Angry Metal Guy

Pain of Salvation // Road Salt Two [Ebony]
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Great, but less inspired
Label: InsideOut
Websites: painofsalvation.com | myspace.com/painofsalvation | facebook.com/painofsalvation
Release Dates: EU: 2011.09.26  | US: 10.10.2011

In 2010 Pain of Salvation, best known for their progressive stylings and vocalist who wishes he could talk rhythmically like Mike Patton, released a record that blew me away and shook their fanbase: Road Salt One.  It was shocking mainly because it was a largely not tech-geek-progressive and it was very 70s rock influenced. This left some long-time fans peeved, at best. They wanted something different. Well, Road Salt Two is definitely not that something different. It is stubbornly more of the same and it may have lost a bit of its luster with a year to sit on it. Continue reading

Pain of Salvation // Road Salt pt. 1 – Ivory
Rating: 5.0/5.0 — A stellar re-invention that should bring you to tears
Label: InsideOut
Websites: painofsalvation.com | myspace.com/painofsalvation
Release Dates: SE: 14.05.2010 | EU: 17.05.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

One would assume that an Angry Metal Guy wouldn’t be handing out high scores willy nilly, something I seriously try to avoid doing. But apparently 2010 is a year filled with really fantastic albums by bands doing the things that, as a reviewer, and more specifically, as a music-lover, I have trouble not totally falling for. Pain of Salvation has never been a band that I personally fell for. Scarsick, the band’s 2007 release, was a record that I had issues with and I’ve had some personal gripes about Daniel Gildenlöw’s vocals on the older material (specifically his wannabe Mike Patton rappy/talky vocals). But, that said, Pain of Salvation has long been the darling of the progressive rock and metal scene, with legions of fans who love their technical prowess and pop sensibility.

Road Salt, then, stands to be a great disappointment for a large number of fans who are looking for neo-progressive sensibilities. This is simply not the same band that put out The Perfect  Element (Part I). There is nothing on this record that should outright appeal to metal heads and fans of tech music. But there’s something else, and something that in my opinion places this album on a different plane than 99% of albums released this year, an emotional depth, beauty, fragility and, lastly, dirtiness that makes this album a fantastic journey and easily my favorite Pain of Salvation to date.

Road Salt is still a prog record, however, it’s just way more a 70s rock influenced album that places the band into the same arena as bands like Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Guilt Machine and their ilk. And when I say “70s rock influenced”, let me be totally clear: this is an album that is built to sound like it was recorded on analogue equipment in a room with brown shag carpeting, made by bearded men in bell bottoms who’d smoked a little bit too much hash. The guitar tone screams Hendrix, the vocal harmonies mimic the soul harmonies of folk musicians like Kris Kristofferson and the moog organ is something that you’ve heard a million times while digging through your dad’s record collection. Hell, even the build at the end of the first track “No Way”, sounds like it came off a Trettioåriga Kriget record. And there’s nary a technical wank solo to be found on this album. No, instead the album is based a lot around blues rock—a thing that this Angry Metal Guy hates with a total passion.

But from the opening notes of this album, I was moved emotionally in a way that I think no record has done almost ever. Gildenlöw’s vocal performance is perfect—it is emotionally evocative, huge and sweeping and amazing. His emotional performance reshapes good (or excellent) music into something that is epic and transformative. By bringing his prog and non-blues rock influenced sensibilities to the entire genre and then placing his vocal perfection over songs like “She Likes to Hide”, “Sisters”, “Linoleum” and probably the most evocative of  all the tracks on the album “Road Salt”, Gildenlöw and Pain of Salvation create a sound all their own in what is easily the most overdone genre in the history of mankind. Turning the sounds of 60s and 70s rock and blues into something unique in 2010 is a magical feat, honestly. I have trouble wrapping my mind around how it was done.

In the end, this is an album that should make your heart ache. There is a sadness that really permeates the album. And in an era when hard rock and metal is so incredibly impersonal, when every other record is faux hate and anger or clichéd nonsense, it is beyond refreshing to have band produce material that is so emotionally poignant and beautiful. On top of that, of course, is the fantastic production of this album, mixed with the superb quality of musicians involved in the whole production and you have the formula for what is easily one of the best albums of the year—and one of the best albums I have heard in a really, really long time.

The Dillinger Escape Plan // Option Paralysis
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Gripping
Label: Seasons of Mist / Party Smasher
Websites: myspace.com/DillingerEscapePlan
Release Dates: EU: 22.03.2010 | US: 03.23.2010

The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s fourth record, Option Paralysis, has been one of the most anticipated records of this year so far. And for good reason, people are really taken by this band and their unique style. DEP has released some seriously wacky, sporadic records in the past that are both crazy and challenging and yet so very enticing and addictive—even teaming up with Mike Patton (and others) on an EP called Irony Is a Dead Scene. They’re a very hard band to stick into a genre, bordering on technical metal and hardcore as well as pulling in influences from industrial, jazz, acoustic rock and well, you name it, they can do it. That makes them feel very fresh—but can they maintain that freshness on Option Paralysis?

I could probably sum the review up in one word which answers the aforementioned question: yes. Option Paralysis, while not a terrible stretch from Ire Works, is still remarkably fun, layered and interesting to listen to. The band is able to keep themselves firmly straddling that border between experimental, progressive and sporadic and great poppy sensibility. While some have remarked that they want more blast and scream, from these guys, this Angry Metal Guy thinks it’s damn fresh to hear a band that is able to work clean parts, jazz piano solos and surf guitar tone onto an album without once coming off as feeling forced or even pretentious.

Instead, every track is a sonic adventure of beautifully structured and smartly written parts that blend with seemingly little effort. Vocalist Greg Puciato is definitely part of the reason for this, with a voice that can easily be described as “malleable.” There are very few vocalist I’ve heard like him who have the ability to take on a variety of vocal tones and ranges so that one could actually get the impression that there are different individuals singing different tracks throughout this album. Ranging between Patton and Claudio Sanchez (from Coheed & Cambria—which despite the band being lame, is not an insult), Puciato is remarkable. While being more of a death metal than hardcore kind of guy, I would prefer that he was a bit more guttural in his growls and less hardcore, one cannot deny that the sound works.

Of course, Puciato is far from the only member of this band and they all perform admirably. The music ranges between technical and ridiculous, to simplistic and heavy and even into the  more acoustic, as stated earlier, and everything is convincingly done and cohesive. This is one of those records that’s hard to choose standout tracks from, but “Gold Teeth on a Bum” is one of my favorites for its unique vocal performance and the big build at the end. “Widower”, filled with jazz piano and almost late NIN feel, is another fantastic track that I kept coming back to repeatedly. And, while every track on the second half of this album is great, “Chinese Whispers” stands out for its very cool rhythmic approach and a totally ridiculously intense vocal delivery.

The biggest issue with this record is that there are a few throwaway “aggressive” tracks that feel a little less cohesive with the whole, when the band has proven to be so effective at building tracks into perfectly executed chaos. There appears to be more energy for the big, epic and clean parts than there really is for the “mathcore” segments that the band has become so famous for. Both “Crystal Morning” and “Endless Endings” feel like filler and that’s a bit of a bummer, but as a smaller part of a very impressive whole, that is hardly an issue because DEP has once again managed to produce a gripping, brilliant album. Look for this record to be littering year-end top 10 lists. And check it out for yourself.