
Happily I will settle for your conformative apathy
If I could just get rid of this unsettling, uncomfortable
Unbendable bucket of insight and honesty
This SICK SICK SICK bucket of reality
But you see: this sick will stick
'Cause it's ME
It's ME
Step into the dark age of treason
Today the only voice of reason
Would have to be the sound
Of the soup of the season hitting ground
Hitting ground...
SICK
Feeling sickened by this fucking travesty
Is just a sign of sanity
You're not alone
And every time that you hurt
Every cut, every scar
And every time you just hate
Everything that you are
It is simply the instinct to flee
To escape from this mess
This continuous rape
Of what's true and what's real
So you gnaw at your paw
To get out of this trap
Of the cage, of our time
All that rage
Is your struggle to survive
They think you wanna die
When in truth you just strive
Biting every hand
Just to stay alive
But can you hear that sound
In your ear, growing louder and louder
The whole world around you
A pounding and grinding
That tells you that you're not alone
It's the sound of thousands and thousands
Of vixen teeth
Hitting BONE
Step into the dark age of treason
Today the only voice of reason
Would have to be the sound
Of the soup of the season
Hitting ground...
SICK...
Of these bars and these cars
I feel sick
You are making me sick
So sick
You are making me sick
It's all sick
We're all sick
You are making me sick
Soup of the season
Hitting ground
05 Disco Queen (08:22)
ONE: TONIGHT I'LL FALL
Tonight I'll fall, looking for something wonderful yet casual
Extraordinarily temporal, and there you are - let's go
You hooked me on the dance floor
So here I am, back for more
You seem experienced, just an inch too keen on getting exposed
Having your face in every magazine
You're far from being unique but you still look pristine
Mundanely exotic, like the French cuisine
My Disco Queen - let's disco...
TWO: A CHEAP SELLOUT DRUG
You're a cheap sellout drug on everyone's lips
Covered every day, done every way, a whole world at your hips
A bar to fit, the beats you take
Another hit and you will break
Undressed in front of me, all glistening ebony
You're still so young, but I will show you vintage 33
I lay you on your back - inviting curves of black
Making little noises as my needle finds your track
My Disco Queen - let's disco
Disco Queen - let's disco...
THREE: A TIGHTER GROOVE
You leave me wanting more, panting on all four
I know there's more to pluck, and so I go for the encore
I am turning you around, to play your other side
A tighter groove, I want it but I tremble, slip and slide
Baby, you're just what I need
You purr when I make you bleed
I pump you till you cry - feel so alive
I crank you up and switch to 45
A screaming climax chord, I give you all I've stored
A moment's silence and you're filled up, yet emptier than before
Oh - that subtle little sound as I am pulling out
A finished dish upon my plate is what it's all about
A square round of greed
You surrendered to the rhythm, spinning around your hole
Disco made you famous but tonight you tasted soul
I pumped you till you cried - felt so alive
I cranked you up and switched to 45
You are just begging for more
But I unlock the door (tonight I'll fall...)
You're old news now and so I leave you trembling on the floor...
FOUR: MY DISCO QUEEN
My Disco Queen...
My Disco Queen - let's disco...
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By johnp1983
"Whether you love or hate them (and many will hate them), you cannot ignore 'Scarsick.'"
"There's an incredible abundance of bitter cynicism, and the sensation that these lyrics come from deep within him is evident."
By _Ozzy
"An album with great songs, excessive and redundant arrangements and zero (I say zero!) sense."
"Daniel Gildenlow is a genius and he knows it very well, and it breaks my heart to hear how he struts by singing in 4 different styles in 2 seconds of a song."
By _Ozzy
"An album with great songs, redundant and exaggerated arrangements and zero (I say zero!) sense; a way, in my opinion, to fill a time gap while waiting for a new work."
"Daniel Gildenlow is a genius and he knows it very well and it breaks my heart to hear him show off singing 4 different styles in 3 seconds of a song."
