Pain Of Salvation – ‘In The Passing Light Of Day’ [Review]
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Progressive metal bands are frequently accused of being emotionally void, occupying a stone-faced genre rammed with mindlessly twiddling automatons.
Pain Of Salvation do not fit that stereotype.
In the six years since this set of Swedish legends last unleashed a proper studio album (in the form of 2011’s Road Salt Two), frontman Daniel Gildenlöw has overcome a close brush with death and emerged from a period of intense illness laser focused on In The Passing Light Of Day, Pain Of Salvation’s heaviest outing in a long time. Kicking into the ten-minute On A Tuesday via dense, intense, blue-flame riffage, Pain Of Salvation make it clear from the off that they. Are. Not. Fucking. About.
Frankly, On A Tuesday is a progressive masterpiece in its own right. It’s an instant everything-but-the-kitchen-sink prog classic, incorporating buzzsaw guitars, surging and seething syncopation, rugged industrial soundscapes, one monolithic outro, and even a brief classical section featuring gorgeously delicate woodwinds before…well, listen to it and you’ll find out. God fucking damn.
Again: Instant masterpiece.
More concise and no less masterful, second track Tongue Of God rips through the emotional equivalent of an on-record root canal. Perfectly placed lyrical hooks make the whole impressively accessible without collapsing into a black hole of banality. It’s a fine example of twenty-first-century songwriting. Awesome.
Onwards through the dark and dramatic Meaningless; Silent Gold’s ruminative nostalgia, reminiscent of The Cinematic Orchestra at their most touching; and straight into the haunting, crushing, intensive-care-sampling Full Throttle Tribe. Another long-form song, nine minutes this time, devastatingly tough and almost relentlessly brutal, breathing spaces provided at just the right moments. A challenging listen, to be sure – but equally rewarding.
The brutality doesn’t let up for Reasons, either. Off-kilter, frayed-edge-of-sanity rhythms paint an appropriately anxious, desperate picture as Daniel Gildenlöw manages to pull off catharsis and on-point precision simultaneously. A solid black metallic mind-blower. Then a relative breather in Angels Of Broken Things (bar some searing guitar solos), The Taming Of A Beast (a weak spot compared to all that’s come before here), and If This Is The End, where Pain Of Salvation pull out a dynamic build for the ages.
Nice.
Ultimately, though, it’s all about almost-title-track and album closer, The Passing Light Of Day. At fifteen minutes, this is the intimidating peak at the end of the path through Pain Of Salvation’s latest musical labyrinth. It is, on paper, absolutely colossal – but in the ears it proves easily palatable, and no less epic for it.
Any band can mash a bunch of disparate parts together and call it a “song,” but with The Passing Light Of Day Pain Of Salvation demonstrate exactly what can be achieved with total, focused dedication to The Song above all else. Every note, chord, beat, melody, and lyric serves to make this particular whole infinitely more than the sum of its parts – and in turn, by the time In the Passing Light Of Day finally ends, you’re left feeling bereft somehow, as you would at the end of a masterfully crafted movie or a deep, rich, visually evocative novel.
Fucking incredible.
TMMP RATING: 100% (Essential Listening!)
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One response to “Pain Of Salvation – ‘In The Passing Light Of Day’ [Review]”
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Nice review. As I’ve said before, for me this album is sure to be a grower. However, I can’t dispute the band’s dedication to their craft.