Pain of Salvation's Remedy Lane - The Ultimate Thread

It's taking me a while, but I'm really getting into Remedy Lane now - it's challenging for sure, because it has so many influences musically, but I'm starting to really feel it. And luckily, I have another 10 months to get ready for their Wednesday night set. :)

It goes to show that it's an album that requires patience and a number of listens. It'll hit you hard any day now. :)

Btw, did you check out the lyrics with the music?
 
It goes to show that it's an album that requires patience and a number of listens. It'll hit you hard any day now. :)

Btw, did you check out the lyrics with the music?

Unfortunately, I'm studying for a certification during my free time, so I've mostly been listening while in the car.. so that would be a no. :)
 
I agree that it takes a bit of time to get into Remedy Lane. I *liked* it at first, but it wasn't until many listens and a couple months later that it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is the first album that I got so deeply into that I did a line by line lyric analysis (uber nerd moment!). Its such a deep and powerful album. The poems in the booklet add another layer to it all. Right on their site is a song by song synopsis by Daniel himself. Its where the quote in my sig came from. Check it out.

Beyond the Pale remains my favorite Pain of Salvation tune, followed closely by Iter Impius.
 
I guess the live set may sound different and I'm wrong about some of this, but relative to other prog bands I like, they are reduced in intensity level and focus on vocals more. Maybe the lightshow or vocals makes you think they are more intense live. The music is very sparse and heavy. It doesn't make me all that excited and impressed by what they are doing, but like I said some of the arrangements and its better then any pop music.

They do have a lot of moments where they probably pound the cymbal and flash the lights and scream, but lots of metal bands can do that and hit a million more notes in between. I think it is when you compare them relative to other metal, that you would be able to say they are calm, mellow. Think of the guy who only likes thrash/speed metal. One dude at progpower told me he thought circus maximus was boring. I thought that was odd. This is why I think some of the people are more interested in aggressive speed metal. PoS are nowhere near as exciting as DGM for instance.

I thought they were in general a christian metal band. That would change the choice of lyrical content even if they don't talk about god. They aren't going to talking about anti-god stuff without being sarcastic probably. I listened to the "Be" album a lot longer then remedy lane, so I'm not that knowledge about the lyrics yet.



Agreed.



Where the hell did you take the slight idea that Pain of Salvation (let alone Remedy Lane) is a religious themed album/concept? That's one of the most absurd things I've ever read about POS!!!



For the most part, absolutely!



Indeed. But Pain of Salvation is still a highly technical band, even on Remedy Lane.



Hmmmm... no.



I don't think you've ever seen Pain of Salvation, otherwise you'd know their set has NOTHING "calming" about it. They go nuts on stage, even on their acoustic performances. I think way more than 60% will be into it. PoS' energy on stage (for a prog band) is second to none (and I don't just mean moving around on stage, there's a lot more to it than that.
 
I don't find the songs poorly composed or the vocals unemotional or any of the music showing signs of a lack of skill. I don't think this is "bad," per se.

I just don't like it. Even as I read the lyrics. I'm guessing I'm in the severe minority here? I'm listening to it right now, and it's just not grabbing me. Of this style I think I much prefer Riverside. I'm still not sold on watching their performance - someone can borrow my rail spot for an hour or so (at least that's where I'm still leaning).
 
I don't find the songs poorly composed or the vocals unemotional or any of the music showing signs of a lack of skill. I don't think this is "bad," per se.

I just don't like it. Even as I read the lyrics. I'm guessing I'm in the severe minority here? I'm listening to it right now, and it's just not grabbing me. Of this style I think I much prefer Riverside. I'm still not sold on watching their performance - someone can borrow my rail spot for an hour or so (at least that's where I'm still leaning).

I know what you look like. I will make a beeline for you at set change to take your rail spot so that I can cry on it like a total bitch. Because I'm sure this will be the set that finally makes me shed big mantears at PPUSA (Redemption got really close a couple years ago).

And hey, don't feel bad. It's different strokes for different folks. Some things do take a live show to click, though, so I would at least give it through 5 songs before you decide if it's no bueno for you still.
 
I guess the live set may sound different and I'm wrong about some of this, but relative to other prog bands I like, they are reduced in intensity level and focus on vocals more.

But of course. They are *NOT* your typical prog band. They've never been just a prog band, so it's hard to even compare to begin with.

skyflare said:
Maybe the lightshow or vocals makes you think they are more intense live.

My friend, I've been going to concerts for a long time, and have seen hundreds, if not thousands of them. Lightshow and vocals won't ever make me think a band is more intense live. I can tell the difference. I can speak for PoS live, as I have seen them at least a few times.

skyflare said:
I think it is when you compare them relative to other metal, that you would be able to say they are calm, mellow.





You're right... Take the lights away and these songs are all of a sudden calm and mellow... :rolleyes:

skyflare said:
PoS are nowhere near as exciting as DGM for instance.

Apples and oranges. I am not a proghead by any means, but I find PoS way more exciting than DGM. And I like DGM a lot.
 
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I think the problem here is that we're trying to compare POS with other bands. There is nobody that comparisons even come close with. My only guess at comparison would be Wastefall and that's not even close to accurate.
The lyrical themes, the emotion being put forth, the mish-mash of many different styles, sometimes all in one song, leaves us wondering; what is Pain of Salvation? I consider a POS show as intense and almost like a religious experience, or a sexual experience. They will leave you breathless and sweaty, wanting more, loving and hating them at the same time. Either love 'em or hate 'em, they will leave you with strong opinions one way or another.
 
After much talk about Remedy Lane and the fact that Pain of Salvation will be playing it in its entirety, it dawned on me that I've never have heard this album.

I went and downloaded it off of eMusic over the weekend. I am finally getting around to actually listening to it via AirPlay through my Pioneer Elite N-50 into my audio rig.

Damn, this is friggan AWESOME!!!!!! Without even getting into all the emotional aspects of the actual lyrical content, just from a purely musical and even a production standpoint, this really is an amazing album. That is going to be friggan unreal to be seeing this performed live at PP XV next year.
 
Damn, this is friggan AWESOME!!!!!! Without even getting into all the emotional aspects of the actual lyrical content, just from a purely musical and even a production standpoint, this really is an amazing album. That is going to be friggan unreal to be seeing this performed live at PP XV next year.

I can't believe that you never gave this a spin, even if only soundclips! This is on my playlist of most listened to cd's ever! And to think I almost didn't give POS a chance...

I'm a little afraid of the new band playing this cd though. To me, POS is like Guns & Roses now...The lead singer and his band of hired helpers. I still can't believe that he shitcanned his own brother, and I miss Johan Hellgren on the other side of the stage (actually, I just hate change )!

Now I just gotta convince my wife that we should be there on Wednesday night also.
 
I can't believe that you never gave this a spin, even if only soundclips! This is on my playlist of most listened to cd's ever! And to think I almost didn't give POS a chance...

I'm a little afraid of the new band playing this cd though. To me, POS is like Guns & Roses now...The lead singer and his band of hired helpers. I still can't believe that he shitcanned his own brother, and I miss Johan Hellgren on the other side of the stage (actually, I just hate change )!

Now I just gotta convince my wife that we should be there on Wednesday night also.

Don't worry man. They're more than capable. I've seen the new lineup do a few POS songs and they do them justice. ;)

And yes, you should be there Wednesday night. :p
 
The youtube clips remind a little bit of Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails style show & vocals. But again, PoS is pretty calm compared to NIN. LOL. They both use similar approach to creating musical tension. They like to play with soft/harsh vocals and drop in/out the band to make it more dynamic - a trick to make simple music more impressive. They both have rhythmic rap-like talking mixed in with regular melodic singing - listen to "Ending Theme" at 3 minutes to understand what I mean by "rap-like talking". NIN is like dance music half the time, which PoS doesn't do thankfully. NIN was significant because of being original. PoS is also effective at being original when the drummer is playing.

PoS is best when they are doing some experimental heavy rhythm textures like with these songs on remedy lane: Rope Ends, Beyond The Pale, and Waking Every God ( I love those ). Songs like Undertow, Dryad of the Woods are very weak in comparison - they stay quite sleepy for a few minutes. Second Love is perhaps the worst song on the album if you are a prog fan as it just does a little guitar solo over top of a pretty standard progression. If they play the album in its original order, Second Love is a complete opposite compared to Beyond the Pale. So they should be ending with the strongest song.

Also if you pick out like 1 or 2 of their most intense songs, they may appear exciting, but then they are going to also have 4 or 5 songs that are mellow. I guess some of the newer stuff sounds like this:

Is that what the wednesday set will include?

I'm undecided on Wednesday ticket because I find Theocracy annoying (I picked up Mirror of Souls album) and I'm not sure if I'd burn another $100+ to see PoS again. I would enjoy seeing Vangough though - Vangough is more a regular prog metal band compared to the other 2 - I like the Kingdom of Ruin album - they have a better drummer and it's mostly light/playful in comparison to PoS.
 
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