When I was young and dumb I thought Heavy Metal was just the music that has managed to have me gravitate around it, like a magnetic field impossible to break free, even if I wanted to. Then – like in so many instances in our lives – an apparently insignificant episode turned my world upside down. When I borrowed a tape from my cousin, there was a – at the time – cryptic message on the back of the booklet. It started like this: “He who refuses to take part in modern mediocrity will forever stand alone, an outcast”. This is the sentence that has changed it all. My perception of what Heavy Metal means is cast in stone from that moment in time, almost 30 years ago. It is ingrained in every fiber of my being. In that sense, the new Pain of Salvation album is the most Heavy Metal album they have ever released.
For the uninitiated, Pain of Salvation is a Prog Rock band in the real meaning of the term. After the universally acclaimed «In The Passing Light of Day», one would be tempted to think the band would capitalize on that relative success and pursue a similar lane. Of course, being Pain of Salvation the kind of band they are, that would never be an option. Not to say «Panther» is completely removed from the previous album, there is a very obvious connection – we will focus on that in a bit – but there were ample warnings and signs from reviews and other fans claiming this was not an easy album to listen to. Which shouldn’t come as a huge shock, if you take a broader view of all the discography of the band. Actually, shock is a word I have seen thrown around, especially concerning the electronic turn Pain of Salvation took on this record – or so it was announced.
For the uninitiated, Pain of Salvation is a Prog Rock band in the real meaning of the term. After the universally acclaimed «In The Passing Light of Day», one would be tempted to think the band would capitalize on that relative success and pursue a similar lane. Of course, being Pain of Salvation the kind of band they are, that would never be an option. Not to say «Panther» is completely removed from the previous album, there is a very obvious connection – we will focus on that in a bit – but there were ample warnings and signs from reviews and other fans claiming this was not an easy album to listen to. Which shouldn’t come as a huge shock, if you take a broader view of all the discography of the band. Actually, shock is a word I have seen thrown around, especially concerning the electronic turn Pain of Salvation took on this record – or so it was announced.
Well, that might be a gross overstatement, particularly if you have been following the band for some time. I was only shocked by the band once, the first time I listened to them when «Perfect Element Part I» was released. But though I was still pretty young and dumb back then I eventually succumbed to their charms. Of course every album has a lot of surprises but every single one of them sounds like a Pain of Salvation album. That should be the goal of every band out there – make new music without changing their personality. Pain of Salvation have their own sound. It is clearly recognizable. And they keep revisiting all their different albums, with subtle hints and winks, like in the nostalgic «Fur», a banjo-like interlude reminiscent of «Be» and the «Road Salt» albums maybe. Or «Keen To a Fault» that harkens back to the classic «Idioglossia». Not to lure us into a safe space of comfortable familiarity but because it is in their DNA. And that is probably the strongest point on Pain of Salvation. Every specific album is a small independent little world in the solar system of the band. That happens mainly because there is an undeniable conceptual consistency connecting all the albums, almost like small branches from the same tree.
In fact, though «In The Passing Light of Day» is not one of my favourites from the band, we can find there the genesis of «Panther» in the song «Full Throttle Tribe». That is the short piece of string from which the new album has unraveled. The feeling of not belonging, the sensation of being an outcast that is just “too loud, too wild, too silent or too shy” to fit in what society has come to expect from us. This is a theme that has many faces and which the band has explored in all of the albums, without exception. Each time with a new expression (whether it be militarism, environmental issues, greed, religion, relationships, you name it) but the face is the same. What Pain of Salvation – the name should give you enough hints as it is – talks about in each album is basically what is our purpose in life and how we relate to those around us. What are we doing here? How can we fulfill our roles in this planet? What is the meaning of life? And, above all, what does it mean to be human? Do Pain of Salvation provide the answer, you ask? Hell no! Why should they? Like the director João César Monteiro says in his final film «Vai & Vem» (2003) “only the problem is interesting, never the solution”.
We cannot separate Pain of Salvation’s music from the concept. More than walking hand in hand alongside each other, these two aspects are so tightly knitted that it’s impossible to sever them apart. And that is the reason this album sounds so modern or electronic or whatever people might decide to call it. Let’s be honest here. We live in an artificial world, a world where our most basic necessities are provided by smart gadgets while organic life has been rebranded into a luxury item for white, pseudo-liberal westerners that fill our 4K screens with make-believe sustainable existences. We live in a brand new frantic world, both confused and confusing and that makes a very tense record. And how could it be any other way?
I have read some reviews stating «Panther»’s concept is a dystopian fantasy where the world is divided between dogs and panthers. Really? Is this all there is to it? Entertainment? Take a good look around you. What do you see if not a disposable society where everything is taken at face value? All is processed, easily digestible, ready for consumption and even readier for disposability. The opening track «Accelerator» brings that tension upfront with an almost palpable feeling of anticipation, an underlying threat. The keyboard is subdued but insistent and the powerful vocals of band leader Daniel Gildenlöw are as powerful as ever – definitely one of the top Prog vocalists of the new millennium. The drums evolve in a twisted way, the rhythm is all over the place, almost in a point-counterpoint kind of way, which fits flawlessly the lyrical content. We are presented here with the concept of a world dominated by dogs, a world that is too real, too here, too now to merely discard it as some sort of fictional tale. Canines are domesticated creatures that have been bred with a specific function. Panthers represent the untamed felines that have never really lost their wildness. Is this imagination or reality? The parallels are too easily drawn for anyone to make their own mind about it.
In this album of balance and contrasts, of conflict and opposing forces the solution that was mentioned above should be finding a way to sharing the same space, instead of calibrating every single individual to the norm, whatever the norm might be. As it is now, all the weight of the world is placed upon the panthers, like a burden or a cross (if that is something that you are a fan of), because panthers are different: “I must be the problem here. I think too fast, talk too loud, I barely touch the ground”. Difference is a stigma (“I smell just like your worst fear”) that we carry ashamed and anxious. As the song confronts us with images of a city in flames we cannot help but ask ourselves: what is looting? What is rioting? What is fire, after all? “We give you the brilliant, the crazy, the fools, the gifted and the troubled” but defiance is ultimately crushed through a pre-fabricated diagnosis. The message is clear if you keep an open mind: “don’t kill every flame ‘cause you’re scared to get burned”. A panther is an accelerator for change, for passion, for humanity because “sometimes it’s the fire that saves the world” – that effect during that phrase is nasty. Do yourselves a favor and look it up.
This evidently modern sound approach is a constant presence throughout the record. Not that much overbearing, more like an apparition lurking close by that mostly just lets you catch some short glimpses from the corner of your eye. Of course it gets more prominent in some songs such as «Restless Boy» with an initial drum work that catches us off-guard at first (much like their swedish neighbors Paatos have done in some songs). Something that you could probably stumble upon on the radio in the late 90s and that My Dying Bride have flirted with in the oddest song from «34.788%... Complete». That combined with hearing Daniel’s voice filtered through a vocoder – or something to that effect – would make a complete recipe for disaster. In the hands of Pain of Salvation, the song can survive unstained because here the human element is very much at the front. In fact, this is another peculiarity that is spread all over «Panther», this perpetual struggle between technology and nature, human and machine. No matter how modern and electronic they seem to go for, the human element always shines through, specially through the drum sound employed by the rising star Léo Margarit, really dry and natural. Johan Halgren’s guitar is so like him before the explosive end of the song. This restlessness drives us right back to the days of «Nihil Morari», only taken to the logical extreme. Lyrically, I like to make the connection between «Restless Boy» and the famous George Bernard Shaw quotation, where it is claimed “the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” So much for insanity.
In fact, though «In The Passing Light of Day» is not one of my favourites from the band, we can find there the genesis of «Panther» in the song «Full Throttle Tribe». That is the short piece of string from which the new album has unraveled. The feeling of not belonging, the sensation of being an outcast that is just “too loud, too wild, too silent or too shy” to fit in what society has come to expect from us. This is a theme that has many faces and which the band has explored in all of the albums, without exception. Each time with a new expression (whether it be militarism, environmental issues, greed, religion, relationships, you name it) but the face is the same. What Pain of Salvation – the name should give you enough hints as it is – talks about in each album is basically what is our purpose in life and how we relate to those around us. What are we doing here? How can we fulfill our roles in this planet? What is the meaning of life? And, above all, what does it mean to be human? Do Pain of Salvation provide the answer, you ask? Hell no! Why should they? Like the director João César Monteiro says in his final film «Vai & Vem» (2003) “only the problem is interesting, never the solution”.
We cannot separate Pain of Salvation’s music from the concept. More than walking hand in hand alongside each other, these two aspects are so tightly knitted that it’s impossible to sever them apart. And that is the reason this album sounds so modern or electronic or whatever people might decide to call it. Let’s be honest here. We live in an artificial world, a world where our most basic necessities are provided by smart gadgets while organic life has been rebranded into a luxury item for white, pseudo-liberal westerners that fill our 4K screens with make-believe sustainable existences. We live in a brand new frantic world, both confused and confusing and that makes a very tense record. And how could it be any other way?
I have read some reviews stating «Panther»’s concept is a dystopian fantasy where the world is divided between dogs and panthers. Really? Is this all there is to it? Entertainment? Take a good look around you. What do you see if not a disposable society where everything is taken at face value? All is processed, easily digestible, ready for consumption and even readier for disposability. The opening track «Accelerator» brings that tension upfront with an almost palpable feeling of anticipation, an underlying threat. The keyboard is subdued but insistent and the powerful vocals of band leader Daniel Gildenlöw are as powerful as ever – definitely one of the top Prog vocalists of the new millennium. The drums evolve in a twisted way, the rhythm is all over the place, almost in a point-counterpoint kind of way, which fits flawlessly the lyrical content. We are presented here with the concept of a world dominated by dogs, a world that is too real, too here, too now to merely discard it as some sort of fictional tale. Canines are domesticated creatures that have been bred with a specific function. Panthers represent the untamed felines that have never really lost their wildness. Is this imagination or reality? The parallels are too easily drawn for anyone to make their own mind about it.
In this album of balance and contrasts, of conflict and opposing forces the solution that was mentioned above should be finding a way to sharing the same space, instead of calibrating every single individual to the norm, whatever the norm might be. As it is now, all the weight of the world is placed upon the panthers, like a burden or a cross (if that is something that you are a fan of), because panthers are different: “I must be the problem here. I think too fast, talk too loud, I barely touch the ground”. Difference is a stigma (“I smell just like your worst fear”) that we carry ashamed and anxious. As the song confronts us with images of a city in flames we cannot help but ask ourselves: what is looting? What is rioting? What is fire, after all? “We give you the brilliant, the crazy, the fools, the gifted and the troubled” but defiance is ultimately crushed through a pre-fabricated diagnosis. The message is clear if you keep an open mind: “don’t kill every flame ‘cause you’re scared to get burned”. A panther is an accelerator for change, for passion, for humanity because “sometimes it’s the fire that saves the world” – that effect during that phrase is nasty. Do yourselves a favor and look it up.
This evidently modern sound approach is a constant presence throughout the record. Not that much overbearing, more like an apparition lurking close by that mostly just lets you catch some short glimpses from the corner of your eye. Of course it gets more prominent in some songs such as «Restless Boy» with an initial drum work that catches us off-guard at first (much like their swedish neighbors Paatos have done in some songs). Something that you could probably stumble upon on the radio in the late 90s and that My Dying Bride have flirted with in the oddest song from «34.788%... Complete». That combined with hearing Daniel’s voice filtered through a vocoder – or something to that effect – would make a complete recipe for disaster. In the hands of Pain of Salvation, the song can survive unstained because here the human element is very much at the front. In fact, this is another peculiarity that is spread all over «Panther», this perpetual struggle between technology and nature, human and machine. No matter how modern and electronic they seem to go for, the human element always shines through, specially through the drum sound employed by the rising star Léo Margarit, really dry and natural. Johan Halgren’s guitar is so like him before the explosive end of the song. This restlessness drives us right back to the days of «Nihil Morari», only taken to the logical extreme. Lyrically, I like to make the connection between «Restless Boy» and the famous George Bernard Shaw quotation, where it is claimed “the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” So much for insanity.
Still in the electronic block we have the title track, certainly the most divisive moment in the album. Which in a way is understandable for the first half it looks like we are listening to any random birthday party in the neighborhood with the trials and tribulations that we are subjected to with all the attributes of what is now deemed popular music which, as we all know it, is no music at all. If we use the lowest common denominator as measurement nothing but pure trash can come up. On the other hand, people have a really short memory, since this follows the same pattern of «Spitfall», for instance, so what’s the shock? Rapping is something the band has been using since the very first track on the very first album. Better get used to it. I see this title track, much as the mentioned «Spitfall», as the most horrible piece of music we can find, the things we are tortured with in every place where people carry those dreadful portable speakers – certainly one of the most abominable gadgets in the history of mankind. This is an apt depiction of the world we are living in and – as Werner Herzog says – we should not avert our eyes… or ears in this case. We immerse ourselves in that filth until a crying piano melody suddenly breaks through and Daniel asks: “how does it feel to be you?” It is this juxtaposition of sedated normality versus emancipated abnormality that makes the fabric of the album. The modern world is hard to get by but the melody in the chorus is strangely soothing as it is gradually implanted in our minds, like an appaling curse… or a blessed salvation. It progressively gets more organic with each repetition.
How does it feel to be you? Well… it’s damn hard! From early on we are taught to conform to society, to mingle with the crowd, to obey to authority. We have to be normal, to follow the herd, a systematized version of humanity. Does that mean in order to become a proper functional human being we need to be reborn as another heartless cog in the big machine? In a fully medicated world we are forced to smile because that is the least we can do, like soma-addicts oblivious to any emotion other than that mock happiness. We rely on our Mcmindfulness masks to hide our true selves until, as Nikos Kazantzakis retells on his travel journals from Japan, there is nothing behind the mask anymore, except emptiness. Who is the real you? Though it’s true that sometimes we feel that we are so much more human than we wish to be, the problem nowadays is how to maintain a little spark of humanity in a world that constantly forces our dehumanization. “How does it feel to be you?”. It is damn hard! That’s how it feels… If you are unable to erase yourself – the pseudo-scientific term for that is emotional maturity – society will consume you. And people seem to be surprised there are so much mental issues in western societies. I am surprised there aren’t much more. What kind of society are we trying to build? What world is it we are trying to achieve? And what can we do as panthers, trapped in a dog's world?
The developed world we have created is perfectly organized and safe but devoid of any feeling. In a song that would fit pretty well alongside something like «Black Hills», «Unfuture» has Pain of Salvation treading more typical ground (though what is typical for the band is debatable) with another brilliant drum workshop from Leo. Somehow it all fits into place in the middle of that whirlwind. The melody can be pretty harsh but uncommonly reassuring at the same time. This song illustrates a devastated brand new world that is our present reality, a world of “all want, no need” where no one really wants to have strings attached to anything or anyone: “the less your heart is in it, the less you'll bleed”. This thematic is expanded upon later on in «Species», also a little throwback to «Be»… but in the Pain of Salvation way. There is nothing recycled here, maybe re-imagined is the best expression. Acoustic guitars and vocals accentuate the lyrical approach to a more sustainable existence, in harmony with nature and other animal species: “my warmth comes from the trees and my food comes from the sea”. The song is delicate but not lame. Then again, who in their right mind would ever consider Pain of Salvation lame? Great vocals once more express all the frustration towards the human race (“sometimes I hate my fucking species”) but the empathy towards our fellow human companions is crystal clear with a solemn request that cuts through out skin: “Please heal mankind”. All complemented with an individual cry for freedom and personality: “don't heal my mind”. A statement of intent that is reinforced earlier in «A Keen To a Fault» where the magic of Daniel’s voice is out in the open: “Born to the stars, I was born to dream”.
The mind healers of today are a vermin that managed to contaminate all aspects of our life and all environments – personal, professional and artistic. There is a very accurate passage in the song that tells us our generation has been tricked. Tricked into pursuing our dreams. But are our dreams really ours to begin? Have we strayed too far from ourselves in the search for a perfectly organized society? “You never need what you want and you rarely want what you need” is food for thought and something that has kept me awake for days on end. It is a kind of reiteration of the question posed in «Stress», back in 1997: “IS THIS WHAT WE WANT? ...is this what we NEED?”. One more time the question of mental health envelops us like a willow-o-wisp in a nightly excursion through the swamps. For if we are not ourselves, who the hell are we anyway? What does it mean to be normal? And more pressing still, what is humanity? If everybody seems remote-controlled nowadays should we even label ourselves as humans? What is our goal as a species? There is a character in Paru Itagaki’s «Beastars» manga that addresses these issues as such: “from the moment they are born, they belong to a species. So, I think they’re all trying to find their own reason for being a part of this world.” And that, in a nutshell, is what Pain of Salvation has been trying to ponder upon throughout all their career.
Since I have opened this bottle, let me sip a little bit of its nectar. It’s 2020 now, the first album from the band was released back in 1997, most of the line-up is now completely different and a lot of water has flown under a lot of different bridges. Do you really think it would be realistic to expect Pain of Salvation to sound like they did back then? Are you the same person you were 20 years ago? Especially considering how Daniel Gildenlöw (the main songwriter by a long shot) approaches music? Of course there are things that I sort of expect to find as soon as news of another album break forth but that is just me indulging in some good old self delusion. Guitar solos, for instance. That thought has not even once crossed my mind before the final song «Icon». It starts great with a piano and a distorted guitar that slashes the song apart. It’s both melodic and nostalgic with a beautiful chorus. Those vocal melodies that have now become a trademark of the band are spot on as usual. It is really not fair for other bands. While most Prog bands struggle with the fact they can’t find half a decent singer (let alone one entire vocalist) Pain of Salvation have three of them, though Daniel is in a league of his own. The song grows in intensity until it reaches a delightful guitar solo. And then, and only then, do we realize it is the first solo in the whole record. So fuck you, Pain of Salvation! Fuck you very much – in a loving way! And if that is not enough, after another section with just an emotional voice and a sweet guitar, the booming bass comes along and Daniel moves us to tears with his vocal abilities. It gradually grows in depth until… guess what, the second solo. So fuck you again! And what amazing solos they are, rounded off by an exquisite drumming performance – what a monster behind the kit! Totally worth the wait and – in hindsight – it makes them even more special because they are the only ones in the whole album.
How does it feel to be you? Well… it’s damn hard! From early on we are taught to conform to society, to mingle with the crowd, to obey to authority. We have to be normal, to follow the herd, a systematized version of humanity. Does that mean in order to become a proper functional human being we need to be reborn as another heartless cog in the big machine? In a fully medicated world we are forced to smile because that is the least we can do, like soma-addicts oblivious to any emotion other than that mock happiness. We rely on our Mcmindfulness masks to hide our true selves until, as Nikos Kazantzakis retells on his travel journals from Japan, there is nothing behind the mask anymore, except emptiness. Who is the real you? Though it’s true that sometimes we feel that we are so much more human than we wish to be, the problem nowadays is how to maintain a little spark of humanity in a world that constantly forces our dehumanization. “How does it feel to be you?”. It is damn hard! That’s how it feels… If you are unable to erase yourself – the pseudo-scientific term for that is emotional maturity – society will consume you. And people seem to be surprised there are so much mental issues in western societies. I am surprised there aren’t much more. What kind of society are we trying to build? What world is it we are trying to achieve? And what can we do as panthers, trapped in a dog's world?
The developed world we have created is perfectly organized and safe but devoid of any feeling. In a song that would fit pretty well alongside something like «Black Hills», «Unfuture» has Pain of Salvation treading more typical ground (though what is typical for the band is debatable) with another brilliant drum workshop from Leo. Somehow it all fits into place in the middle of that whirlwind. The melody can be pretty harsh but uncommonly reassuring at the same time. This song illustrates a devastated brand new world that is our present reality, a world of “all want, no need” where no one really wants to have strings attached to anything or anyone: “the less your heart is in it, the less you'll bleed”. This thematic is expanded upon later on in «Species», also a little throwback to «Be»… but in the Pain of Salvation way. There is nothing recycled here, maybe re-imagined is the best expression. Acoustic guitars and vocals accentuate the lyrical approach to a more sustainable existence, in harmony with nature and other animal species: “my warmth comes from the trees and my food comes from the sea”. The song is delicate but not lame. Then again, who in their right mind would ever consider Pain of Salvation lame? Great vocals once more express all the frustration towards the human race (“sometimes I hate my fucking species”) but the empathy towards our fellow human companions is crystal clear with a solemn request that cuts through out skin: “Please heal mankind”. All complemented with an individual cry for freedom and personality: “don't heal my mind”. A statement of intent that is reinforced earlier in «A Keen To a Fault» where the magic of Daniel’s voice is out in the open: “Born to the stars, I was born to dream”.
The mind healers of today are a vermin that managed to contaminate all aspects of our life and all environments – personal, professional and artistic. There is a very accurate passage in the song that tells us our generation has been tricked. Tricked into pursuing our dreams. But are our dreams really ours to begin? Have we strayed too far from ourselves in the search for a perfectly organized society? “You never need what you want and you rarely want what you need” is food for thought and something that has kept me awake for days on end. It is a kind of reiteration of the question posed in «Stress», back in 1997: “IS THIS WHAT WE WANT? ...is this what we NEED?”. One more time the question of mental health envelops us like a willow-o-wisp in a nightly excursion through the swamps. For if we are not ourselves, who the hell are we anyway? What does it mean to be normal? And more pressing still, what is humanity? If everybody seems remote-controlled nowadays should we even label ourselves as humans? What is our goal as a species? There is a character in Paru Itagaki’s «Beastars» manga that addresses these issues as such: “from the moment they are born, they belong to a species. So, I think they’re all trying to find their own reason for being a part of this world.” And that, in a nutshell, is what Pain of Salvation has been trying to ponder upon throughout all their career.
Since I have opened this bottle, let me sip a little bit of its nectar. It’s 2020 now, the first album from the band was released back in 1997, most of the line-up is now completely different and a lot of water has flown under a lot of different bridges. Do you really think it would be realistic to expect Pain of Salvation to sound like they did back then? Are you the same person you were 20 years ago? Especially considering how Daniel Gildenlöw (the main songwriter by a long shot) approaches music? Of course there are things that I sort of expect to find as soon as news of another album break forth but that is just me indulging in some good old self delusion. Guitar solos, for instance. That thought has not even once crossed my mind before the final song «Icon». It starts great with a piano and a distorted guitar that slashes the song apart. It’s both melodic and nostalgic with a beautiful chorus. Those vocal melodies that have now become a trademark of the band are spot on as usual. It is really not fair for other bands. While most Prog bands struggle with the fact they can’t find half a decent singer (let alone one entire vocalist) Pain of Salvation have three of them, though Daniel is in a league of his own. The song grows in intensity until it reaches a delightful guitar solo. And then, and only then, do we realize it is the first solo in the whole record. So fuck you, Pain of Salvation! Fuck you very much – in a loving way! And if that is not enough, after another section with just an emotional voice and a sweet guitar, the booming bass comes along and Daniel moves us to tears with his vocal abilities. It gradually grows in depth until… guess what, the second solo. So fuck you again! And what amazing solos they are, rounded off by an exquisite drumming performance – what a monster behind the kit! Totally worth the wait and – in hindsight – it makes them even more special because they are the only ones in the whole album.
It is the perfect closer to an eerie album and a logical conclusion to the concept. There is an image in the song that is dripping with longing and affection for bygone easier times. The image of us – as small kids – relying on adults because they, better than anyone, knew how to lead through their life experience, through their wisdom, through all the obstacles they have overcame to perform that role. And as we now – 20/30/40 years later are, in turn, followed by other kids – our own children, our nephews, our cousins the little ones that look up to us in search for guidance. And the suffocating pain, the gordian knot deep in the throat that makes it impossible to swallow when we realize that, although they are following us as we have followed others, we have no idea where we are going. And we try to protect them, to keep them safe but where would that lead us… and them? Looking strong for others while you are breaking up inside is a mammoth undertaking and the hourglass is almost empty. So much so that when you finally take the time to look around, those kids are now adults themselves. And though you remember all the minutia of their early years there is nothing left of it anymore. They are fully grown thinking individuals and those kids you used to know are gone forever. Same as the image that looks back at you in the mirror. The wrinkles are getting deeper, the hair line keeps receding, eyes are a little less bright and you are a little more frightened. If life is a gamble you are running out of chips.
The terror that comes out of this leaves us paralyzed and people around you fail to comprehend. Maybe your communication skills are not up to the task, maybe panthers are doomed to be forever misunderstood… by dogs, surely, but even by other panthers. And tragically so, by ourselves too. This leads us to the best song on the album, and – I will dare say it out loud – one of the best Pain of Salvation songs ever. «Wait» deals with the suffering you cause to others, unintentionally… or perhaps, negligently. Everything is aligned perfectly for one of those songs that should launch the band into stardom. If there was any justice in the world, Pain of Salvation would be in everyone’s sight. This should rule the mainstream. The piano is outstanding (though we always miss Fredrik) and hauntingly stunning, Daniel’s vocals are brutally honest and the acoustic guitar sounds so good. The chorus is what popular music should be all about and after that chorus the song just explodes - what an exceptional band. This is a perfect song in a confusing album. A confusing album that is but a reflection of an even more confusing world. «Wait» resonates within me in a way that is very rare in a soulless world, in a music world that is devoid of feeling, emotion and purpose. This is one of those supremely rare instances where a song reflects who you are, picture perfect. The kinship is almost mystical, religious. Patience is a virtue as much as it is a vice but in this life of continual backstabbing and machinations, kindred spirits are impossible to find. It is a miracle, it is The miracle of Life. But the first waking thought and the last question before Orpheus descends keeps echoing in my private chamber of horrors: “For how long can you wait?”. Days, nights, weeks, months and years pass by while Life keeps passing us by too. Will things be alright if I become Me?
Now that I am definitely not as young and try to fool myself thinking I am not as dumb as that fateful glorious day, I bow my head. Not in defeat but in mute aquiescence, feeling sorry for the things I did and moreover for the things I didn’t do. There is this romantic notion that all art comes from pain. Though it is true that “was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich starker” as the hammering philosopher has taught us in the 8th aphorism, it is equally undeniable that if things were that simple we would all be poets, musicians or artists in a broader sense. If we refuse to adhere to this new age cult of counterfeit happiness there is no bliss to be found in pain, there is no song, there is no rainbow, much less a golden masterpiece at the end of it, only an empty canvas, barren and desolate like this standardized world of uniform thought and hollow minds. Rapture comes through the overcoming of pain. The proverbial light at the end of tunnel awaits us but is growing dim each day. So much so that after the storm has died away you might find nothing there at all, just a delusion of silence. And we finally realize that maybe we are not that tough anymore and maybe this time the road is just too rough… but still we must walk on, as panthers or tigers whose stripes won’t ever wash away. If it is true that home is where the heart is, «Panther» is really close to home. For there really is only way home, a harrowing pathway that we must try to follow, numbing the hurt. From pain to salvation, Heavy Metal must prevail.
The terror that comes out of this leaves us paralyzed and people around you fail to comprehend. Maybe your communication skills are not up to the task, maybe panthers are doomed to be forever misunderstood… by dogs, surely, but even by other panthers. And tragically so, by ourselves too. This leads us to the best song on the album, and – I will dare say it out loud – one of the best Pain of Salvation songs ever. «Wait» deals with the suffering you cause to others, unintentionally… or perhaps, negligently. Everything is aligned perfectly for one of those songs that should launch the band into stardom. If there was any justice in the world, Pain of Salvation would be in everyone’s sight. This should rule the mainstream. The piano is outstanding (though we always miss Fredrik) and hauntingly stunning, Daniel’s vocals are brutally honest and the acoustic guitar sounds so good. The chorus is what popular music should be all about and after that chorus the song just explodes - what an exceptional band. This is a perfect song in a confusing album. A confusing album that is but a reflection of an even more confusing world. «Wait» resonates within me in a way that is very rare in a soulless world, in a music world that is devoid of feeling, emotion and purpose. This is one of those supremely rare instances where a song reflects who you are, picture perfect. The kinship is almost mystical, religious. Patience is a virtue as much as it is a vice but in this life of continual backstabbing and machinations, kindred spirits are impossible to find. It is a miracle, it is The miracle of Life. But the first waking thought and the last question before Orpheus descends keeps echoing in my private chamber of horrors: “For how long can you wait?”. Days, nights, weeks, months and years pass by while Life keeps passing us by too. Will things be alright if I become Me?
Now that I am definitely not as young and try to fool myself thinking I am not as dumb as that fateful glorious day, I bow my head. Not in defeat but in mute aquiescence, feeling sorry for the things I did and moreover for the things I didn’t do. There is this romantic notion that all art comes from pain. Though it is true that “was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich starker” as the hammering philosopher has taught us in the 8th aphorism, it is equally undeniable that if things were that simple we would all be poets, musicians or artists in a broader sense. If we refuse to adhere to this new age cult of counterfeit happiness there is no bliss to be found in pain, there is no song, there is no rainbow, much less a golden masterpiece at the end of it, only an empty canvas, barren and desolate like this standardized world of uniform thought and hollow minds. Rapture comes through the overcoming of pain. The proverbial light at the end of tunnel awaits us but is growing dim each day. So much so that after the storm has died away you might find nothing there at all, just a delusion of silence. And we finally realize that maybe we are not that tough anymore and maybe this time the road is just too rough… but still we must walk on, as panthers or tigers whose stripes won’t ever wash away. If it is true that home is where the heart is, «Panther» is really close to home. For there really is only way home, a harrowing pathway that we must try to follow, numbing the hurt. From pain to salvation, Heavy Metal must prevail.