Phew -
this was a hard pill to swallow!
Conformity has never been a part of Pain of
Salvation's vocabulary, while adjectives like adventurous and innovative
have often been used do describe them. And "Road Salt One" is both adventurous
and innovative, but at the same time so far off the chart that I fear they will
alienate more fans than they will attract with the direction they've chosen
here...
But we
were warned; the "Linoleum" EP gave us an insight in where they might be going
with this album and the consequence is an album that has it's point of origin in
the early days of progressive rock, dating all the way back to the 60s. This is
sort of a spiritual journey into the darkest corners of Daniel Gildenlöw musical
and lyrical universe, and the artistic effects they uses to portrait it are varied
and many.
They are
trying to fit so many styles into the sound universe of Pain of Salvation, while
it worked with disco on "Scarsick", I do have a hard time getting used to
cabaret music on this album. I do consider myself being open-minded when it
comes to music, but I really can't come to terms with the direction Pain of
Salvation has taken with "Road Salt One".
I really
wanted to love this album but ended up being frustrated and disappointed...
