Pain of Salvation

“PANTHER” is the eleventh album by the Swedish-progressive band Pain of Salvation.

“PANTHER”, the follow-up release to 2017’s “In The Passing Light Of Day” album, was recorded, mixed and produced by Daniel Gildenlöw with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, Devin Townsend) and comes with a comprehensive artwork-theme with illustrations made by André Meister.

1. On A Tuesday
2. Tongue Of God
3. Meaningless
4. Silent Gold
5. Full Throttle Tribe
6. Reasons
7. Angels of Broken Things
8. The Taming Of A Beast
9. If This Is The End
10. The Passing Light of Day

In the Passing Light of Day is the tenth studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation and was released on 13 January 2017 by InsideOut. The album was conceived in 2014 when bandleader Daniel Gildenlöw contracted a life threatening flesh eating bacteria. Hospitalized in Uppsala, Sweden, he was forced to sit out of Transatlantic’s KaLIVEoscope tour. While receiving treatment Gildenlöw wrote the songs that became the basic premise of the album, including the 15 minute title track. A concept album like every other by the band, the lyrics focus on mortality, death and the joys and angers of life.

1. Stress
2. Linoleum
3. To The Shoreline
4. Holy Diver (Dio)
5. 1979
6. Chain Sling
7. Perfect Day (Lou Reed)
8. Mrs. Modern Mother Mary
9. Flame To The Moth
10. Spitfall
11. Falling Home (Gildenlöw/Zolberg)

Falling Home is the ninth studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released on November 10, 2014, by InsideOut. Falling Home is an acoustic album, featuring acoustic versions of previous work, covers of Dio and Lou Reed and the self-titled track.

1. Road Salt Theme
2. Softly She Cries
3. Conditioned
4. Healing Now
5. To The Shoreline
6. Eleven
7. 1979
8. The Deeper Cut
9. Mortar Grind
10. Through The Distance
11. The Physics Of Gridlock
12. Ending Credits

Road Salt Two is the eighth studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released on 26 September 2011, by InsideOut. Around the inside lips of the back cover is the following sentence: “This album, however, is NOT a part of The Perfect Element concept…but for what it’s worth, it easily COULD have been, right? Right?”

1. No Way
2. She Likes To Hide
3. Sisters
4. Of Dust
5. Tell Me You Don’t Know
6. Sleeping Under the Stars
7. Darkness Of Mine
8. Linoleum
9. Curiosity
10. Where It Hurts
11. Road Salt
12. Innocence

Road Salt One is the seventh studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released 17 May 2010 on InsideOut. While a concept album in keeping with all previous Pain of Salvation albums, the album was more song-oriented and streamlined in its production values.

Daniel Gildenlöw has described the album in interviews as sounding more “jam oriented” with tracks that sound like they have been “recorded live in the rehearsal room”. He indicated that the intent of the album was to go “back to letting the song be the focal point” by having the album feature “just us. Playing a song meant to touch your heart. Stripped down. Naked. Brave. Old school”.

Gildenlöw described the concept of Road Salt One as being many parallel stories:

it’s not like a chronological story like the other albums. It’s like several parallel stories and once you look at them together they start vibrating at the same speed or frequency and that’s where you get the story…The whole idea is to compare situations or chains of events, compare them to roads and choose what roads you want to take and the roads will lead you to different places…whatever road you are traveling down at different points in the movie they will be keyframes. At that position, you could see things from a different perspective than you normally would. Many of these songs are these key frames and sort of singularities and special points on the different roads from all these different people doing the different things. That’s where everything connects.[2] Gildenlöw has also compared the album’s plot to the film Magnolia in interviews.

Around the inside lips of the back cover is the following sentence: “This album, however, is NOT a part of The Perfect Element concept…but for what it’s worth, it easily COULD have been, right? Right?”

1. Scarsick
2. Spitfall
3. Cribcaged
4. America
5. Disco Queen
6. Kingdom Of Loss
7. Mrs. Modern Mother Mary
8. Idiocracy
9. Flame to the Moth
10. Enter Rain

Scarsick is the sixth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation, released on 22 January 2007. It is a concept album focusing on contemporary issues including capitalism, materialism, and consumerism. Scarsick is the last album to feature Johan Langell on drums.

According to Daniel Gildenlöw, “Scarsick is much more band oriented and down to the core. Threatening and disturbing”.
The liner notes reveal that Scarsick is actually The Perfect Element, part II – “he”. The album is divided into two chapters: side A and side B.

Scarsick is the second part of a planned, three-piece concept and the follow-up to The Perfect Element, part I. It continues the story of the male character from the latter album. Unlike its predecessor, Scarsick is a politically charged social commentary, and deals with a number of topics, including:

Frustration (with society in general, and most of the things listed below)
Consumer culture
Materialism
Industrialization
Capitalism
Commercialization
American imperialism
Conformity
Idolization of celebrities
Collectivist nature of religion
Decline of civilization

Daniel Gildenlow has revealed in interviews that the life of “He” is an allegory for all of mankind; that in him we see the problems of society on an intimate, personal level. Thus as The Perfect Element, part I deals with the subject of dysfunction in a psychological context that deals with the individual, Scarsick deals with them in a sociological sense and explores the relationship between the two. Just as the final song on the first part of the concept (“The Perfect Element”) witnesses the falling of “He” on a mental level, the final song on Scarsick (“Enter Rain”) sees him fall on a physical level.

1. Animae Partus
2. Deus Nova
3. Imago
4. Pluvius Aestivus
5. Lilium Cruentus
6. Nauticus
7. Dea Pecuniae
8. Vocari Dei
9. Diffidentia
10. Nihil Morari
11. Laterticius Valette
12. Omni
13. Iter Impius
14. Martius/Nauticus II
15. Animae Partus II

BE is Pain of Salvation’s fifth studio album, released by InsideOutMusic in September 2004. It is a concept album focusing on the existence of God and humankind. Along with the band it features a nine-part orchestra, The Orchestra of Eternity, which features prominently throughout the album. This is the last album to feature Kristoffer Gildenlöw on bass. The album is the first Pain of Salvation album to be divided into more than three chapters.

The band performed it live as a rock opera. It was released as “BE” (Original Stage Production).

BE attempts to explore the many facets of human existence. It begins with the narration of Animae, someone or something who/that has existed for as long as he/she/it can remember and contemplates the nature of his/her/its existence and then begins a journey of understanding with the words: “I will call myself GOD and I will spend the rest of forever trying to figure out who I am”. The story continues from there. The characters that appear and disappear throughout the story are as follows:

Animae: Animae is the album’s representation of God, or a Godhead.
Nauticus: Nauticus is the name of a fictional space probe that is, according to the album, the most intelligent space probe ever to be created. In reference to the marine ‘neighborhood’, Nauticus ‘drifts’ throughout space, searching for answers to save Earth from itself.
Imago: Imago is the image of humanity in its most natural form. Combined, Imago is the reflection of Animae.
Dea Pecuniae: Dea Pecuniae can be seen as a feminine version of Mr. Money, and the Eve of humanity’s dark side. In a way, she represents sin.
Mr. Money: Mr. Money is the main character of the story; a man with the most wealth on Earth, who spends most of it on cryogenics in order to fulfill his wish – to be frozen, and not to be awakened until he is made immortal. He represents the darker side of humanity, being the Adam for Dea Pecuniae.
The sound and style are somewhat more varied than previous Pain of Salvation albums, but at the same time, calling upon those previous albums as influences. The album includes: narrative passages; a folk-like song; a gospel-prayer-like song; a church-hymn-like song; progressive metal songs; a classical piano/strings piece; a conversation with a radio in the background; news readings; and even a song that would not be out of place in a Broadway musical. Another song consists entirely of voice messages to be left on “God’s answering machine”. To approach this song, the band asks the subscribers of their newsletter to call a certain phone number and say what ever they would want to say to God.

In writing “BE”, Daniel Gildenlöw used many resources for information, insights and inspiration.

1. Of Two Beginnings
2. Ending Theme
3. Fandango
4. A Trace Of Blood
5. This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)
6. Undertow
7. Rope Ends
8. Chain Sling
9. Dryad of the Woods
10. Remedy Lane
11. Waking Every God
12. Second Love
13. Beyond the Pale

Remedy Lane is the fourth album by Swedish progressive rock band Pain of Salvation, released in Spring 2002. It is a concept albumfocusing on a character’s search for self-discovery. It was described by Allmusic as Pain of Salvation’s breakthrough album.

While both Remedy Lane and Pain of Salvation’s second album, One Hour by the Concrete Lake, feature a protagonist searching for self-discovery, Remedy Lane addresses a wider variety of themes, including love, loss, lust, sex and self-understanding. The album, written by guitarist and vocalist Daniel Gildenlöw, is semi-autobiographical in nature. The liner notes include poems and photos related to the concept as well as date markings to signify the chronological order of the album. Gildenlöw has said that the inspiration for Remedy Lane was an era of his life in which he wished to understand the nature of freedom.

The album’s production is similar to its predecessor, The Perfect Element, part I. While its mood is dark, there are some moments of happiness.

1. Used
2. In The Flesh
3. Ashes
4. Morning On Earth
5. Idioglossia
6. Her Voices
7. Dedication
8. King Of Loss
9. Reconciliation
10. Song For The Innocent
11. Falling
12. The Perfect Element
13. Epilogue (Japanese Bonus Track)

The Perfect Element, Part I is Pain of Salvation’s third studio album, released in October 2000. It is a concept album that focuses on the forming of the individual, particularly on the events from one’s childhood and adolescence. It is the first segment of a planned three-part concept. The Perfect Element, Part II was released in 2007 under the title Scarsick.

“The album is in a way a blend of the two earlier albums, with the groove and originality of Entropia and the focus, thoroughness and production of One Hour by the Concrete Lake. However, it will be quite unique as an album.”

The Perfect Element, Part I is the first part of a planned, two-piece concept, and is divided into three chapters, each containing four tracks.

Part one of the concept is a story human development, which focuses specifically on the progression from childhood to adolescence. It contains many themes within its context; which include but are not limited to:

• Child abuse (sexual and physical)
• Sexuality
• Tragedy
• Drug abuse
• Love
• Pain
• Anger
• Loss (of life and innocence, among other things)
• Shame
• Regret
• Despair
• Inner struggles

All these themes are dealt with as the story explores the lives of two characters, one male and one female (known commonly as “He” and “She”) who are broken, dysfunctional people. They meet in the events of the song “Ashes” after the first two songs of the album present us with a depiction of their troubled pasts (“Used” for “He” and in “In the Flesh” for “She”). After that introduction, the concept focuses on the inner struggles and feelings of the characters after the events on “Ashes”, and we also have some memory flashes, telling us more about their pasts and revealing what events in their lives caused them to become what they are, finally ending with the “falling” of He on the last song, “The Perfect Element”.

1. Spirit Of The Land
2. Inside
3. The Big Machine
4. New Year’s Eve
5. Handful Of Nothing
6. Water
7. Home
8. Black Hills
9. Pilgrim
10. Shore Serenity
11. Inside Out

One Hour by the Concrete Lake is Pain of Salvation’s second studio album. It is a concept album focusing on the issues of nuclear power and waste, displacement of indigenous peoples, the firearm industry, and human discovery.

One Hour by the Concrete Lake was first released by Avalon Records in Japan in July 1998. It was later released in Europe in January 1999 on InsideOut, in the USA in November 1999 on InsideOut America and in South America in November 1999 on Hellion.

One Hour by the Concrete Lake takes a more thorough and factual approach to its concept than its predecessor, Entropia. A number of facts are given in the album booklet, with a list of sources provided at the end. The chronological order of songs is the same as the track order (as opposed to Entropia) and a number of the events and places are real. For example, the Black Hills in North America and Lake Karachay in the former USSR. The sound is generally darker and more subdued than Entropia, with a harsh, industrial feel to the guitar tones.

Daniel Gildenlöw has personally, though reluctantly, stated that Concrete Lake is his least favorite Pain of Salvation album.

One Hour by the Concrete Lake follows the fictional tale of a man that works in the weapons industry. He begins to have doubts about the morality of his occupation, and realizes that he is just part of a big “machine” that controls his life. He makes a New Year’s resolution to discover what consequences his life and his work have on other parts of the world, and decides to break free of the machine.

In the second chapter, he travels around the world to many different places and sees what effects his weapons are actually having. He remembers being told that the weapons he helped to make would save human lives and preserve the peace, yet all he sees are weapons being used by people to kill other people—which is their designed purpose. Furthermore, he finds native people (specifically, Native American Indians) struggling to reclaim their sacred land from the colonizing white man, who have also taken uranium from the ground and dumped radioactive waste into the local rivers.

In the third chapter, he arrives at shores of Lake Karachay (in Kyshtym in the former USSR). There, so much nuclear waste had been dumped over the past fifty years that if one stood by the shore for one hour, the exposure to radiation would be such that death from physical injuries would inevitably occur within two weeks. Concrete blocks have been placed in the lake, falling to the bottom to help compress sediments down and prevent them from shifting. Still it would take tens of thousands of years for the deleterious effects of the radiation to subside. Unfortunately, after ten years, the concrete had already begun to crack and split open. The water in the lake has been decreasing steadily over the years and will eventually leave a dry lake bed. In addition, the lake connects to many underground rivers that go out to sea.

The man’s quest to leave the machine ends as he realizes that it is impossible for anyone to truly leave the machine. Outside one machine there are merely more machines. However, he also realizes that the “machine” is only made of its “wheels,” so the only thing he can do is choose which machine he wants to be part of and take some responsibility for its direction.

The album ends with the idea that anyone could easily come to understand the significance and immorality of the issues raised in the album; it would only require them to stand for one hour by the concrete lake.

1. ! (Foreword)
2. Welcome to Entropia
3. Winning A War
4. People Passing By
5. Oblivion Ocean
6. Stress
7. Revival
8. Void Of Her
9. To The End
10. Circles
11. Nightmist
12. Plains Of Dawn
13. Leaving Entropia (Epilogue)

Entropia is Pain of Salvation’s first studio album. It is a concept album concerning the story of a family in a fictional society that is torn apart by a war. The title is a portmanteau of Entropy (from thermodynamics, the measure of disorder present in a system), and Utopia (the ideal society). This is the only album to feature Daniel Magdic on guitar.

Entropia was first released by the Japanese company Marquee on their Avalon label in August 1997. Following favourable reviews and positive fan reactions in the progressive rock/metal world, Marquee decided to fly Daniel over to Tokyo a week in October 1997 to promote the album. While in Tokyo, Daniel featured in various TV and radio shows, did interviews for the Japanese metal press, and performed in selected record stores. Around this time, purchasing albums through online record stores was commonplace, and fans from around the world began to do so with Entropia.

It was subsequently released in Romania (1998 on Rocris Discs), in Europe (September 1999 on InsideOut Music), in South America (September 1999 on Hellion), and in the USA (2000 on InsideOut America). The release of an album by different labels in different countries is characteristic of an emerging band’s first album, and their lack of a long-term contract with a major record label.

“This album is a very complex concept that is pretty hard to grasp. It is about a family in a war situation, about a father that fails to protect his family, about a child who needs a father and not a soldier, about a society that kills and excludes and then takes its hand away from the remains in shock of what it has become. It is about a world I have chosen to call Entropia, which is a combination of the two words “Entropy” and “Utopia”. Entropia is suspiciously similar to our world.”

— Daniel Gildenlöw