Pain Of Salvation – Road Salt One

I’ ll start with a few words that sum up what you’re about to read and might listen also: “You press play again, trying to convince yourself that you’ve heard the right band and after you’re sure. A big question suddenly appears…why?”  These are a few words from the “Linoleum Review” here on Metalpaths.com that I made just a few months ago…

I believe that there’s not a term that can describe Daniel Gildenlow’s thoughts and mind. So I’ll just have to split it into parts…He’s brilliant, exceptional, mastermind, great singer, great composer but there’s something wrong with his obsession to confuse his devoted listeners with his choices. “Road Salt 1” is the first part of the “Road Salt sequence” and Pain of Salvation couldn’t be recognizable, if it weren’t for Daniel’s voice. The result you get is this beautiful 70’s smell of vinyl records…Wait a minute did I just said 70s? Yes, on this one Daniel brought up his love for the 70s Prog/ hard rock records! Led Zeppelin,Beatles, King Crimson, Tom Waits,Nick Cave, 70s Scorpions, and a lot of blues gospel mood conquered this release!

But what about the sound? It might be influenced by the 70s, but it surely can’t sound like 70s. Well, it sounds like 70s too. Everything mixed as if it is a pure 70s release. What about the character of the POS sound? This is where everything changed. You can not find nothing BUT the great vocal job from Daniel Gildenlow. Is this enough? For someone this could be more than enough. Maybe for me too! If it was his personal project release, or something else without the name of POS. Then I’d rate and receive this release, with another mood and of course with other standards. But I cannot understand why we cannot be precise with what you’ll hear. This is not a record for everyone but the fans. This is not a Pain of salvation release to be ambitious about. No more “Hallelujah” songs please. This is a Love/Hate matter…Choose side if you dare!

This has nothing to do with the brilliant past or even the intresting close present of this exceptional and unique band.