Pain of Salvation thread, v.2 (merged)

[PixelDream]

You missed TPLOD

Thanks!

[ClairvoyantCat]

Here's an unpopular opinion that, having relistened to their discography after Panther, I can totally stand by.  Compositionally this band got better after Remedy Lane.  All the way up to that album I still here moments where their attempts to be proggy and the strength of their songs are at odds.  The chorus of Fandango and the shreddy nonsense in Rope Ends are good examples.  In the stuff that comes after, especially Road Salts and Panther, I no longer hear that disconnect and I think they are way better off for it. 

[Elite]

Uh, I absolutely agree, having listened to a bunch of their old records over the past week.

[Elite]

Honestly, at this point I'm pretty sure Restless Boy is the best song I've heard in 2020 and I can't remember being so obsessed over a track in a long time (speaking years, really).

[LordCost]

Honestly, at this point I'm pretty sure Restless Boy is the best song I've heard in 2020 and I can't remember being so obsessed over a track in a long time (speaking years, really).

I have the feeling that this is one of the songs that it's hard to get bored of. Even I have listened a lot to it and I don't see it getting old soon.

[LordCost]

I might try to throw together a top 25 Pain of Salvation tracks, but I already know that's going to be very difficult.

I got to know this forum  years ago while I was searching for top PoS tracks and I found this thread, which I see is still in the first page of Google if you search "top pain of salvation tracks".

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=14119.0

Sadly it is unfinished, because it was an interesting read.

[PixelDream]

Here's an unpopular opinion that, having relistened to their discography after Panther, I can totally stand by.  Compositionally this band got better after Remedy Lane.  All the way up to that album I still here moments where their attempts to be proggy and the strength of their songs are at odds.  The chorus of Fandango and the shreddy nonsense in Rope Ends are good examples.  In the stuff that comes after, especially Road Salts and Panther, I no longer hear that disconnect and I think they are way better off for it.

What is bad about the chorus of Fandango? I kinda like the prog sections in Rope Ends, especially the parts with that latin piano ostinato. Can't really tell which parts you find shreddy nonsense.

[ClairvoyantCat]

Both sections are not awful on their own but IMO don't fit with the songs.  The verses of Fandango have this amazing fairy world energy and the chorus is a polyrhythmic exercise sounding thing that breaks the spell in a way I don't like at all.  As for Rope Ends the instrumental section is pretty cool and playful but I don't see at all how it fits in a song explicitly about attempted suicide. 

This kinda tonal dissonance is something I don't hear from them any more and the reason why I think they've gotten compositionally better.

[PixelDream]

Thanks for elaborating, makes total sense, especially what you said about Rope Ends.

[kirksnosehair]

So, I've been listening to the new album quite a bit and I like it a lot, but I just wish it were longer.


The only slight complaint I have about it is the sound of the snare drum is...wrong.   It almost sounds like they loosened the snare chain a little bit because it doesn't really sound like a snare drum all the time, it sounds more like a snare drum with the chain off.   It just sounds weird to me.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Haven't listen to POS for a while but the new album is intriguing. A bit obsessed with the drum groove in accelerator.

[Zydar]

Then maybe this video is of interest to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7qXUjYyDQ

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yea I saw the earlier. 

[kirksnosehair]

ooh, yeah, now I know why the snare sounds like it does.       I guess it was intentional.  I don't care for it, but it doesn't ruin the album experience for me at all, it just struck me as a strange snare sound.   What a weird groove that is.  I feel like it's more than time signature being stitched together there, how the fuck do you even count something like that?     

[Buddyhunter1]

What a weird groove that is.  I feel like it's more than time signature being stitched together there, how the fuck do you even count something like that?     

This has been bothering me for days too. It's definitely based around the quarter note / triplet (sextuplet?) polyrhythm, but it sounds like they're throwing odd time signatures on top of that too.

Really cool song. I'm not really sold on this album as a whole (I think it goes downhill in quality after Wait) but it definitely has some highlights.

[kirksnosehair]

If I had to guess I would say it's moving in measures like this:


|: 5/8 >> 7/8 >> 5/8 >> 5/8 >> 7/8 ;|

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

^^Here's how I wrote the intro drum groove in Accelerator, atleast it sounds about right in my notation software. It looks a bit messy but 21/16 can be felt like 7/8 if you follow the dotted eight notes on the Hi-Hat. I first wrote it down like a 7/8 but with a triplet feel in the foot pattern like this:



but I couldn't figure out the 4th bar so I change to a 16th feel instead so that way I just removed a 16 note in the 4th bar so it became 20/16 to get that glitch feel.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I've been humming along to Icon all week.

[ClairvoyantCat]

I have a theory that ICON is meant to be the inverse of the ITPLOD title track. ITPLOD is about coming to terms with death, where as ICON is about coming to terms with the difficulties of being alive (helplessness, losing connections, etc.) That's why ICON's music structure is inverted; ITPLOD is two soft, gentle parts sandwiching a heavy dissonant section. Invert that and you get ICON!

[Elite]

I feel personally that the dissonant sections in Icon are supposed to represent the ever-present danger of death. I said it previously in the thread, but I think the lyrics reference death specifically; 'She keeps on calling me, I keep hanging up, It's not that I don't want to talk, I just fear listening', with 'she' being death knocking at Daniel's door.

Of course, it could mean 'she' is 'life' or 'growing up' as well, but the more I listen, I feel like the deliberate choice to have that recurring motif be dissonant and crackling/lo-fi makes me think it's really about death.

The rest of the lyrics deal with struggles while living, for sure.

[ChuckSteak]

I gave the album some listens and while I agree that Wait and Icon are the standout tracks, it is really not THAT good compared to what they did in the past. The other songs are mostly just okay to average.

[PixelDream]

ICON is such a great track. The first time I heard it I had this image in my head, of two heavily contrasting songs in a constant fight with eachother. And in this track they both come out as the winner. They both have their climaxes, the softer/hopeful one with Daniel's guitar solo and then the dark/heavy one with the outro and Johan's shred. Great stuff.

[Ben_Jamin]

I feel personally that the dissonant sections in Icon are supposed to represent the ever-present danger of death. I said it previously in the thread, but I think the lyrics reference death specifically; 'She keeps on calling me, I keep hanging up, It's not that I don't want to talk, I just fear listening', with 'she' being death knocking at Daniel's door.

Of course, it could mean 'she' is 'life' or 'growing up' as well, but the more I listen, I feel like the deliberate choice to have that recurring motif be dissonant and crackling/lo-fi makes me think it's really about death.

The rest of the lyrics deal with struggles while living, for sure.

And to make it more convincing, he included it at the end when he says "I keep hanging up". That dissonance is why I like the song. It invokes an uneasy feeling, like how the concept of Death makes people feel. It's the uneasy feeling of death all around you.

[ClairvoyantCat]

I feel personally that the dissonant sections in Icon are supposed to represent the ever-present danger of death. I said it previously in the thread, but I think the lyrics reference death specifically; 'She keeps on calling me, I keep hanging up, It's not that I don't want to talk, I just fear listening', with 'she' being death knocking at Daniel's door.

Of course, it could mean 'she' is 'life' or 'growing up' as well, but the more I listen, I feel like the deliberate choice to have that recurring motif be dissonant and crackling/lo-fi makes me think it's really about death.

The rest of the lyrics deal with struggles while living, for sure.

I dont like that.  It doesn't really gel with the rest of the song.  Also Passing Light of Day dealt with his fear of death so thoroughly, if this is the sequel then why go back there?  Daniel never wants to repeat himself. 

I think it's about him missing his family.  "She" could be his wife calling to tell him that they miss him while he's away. 

[kirksnosehair]

^^Here's how I wrote the intro drum groove in Accelerator, atleast it sounds about right in my notation software. It looks a bit messy but 21/16 can be felt like 7/8 if you follow the dotted eight notes on the Hi-Hat. I first wrote it down like a 7/8 but with a triplet feel in the foot pattern like this:



but I couldn't figure out the 4th bar so I change to a 16th feel instead so that way I just removed a 16 note in the 4th bar so it became 20/16 to get that glitch feel.

21/16 <--- 

[kirksnosehair]

This album is weird.  I like it more and more with each spin, but some of the production choices here are baffling to me      I felt the same way upon first hearing Remedy Lane so I'll STFU now 

[Bentower]

Now, here's a curious thing; Ashes has been subjected to a 20th anniversary remixing.

https://youtu.be/QVblZBWE5ag

[Elite]

Whole album mix coming up?

[Bentower]

Hopefully! I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. RL already received its treatment, it's only right if TPE did too.

[Pettor]

OMG! TPE remix is maxing out my hype levels!

[MinistroRaven]

Sweden's progressive Metal innovators Pain of Salvation are announcing a special re-issue edition for their "The Perfect Element, Pt. I" album from 2000. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's third album, the re-issue version is entitled "The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)" and will be released on November 20th, 2020 via InsideOutMusic.

A first taste of the release is available as of today with the launch of its first digital single "Ashes (Anniversary Mix 2020)" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVblZBWE5ag and here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1KsDYvXlD1Kwv8h4WQUmOv

Following on from the widely praised remix of the classic Pain of Salvation album "Remedy Lane" in 2016, "The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)" comes completely remixed by Pontus Lindmark as well as mastered by Thor Legvold / Sonovo. The release, which features slightly revised artwork as well as new liner-notes, will be available as limited 2CD Digipak and Digital Album (with a total of 8 bonus tracks) as well as in the Gatefold 2LP format on 180g. vinyl with the entire remixed album as bonus CD.

Pain of Salvation - "The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)" 2CD tracklisting:

Main CD (76:23):
1. Used (Anniversary Mix 2020) (05:23)
2. In the Flesh (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:39)
3. Ashes (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:27)
4. Morning on Earth (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:35)
5. Idioglossia (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:30)
6. Her Voices (Anniversary Mix 2020) (07:56)
7. Dedication (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:02)
8. King of Loss (Anniversary Mix 2020) (09:51)
9. Reconciliation (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:30)
10. Song for the Innocent (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:03)
11. Falling (Anniversary Mix 2020) (01:53)
12. The Perfect Element (Anniversary Mix 2020) (10:13)
13. Epilogue (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:14) * Bonus Track

Bonus CD (31:00):
1. Used (Live 2018) (05:54)
2. Ashes (Live 2017) (05:48)
3. Falling (Live 2018) (02:30)
4. The Perfect Element (Live 2018) (10:10)
5. Her Voices (and only that) (01:21)
6. Absolute Kromata (00:31)
7. Ashes [your language here] (04:42)

[Zydar]

OH GOD YES.

[abydos]

I liked the old kids better Sounds good though, perhaps the vocals are a bit too in the front.

[Adami]

New mix didn't do a ton. Was hoping for a bit more attack on the drums but it's pretty similar to the old mix in that sense. But who am I kidding, of course I'll buy it. It's my favorite album.

[MoraWintersoul]

Read the news and my brain immediately started playing I THOUGHT I'D SEEN HELL THOUGHT I KNEEEEW IT ALL in a new tab I have to get the vinyl.