REMEDY LANE

The Swedish progressive metal band PAIN OF SALVATION is a band in constant progress and with a very personal approach to their music. They're becoming more and more complex and the compositions gets better and better with every new album. It's no exaggeration to say that they're marching in the forefront (together with DREAM THEATER), breaking new grounds and stretching the boundaries of progressive metal again and again. Their new concept album about a fractured relationship, titled "Remedy Lane" is no exception. Their previous album "The Perfect Element Part I" from 2000 was as good as a progressive metal album can ever get, so it's hard to say which is the better one of these two.

The musicians are surpassing themselves and that goes for the vocalist, guitarist and composer DANIEL GILDENLÖW too. DANIEL is an outstanding composer. Just listen to masterpieces such as "Fandango", "A Trace Of Blood", "Rope Ends", "Dryad Of The Woods" and "Beyond The Pale" and you'll know what I mean. Music like that has to come from a real genius. There are lots of rhythm & mood changes, complex arrangements and lengthy intricate instrumental passages. It sounds as if every note is there for a reason, and not for the individual musician's need to show-off. This is far from easy listening, and it takes a lot of patience and time to fully understand and appreciate the music and the lyrics.

"Remedy Lane" was released in January, but it's already obvious that it's one of the highlights of 2002. Even though I'm a big DREAM THEATER fan and still consider them as the kings of progressive metal, I must confess that PAIN OF SALVATION is the worthiest successors to the progressive metal throne. I'm proud of being a Swede!

This album has successfully created a superb stream of music that flows beautifully from track 1 right through track 13 and .. provides the true and "ultimate" satisfaction to the mind of music buffs [my view]. After the success of Perfect Element Part 1, the band returns with this wonderfully crafted album. As for comparison, this album is at par excellent with previous one. For my personal taste, this is something new for me as I have never heard the kind of music both albums have produced. But I would say now that I'm totally hooked to the band. They are really geniuses that have created unpredictable, never imagined before, but amazing music.

The album kicks off with "Beginnings" with guitar fills, vocal and augmented with a keyboard sound at background in mellow style. It turns into higher register notes with full music. It flows almost seamlessly with a melodic "Ending Theme". The simple guitar fills have created excellent nuance of this track and have projected a trademark of the band's music.

"Fandango" opening part provides a spacey mood with some symphonic touch. It sounds like the music and voice line do nit move in the same direction but it creates powerful harmony before the chorus line.

"A Trace Of Blood" intro sounds like (nuance-wise) Peter Gabriel's tune "On The Air" [my taste and my view; you may disagree with me - it's okay, this is prog world, my friend .]. Of course both of them have different textures. When guitar solo enters the music with riffs at background, it provides a nice platform for vocal to enter the music.

"This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge)" starts completely mellow. Halfway through, the music turns in higher register notes with excellent guitar solo. It then ends up in a mellow style. "Undertow" - this track has subconsciously penetrated firmly into my mind, because I was struck when listening to the acoustic version in 12:5 album. When it enters this track, the melody really rang me a bell that I got used to hear it. And I went back to previous albums of PoS and found out in this album. Yes, this track is very easy for listener to emulate as it's a kind of ballad song, composed and performed in simple structure.

"Rope Ends" has a very strange opening where all instruments played at the same time but "look like" each of the instrument has different direction (melody wise) with unusual time signatures. When voice line enters the music, its melody is catchy and memorable. The tempo changes are also composed nicely with smooth transition. When it enters interlude part with guitar solo, there's a kind of eastern music nuance. The guitar solo itself is stunning. After interlude part, the music goes to an excellent transition before it finally returns to original tagline melody / harmony. It's a superb track! One of my PoS favorite tracks.

The opening guitar fills and also the tagline melody of "Chain Sling" is catchy and has become something that I always emulate whenever I'm with no sound of music (be it in the business meeting, or other occasion where listening to music is impossible and/or inappropriate). That's the beauty of having prog mind - prog music has always flown in my mind, every time! Oh man, I love the kind of music Pain of salvation plays.

"Dryad Of The Woods" closes the chapter brilliantly through the exploration (and improvisation) of acoustic guitar augmented with symphonic keyboard style. Fantastic! If this track is enjoyed as a stand alone track, you may perceive it as neo progressive rock vein but as it happens with this album that it's part of four-piece song under a chapter 3 of the track. So, it projects different nuance if we put it under this perspective.

"Remedy Lane" is a short track exploring keyboard, guitar and strange drum beats / percusiion work. It provides a sound atmosphere for next track to enter our zone of musical enjoyment through "Waking Every God". This track is performed in relatively fast tempo with high tonal voice.

"Second Love" opens with a mellow style with excellent guitar fills and low register vocal. It's kind like a ballad / slow rock song for this album, with strong melody - of course. Piano accentuates the harmony and melody really well. This track is accessible to most music buffs, I think.

"Beyond The Pale" concludes the album. The guitar intro is performed in strange fashion with repetitive chords - but . it's not boring at all. It's probably thee vocal line that comes with it has made the piece has a terrific sound. Amazingly this repetitive chords happen for a long period augmented with riffs and energetic vocal. When the voice turns higher, the music changes in another musical landscape. Believe me, this track is amazing!

Highly recommended album that you should not miss at all. It has a crispy musical concept, tight and powerful songwriting, and flawless delivery. This kind of music would set the future of progressive music [my view]. Keep on progging!! - GW, Indonesia.

A depressing rock opera like 'The Wall' except that this one is metal!

But not only metal, this really defines what progressive metal should be like. Dream Theater plays lots of solos and extended pieces, but this album fuses many elements (rock, metal, ballads, pop, rap, jazz), is very complex and difficult, and has great lyrics. Daniel composed all of this on his own which interests me how gifted this musician is. Not to forget, his vocal range is phenomenal!! He decided to write a concept album based on his life, and unfortunately ... it is very depressing and dark in tone.

Beginnings and Ending Theme begin the album in a very heavy way, full of electric distorted guitars and heavy rhythms. Fandango changes the pace of the album and is probably the most difficult song to get into: All of its rhythms are done in very strange time signatures and styles. At the end, Daniel screams in extremely high notes (how does he do it?). This Heart of Mine begins with a great instrumental intro and leads into a very sad song (read the heartbreaking lyrics about a miscarriage). This Heart Of Mine is a nice love song with very nice melodies. Undertow is one of the big highlights of the album : A repetitive, yet never boring, dark melody is played on the guitar, then sung, then screamed desperately. Rope Ends is another depressing and anxious song about a mother (maybe his own mother) attempting suicide 3 times : the first two times, she doesn't take her life; the third time she dies. Musically and melodically, this song is another standout of the album. Chain Sling deals with breaking up with his loved one. Dryad of the Woods is a lonely soft piece that is very well arranged with piano, and acoustic instruments (another big highlight of the album). Remedy Lane has very strange synthesizers for two minutes, yet it sounds good. Waking Every God is a typical metal song and is my least favourite track of the album. Second Love is another love song (But this one is sad) and Beyond the Pale ...

... Sums up the whole album and it is a masterpiece lyrically and musically. The lyrics basically add up all of his feelings of hate, pain, sadness and confusion. Musically, this song goes through all these feelings. The introducion is constructed in a similar way to Pink floyd's 'High Hopes'. IT contains a strange acoustic riff repeating itself for over a minute while Daniel sings in amazing melodies in a mellow and dark tone. It is magnified with very heavy electric guitar riffing and explodes in a symphonic riff heard in 'Chain Sling' with some sharp 'one-word' growls. The climax is hit in the middle part of the song when the singer brings back references of the past songs in a heavy metal passage. The style of singing is between rap and numetal. After the climax, verses/choruses are repeated and the song ends with the 'We will always be so much more human then we wished to be' lyrical line.

1. Beginnings (7/10) 2. Ending Theme (7.5/10) 3. Fandango (8/10) 4. A Trace Of Blood (8/10) 5. This Heart Of Mine (8/10) 6. Undertow (9/10) 7. Rope Ends (8/10) 8. Chain Sling (8/10) 9. Dryad Of The Woods (9/10) 10. Remedy Lane (8/10) 11. Waking Every God (6/10) 12. Second Love (8/10) 13. Beyond The Pale (10/10)

My Grade : B

recommended!!

One of Sweden's many fantastic bands, PoS has repeatedly blown away listeners with every album by constantly evolving and maturing with their sound. With the distinctive and amazing vocals of Gildenlow, the plethora of musical styles and influences seamlessly entwined into their music, amazing lyrics, deep and thoughtful concepts, and the pure passion of the music, it's hard not to like this band, as many people here would agree. I thought it would be impossible for PoS to top their beautiful 2001 album The Perfect Element part 1. After a month of listening to it I called it The Perfect Album. Never before had I heard anything like it. See my review for more. With Remedy Lane, PoS has matured again and surpassed all expectations. It's also, besides BE, their most varied and most difficult to get into of them all. Not saying any of their stuff is easy to get into...but this has so many different styles, it's difficult to swallow quickly. Once you have fully digested the album, though...it's almost a masterpiece. Almost. The Perfect Element still outdoes it, but just barely. The only reason this is a four star review instead of five is because The Perfect Element is so amazing. Much like why Lightbulb Sun or Ghost Reveries only get 4 stars...because respectivelly, In Absentia and Blackwater Park are so amazing and better.

The thing that pushes this album into the realm of really wonderful albums...I don't think too many exist, masterpieces that is...is the amazing lyrics and vocals. This album focuses on the life of lead singer Daniel Gildenlow and his many problems. The main problem I believe talks of Daniel and his exposure to sex and whatnot as a child and how he eventually did something bad...take a guess what...to someone he cared about. Another problem, as seen on "A Trace of Blood" talks of his wife's miscarriage. Just following along with lyrics and listening to the song and the emotion makes you truly understand the album and why it is the way it is. It makes the album much more amazing and profound.

Musically and songwriting-wise, it's no slouch either...I'd rank it as better than any of their other albums except TPE part 1, and just barely lower than that. The album opens with "Of Two Beginnings", which is a perfect intro and really throws you into things. "Ending Theme" is more simplistic but incredibly addictive, mostly because of the vocal performance and the feel of the song. The speech in the middle is one of the parts of the album tha is fascinating to follow along with with the lyrics.

Fandango is probably the only typical PoS song as defined on OHBTCL on this album. It's very very progressive and technical and has good emotion, but unless you really dig EVERYTHING on OHBTCL (which I don't), this song is only very good. Luckily, the next song, A Trace of Blood, is phenomenal. Please, follow this one with the lyrics, it makes it so much better. It's very dynamic and the vocal performance is amazing as usual. The chorus is incredibly addictive and everything about it is very easy to listen to yet awesome in every way. Might be my favorite song on the album.

I started off hating This Heart of Mine, but now I love it. Good lyrics, really nice to listen to, emotional, good stuff. A very pleasant laid back song. Undertow is more laid back and is in the same style as Chain Sling...focuses on soft parts leading into fairly loud parts. Great guitar work all around, good stuff. In between them is Rope Ends, which is probably the heaviest song on the album. Very dynamic, much like A Trace of Blood. The beginning has some very interesting rhythms going on, difficult to follow. The chorus gets a little annoying, but whatever. The second segment ends with Dryad of the Woods, which is a nice laid back instrumental with nice melodies and guitar parts.

The final segment opens with the two-minute title track, which explores some nice keyboard and drum work all around. It just goes through several earlier melodies of the album and is a great way to open the third part. Waking Every God is a more energetic track, similiar to Fandango except a little more pleasent with melodies, good basswork on this one, that always sticks out. Pleasent song, more good vocal work. Next is Second ove, which is good, in the vein of This Heart of Mine, except not as memorable. The "I want you to know, I can't sleep any more" part is great, though. Not bad, though. Beyond the Pale, the last track, uses a repetitive guitar part the whole song, but it never gets boring. It's another wonderful track with great dynamics throughout. A killer track.

So...I give this a 4.4999999. It's not a five star, but it's so unbelievably close...it's a masterpiece of progressive rock/metal, but it's just not on the same level as the ones I've actually rated five stars. I'm really torn on this one...just buy it anyway.

I have read a lot of good things about this group so the expectation was already set. I was not disappointed. As with many progressive rock albums that I hear I wasn't too sure if I was going to like it after the first few tracks. As the album progressed my interest and curiosity were aroused recurrently. "Beginnings" is kind of strange, complete with some death growls that had me looking for the nearest mosh pit. I had no need for concern as this was only one infinitesimal element of the entire presentation that they had in store for me. By the time track six rolled around I really was getting into it. "Undertow" is the beginning of the second half of the album, and a different sound takes precedence that doesn't let go until the end. What I heard was a likeness to the great prog-rockers Pink Floyd and Queensryche. This is only a likeness I noticed mind you, they have their own style and sound, so don't think if you buy this disc you will be getting a copycat of the legendary prog-rockers of yesteryear.

"Waking Every God", "Second Love", and "Beyond The Pale" are full scale magnum opuses complete with lush intricate acoustic string arrangements, great upfront vocals, and adept background vocals, backed by rocking guitar and thumping and pumping drums and bass ... it's the utter epitome of prog-rock. These guys can rock and make some beautiful music all in the same song. It's done in typical genre like fashion with quick and unexpected changes; it's a total rush of exponential energy.

From a straight up emotional connection stand-point, this is one of the best records ever made. No false bravado, no forced melancholy, no faux-gloomy suicidal claptrap. Remedy Lane is a chronicle of events in the life of Daniel Gildenlow, and as such his emotion and lyrical genius shines through in every song (save perhaps "Second Love"). I'm not sure Daniel is the singer some people think he is as his voice is often overly high- pitched without being forceful, but he certainly knows how to emote and alter his tone as the song demands. Furthermore, most of the rest of the group sing as well, and they help carry the load passably.

Very little of this is really metal though to be quite blunt about it. It's just plain prog and the few heavy riffs that sneak in aren't really arranged in a way that screams 'metal' at you. "Rope Ends", with it's schizoid unconventional riff is the only song that rocks from beginning to end, and it is written in such a way that it could just easily be called prog rock.

The counterpieces of Remedy Lane:

Ending theme - has a really dark mood, with soothing vocals from Daniel. It has a great sing-a-long chorus and an awesome talking part, which is a real challenge to learn.

A Trace of Blood - This is the best song on the album, it is about the miscarriage Daniel's wife had. It is a really sad song, with lots of mood changes. Daniel shows anger, frustration, sadness and despair in a fantastic way. The song just clocks over 8 minutes long and with all the time changes, it has a really epic feel.

This Heart of mine - This is a beautiful love song, one of the most sincere love songs i've ever heard. It definately comes from the heart without being cheesy. This song also has a special meaning for me.

Rope Ends - One of the best songs on the album, one of the few songs that is actually riff based. Starts out with a nice riff and great drumming, then leads into this awesome chorus, which will be stuck in your head forever.

Dryad of the woods - A beautiful crafted instrumental, a really uplifting song. The combination of acoustic guitar and piano makes it really impressive to listen to, great atmosphere.

Beyond the Pale - This song closes the album in style. It's an epic song just like the Perfect Element. It starts out with an odd riff which is really interesting, then the song goes through a lot of tempo and mood changes. Daniel's vocals really shines on this song, it is really impressive. The song ends with one of the greatest lines ever: 'We will always be so much more human than we wish to be'.

Daniel does seem to get around, because this album recounts an astounding number of tragedies involving women starting from the age of 10 (!), the man displaying an almost hyper-sexual need to be around females and more worrying, for being around females who are shrouded in disaster. From the tragic miscarriage of "A Trace of Blood" to the scarred untouchable love in "Ending Theme", everybody becomes removed from the protagonist in some way. The lyrics are occasionally a little more verbose than they need to be, but in general there is a real gift for memorable phrases (often repeated throughout the story) and getting across emotions like pain, sorrow, and uhhh... pain.

It should also be noted that there is plenty of extra poetry in the liners that is quite a bit of fun to muddle through and try to figure out what is going on with the story.

Remedy Lane certainly operates on a number of levels, and presents a story that is moving on the same high level as the concepts of such legendary albums like Operation:Mindcrime or The Wall. It's intellectual, classy, and thought-provoking.

I love their name, and I love this album. Salvation can be painful; it's getting there that's the hardest part, but once you do your hell becomes heaven. Join me and have a stroll down remedy lane. It's one of the best albums in the 00's so far and in POS's catalogue only close surpassed by The Perfect Element Pt.1.

album rating: 9.5/10 points = 97 % on MPV scale = 5/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

The first thing that strikes you about Pain of Salvation, if this album is, like mine, your first exposure to them, is that as a Prog Metal band they are decidedly different to the rest of the crowd.

"(Of Two) Beginnings" starts with vocals that are bear an uncanny resemblance to Derek Dick, with low-octave doubling to add presence. The other obvious resemblance is in the lyrics, which echo "Hotel Hobbies" from "Clutching at Straws" for the first verse, at least - but there, of course, the similarities end.

For these lyrics are in no way similar to Fish's - they are at a much simpler level, with no references to great literature, no word games with multiple levels of meaning, no guessing - just in your face lyrics whose frankness sickens me a little and makes me wish they weren't so clear.

The lyrics are about relationships, when it all comes down to it - but not at the intellectual level that Neo-Prog was so great at portraying, more at the angsty level but without references to literature, except blatant ones.

6th form stuff, in other words.

And so back to the music - which is, after all, the really important bit!

When the huge power chords kick in, we're pretty much in Dio territory - and jolly nice and powerful it is too.

It's very interesting that "Ending Theme" should follow "Of Two Beginnings" (which is really 1st person perspective, so only about one beginning really, but that's nit- picking), and PoS seem to use Muse as their inspiration - it's kind of like hearing Matt Bellamy an octave lower.

The melodies are very strong - my only criticism is that they are incredibly derived, and completely obvious - but by the same token, very accessible and enjoyable, and the shifting rhythms produce a nice Prog kind of feel - but as with "Of Two Beginnings", PoS build passages from shifts between two chords with occasional shifts to a different pair.

"Fandango" reminds me of where Muse suddenly drop into a Tango in "Megalomania" (Origin of Symmetry), but has that wannabe prog feel to it - which, it has to be said, is the first time I've heard that aspect on this album. A tight rhythm focus means that the melodies are dull and predictable until the chorus, where things get much better - but this underlines the basic structure here: Intro, Verse, Chorus... you know where this is going.

Lyrically, this is probably the most interesting, with some sage advice about living your life rather than wasting time thinking about it. We also get some literary references - but these are pure name-drops to Peter Pan and Tolkien. The story of the two protagonists mentioned in the first song is developed in a slightly fantastical way - a bit too restrained for my tastes, but applaudable enough.

What else is interesting here? Well, there are some nice, simple piano textures, some guitar noodling and a few wooshy effects. Overall a cool soundscape, but one that seems more interesting than the actual music in this song - which is clearly not a Fandango, BTW.

Around 4 minutes everything drops away to a simple bass line, which builds up via pedal riffs and piano ostinato - a cool bridge back to the verse and coda.

"A Trace of Blood" is really unremarkable - a kind of melodic Iron Maiden song, replete with Dickinson-esque vocals. Disappointing for an 8+ minuter, it's about 4 minutes too long.

"This Heart of Mine" shows some Gabriel inspiration in the vocals - if Gabriel ever sang a pop song! The whole ambience of this song is of a laid-back AOR type soft-jazz flavoured ballad replete with soft-sixth chords, and builds predictably to a singalong section. Very nice, but not Prog.

"Undertow" gives Gildenrow a later Gabriel sound, and has some pleasantly unusual textures that create a cool "old European town" flavour that reminds me strongly of at least one Radiohead song, but with more predictable chord changes in the simple progressions.

With lyrics like

"Let me break! Let me bleed! Let me tear myself apart I need to breathe! Let me lose my way! Let me walk astray! Maybe to proceed... Just let me bleed!"

We're in a kind of morbid singalong territory, and the sudden shock entry of "Rope Ends" comes as a welcome respite to these ears - although with the almost Meshuggah- like intensity, they may not treat the ears of the average Progger kindly - but who's "average"? ;0)

The Boom-tsh accompaniment to the next section is utterly nasty, so skipping this one is a really good idea, as you won't miss anything really progressive from here onwards.

There's a bridge at 3:20, but it's built largely on a single repeated idea that gets old very quickly, despite the shredding display atop it and the poor attempt at a funky- boogie riff a minute later.

"Chain Sling" begins with a kind of acoustic guitar riff that is joined by a didgeridoo, if my ears don't decieve me, and Gildenrow adopts a soft Fish-like falsetto as the music builds, then drops into a more comfortable Bruce Dickinson sound.

I won't dissect any more tracks, as I think I've managed to convey the essential flavours of this album quite well and have no wish to repeat myself. The one thing I can add is that there are more textural delights and great melodies to come - in this aspect, PoS deliver well, and the title track is worth hearing, the guitar solo in "Second Love" is a real highlight to an REO Speedwagon standard song, and the slap bass on "Waking Every God" is a real lowlight. The 10-minute "Beyond the Pale" is a bit of a snorefest, however and smacks of padding.

In summary, then, a very interesting metal album, from a Progger's perspective, and both strong and rich in melody and textures. When taken for what it is, it is a really good album with highly enjoyable music that any Proghole might like occasionally - even if it's somewhat on the accessible side. Nothing wrong with a good tune!

Ultimately, however, this is a simple riff-based metal album, and hardly a masterpiece of the Progressive Rock genre, so should not be taken as such.

If you like this album, you should also investigate the music of Marillion, Muse, Renaissance and Jan Akkerman.

The best work that PoS has to offer. Very ambitious and very interesting listen.

A vast majority of this will put people off. The masterpiece here is all in Beyond the Pale, one of the greatest songs you are likely to hear, if you give it some time and understand its purpose.

The other tracks are good to great, but the masterpiece here is the closing track, which delivers the message very clearly due to the unique choice of arpeggiated chords. Many will be bored by this repitition, they will not understand it and how it fits. They will not get the raw emotional power found in this song. Despite its harshness, its a very beautiful song with a message as powerful as you find in movies such as Apocalypse Now. It's not a sing-songy song. You aren't supposed to be singing along, you are supposed to be listening.

The rest of the album is fairly typical Pain of Salvation, stuff you might could have heard on other albums. However, this is the best quality of the work they have done in their careers.

Truly 4 and a half stars, but I don't believe it is quite "up" there as a total package of bliss.

Unlike for their other releases the concept behind their fourth album "Remedy Lane" is not based on an abstract topic like maturing, death, religion or environment but can be rather considered a highly intimate disclosure of Daniel's very own personal problems. The 13 tracks on here are introducing us in at times frightening outright words to emotional and sad episodes from his own life like very early sexual experiences, a broken relationship, a stillbirth by his wife and a suicide by a mother of two children (his own mother?). The change in their style with inclusion of some more mellow and acoustic songs which started with their previous one "TPE P.1" has been consequentially continued here though "Remedy Lane" might need a couple of spins more to grow more on you but I must say I even prefer this album to its predecessor. Because, in fact apart from "Second Love" (being written by Daniel already around 1987) which is actually just a plain pop ballad there's not any real weak track to be found on here and moreover we get a bunch of highlights like "Fandango", "A Trace Of Blood", "Undertow", "Rope Ends", "Chain Sling" and "Beyond The Pale" to name just the strongest ones.

I mentioned already that this album might not hit you right from the beginning, not like "TPE Pt.1" with highly memorable tracks as "Used" and "Ashes" but in opposite to this one "Remedy Lane" passes much better the "test of time" becoming better and better with every repeated spin. I'd like to express it like this that the previous one with its more abstract and general topic was a rather extraverted one whereas this one here is more its introverted, highly personal and emotional counterpart. As usually with PoS a closer look at the lyrics might help to dig the true beauty of this work. After the rather bombastic short opener "Of Two Beginnings" chapter one of the story starts in a more dreamy atmosphere with "Ending Theme". Daniel included here once again some rap type of vocals but this song sounds much different from "Used" without any resemblance to FNM transcending lots of emotions. "Fandango" is a great one as well with its slightly strange staccato rhythm and especially due to the extreme alternations of Daniel's voice from very dark and mystical to high-pitched yelling sounding highly interesting and versatile. "A Trace of Blood" in particular is very worthwhile to be listened to concentrating more on the lyrics which are very sad and telling about the tragedy of a stillbirth. Both the lyrics and the music are transcending very well this kind of sorrowful and powerless feeling. Then there's "This Heart of mine (I pledge)" which closes the first chapter and though this one was never one of my favs right from the beginning, I've to say this love song has its great moments especially when it's getting more upbeat but still I would say not to be considered a highlight of this album.

Second chapter opens with the frowning, sentimental more ballad-esque "Undertow" which once again mainly lives from Daniel's great expressive voice and builds up an enormous tension during its running time. This one's followed by the next highlight "Rope Ends" being more upbeat with a nice catchy chorus but as well some nice versatile solo sections. Like with "A Trace of Blood" the story been told here is again an extremely touching one about a mother who decided to commit suicide. Next one "Chain Sling" is one of my favs on here, a driving and quirky one with a very nice Celtic flair. The highly appealing classically inspired acoustic ballad "Dryad of the Woods" is closing the second chapter which is (for me) the strongest one of this disc without any single weak track. BTW there are nicely fitting lyrics for this one to be read in the booklet.

Third chapter is opened by the title track having a highly synth-dominated sound and taking up again the main themes "Ending Theme" and "Rope Ends". This one doesn't sound that much convincing to me and probably plays rather a role of an interlude. Next two tracks "Waking every God" and "Second Love" I'd consider less essential as well. The former one is more a kind of melodic straight forward hard rock song and the latter one a nice love ballad (which wouldn't be out of place on a Bonjovi album though). Fortunately and finally this chapter still has a great highlight to offer with the longest track on here "Beyond the Pale" developing into a versatile powerful and also atmospheric piece of music.

As a summary I can say that "Remedy Lane" though having a few weak tracks (as did have "TPE Pt.1" as well) has to be considered (once again) an excellent record by PoS. I would say it's their most touching one and actually I find it a pity that the concept is mistaken by many people with an ordinary teenager's problem of a lost love. I'd like to tell all those people that there's definitely more behind this album and that it's really rewarding to give it a closer look and listen. At least to me it could offer me much more in the long run than "TPE Pt.1" did but that's just my very personal impression being aware that most people prefer that one.

It's not very often that an album exceeds the hype or my expectations, but this one sure did ! PAIN OF SALVATION have created an emotional and personal work that is truly a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows.

The first song "Of Two Beginnings" is a very passionate and powerful song with some great bass lines. "Ending Theme" has this undercurrent of bass and drums that builds and some great vocals. "Fandango" opens with some intricate guitar as some heavy drums roll in with a keyboard melody over the top.The vocals are theatrical. "A Trace Of Blood" is about Daniel's wife's miscarriage. The mood shifts are drastic, from uplifting to brooding. There is some high voltage guitar riffs and solos as well as some excellent piano melodies.The vocals are passionate to angry. "This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge)" is a lighter song with laid back vocals, a beautiful song that reminds me somehow of The FLOWER KINGS. "Undertow" is an emotional song with a climactic ending of pounding drums and powerful vocals.There is a reprise of "This Heart Of Mine" in the chorus of this song.

"Rope Ends" opens with some fantastic instrumental work that is intricate and the interplay is great. The piano and guitar melodies are terrific. "Chain Sling" is an uptempo song that opens with some more intricate guitar and higher ranged vocals. "Dryad Of the Woods" is a beautiful, uplifting instrumental. Sometimes music is too gorgeous for words. "Remedy Lane" is another great instrumental with some good synth work. "Waking Every God" features some great sounding drums and some wondrous guitar melodies later in the song. "Second Love" is beautiful ! With tasteful guitar, fragile vocals at times and gorgeous piano. "Beyond the Pale" opens with unusual guitar sounds. The song is heavy with angry to soft vocals and a stunning guitar solo.

Well I love the sound these guys create, especially the heavy passages that at times remind me of TOOL and DEADSOUL TRIBE. This is my favourite POS album.

Take this walk down Remedy Lane

Of all the Pain of Salvation albums I own, I seem to listen to this one the least. I can't really understand why, either, because I think this album is excellent. There's something about this album that I can't quite put my finger on, but rest assured that aura of mystery is something that makes this album truly great. Resting between the masterpiece of The Perfect Element and before the overly-ambitious project that was Be, Remedy Lane is undoubtly one of the most complex Pain of Salvation albums in terms of arrangements and what is actually going on.

Sure it won't get the recognition that The Perfect Element gets, but Remedy Lane has much to offer that any other Pain of Salvation album won't. As a concept, it's one of the more palatable albums they've released, with an idea not as cryptic as The Perfect Element and not nearly as contrived as Be. Daniel Gildenlow's story of childhood and growing up is a winding path that explores many different sentiments, feelings, and emotions, but the unifying trend of this album, in my opinion, is mystery. It's also yields some of the bands more gorgeous acoustic material, I speak in particular about the beautiful instrumental Dryad of the Woods, which creates a soothing atmosphere in contrast to some of the more jagged moments.

Musically, this album has some of the group's most complex material. Just listen to Rope Ends, although the main motif is in a 4/4 time signature, one would not think that because of it's oddly accented beats and it's heavy use of syncopation by the band. The band is able to contrast the heavy moments brilliantly with the soft and somber moments, as well, not unlike that of Opeth (although they don't go for the gothic feel that Opeth does). Songs like This Heart of Mine and Second Love are lush ballads with gorgeous vocal performances from everyone, Daniel Gildenlow in particular (who grips the listener vocally with ripping performances on nearly every song).

While no masterpiece, Remedy Lane continues to impress me and is a perfect musical continuation of what The Perfect Element was trying to explore. The entire album can be summed up with the closer, Beyond the Pale. Arguably the best closing song they've released to date, the song is wrought with brilliant melodies, vocals, and lyrical material, it concludes the album perfectly and remains one of the diamonds in the Pain of Salvation catalogue. As a whole, Remedy Lane is excellent, close to perfection, but it doesn't, in my opinion, reach that level. Highly recommended.

Remedy Lane

Simply amazing. This album shows how progressive metal, and metal songs, in wider perception, can be very beautiful, yet still have great technical virtuosity. Every single track of the album is a truly masterpiece, without any doubt. Another thing about the album is, as I said before, has that "feeling" that makes you smile, maybe cry when you listen to it. Straight five stars.

This is actually my first Pain of Salvation album, although my first Pain of Salvation song was not from this album. There was a story behind it. A friend of mine gave me some copies of PoS tracks taken from "Be" album (legally, of course). Then I realised how cool this band was, because many people told me PoS is more or less similar to Dream Theater, Opeth, also maybe Ayreon. The music is very progressive, very metal, yet it is very easy-listening.

Back to the album. As I mentioned above, Pain of Salvation's songs are magic combinations of the beauty of music and amazing musicianship. Meaning, while the songs have a very beautiful tone and lyrics, they can still included some incredible progressive aspects in the songs, such as odd time signature and extended solo. One example of these kind of songs is "Fandango" (track 3). From the beginning of the song, the bass line has a "less-usual" beat, followed by also odd drum lines, along with guitar lines. The most beautiful track, for me, is probably Second Love. This song is more like a ballad song, with a nice and "crisp" guitar tone. The lyric is also worth listening as well, taken from the song, "I want you to know, I can't sleep anymore, by the night, by the night." Well yes, this is a song that has a very deep love aspect, which is not very common. However, after listening to the album several times, this song is a great compliment to the songs with very significant metal aspects.

And just like every other great progressive rock/metal albums, the story of the album is worth-understanding as well. Quite similar to Ayreon's The Human Equation, the story is about a man's journey to discover himself, and dealt with love and passion.

Bottom line, five big stars to Remedy Lane. My first Pain of Salvation album, and it showed me how great the band was, and is still great until today. I highly recommend you to buy the album and listen to it over and over again. This is not progressive metal album, this is a profound progressive metal album.

I don't know what am I'm looking for - Imoeng

A very moving album, Remedy Lane has everything i seek in music: emotion, deep lyrics, excellent musicianship and creative arrangements. POS is definetely one of the strongest bands out there now, making true prog music and never being pretentious while giving no direction to their music. Their songs have a goal, transmit feelings to the listener through DANIEL's amazing vocal performances and the general beautiful and complex arrangements which make this band one of the few ones who should be considered "prog metal".

There's not a bad song here, but there sure are some weaker ones mixed with real amazing masterpieces. "Beginings" and "Ending Theme" open the album just taking your breath away, with crying guitar solos a la Gilmour and dramatic vocals/melodies never falling into cheesy or overly tear-jerker territory, though. "Fandango" will just blow you away with its complexety, a very fast tempo and a song like i've never heard before. "Chain Sling" and "Dryad of the Woods" are also very worthy of attention, as well as the beautiful "Second Love". Yes my friends, this is a ballad on a prog metal album that is actually effective and not a commercial filler. The other songs are good, but i'm not a fan of the title track and i don't like some of the too heavier parts, like in the intros of a couple of tracks here.

Overall, a stunning album that deserves to be appreciated by fans of all genres, since it is definetely not made to people go "headbanging", it is a very intelligent and complex piece of music that even fans of the mellower side of prog (CAMEL, GENESIS, PF) will be able to enjoy and admire.

With The Perfect Element, Pain of Salvation was able to blend all of their strongest aspects together and even boost some of them, so the question is how do you follow up a near perfect album? Well, in Daniel Gildenlow's case, he decides to create an album with the central concept based around a very tragic moment in his and his wife's lives, the miscarriage of what would have been their first child, but with a few fictional events thrown in as well.

Once again Pain of Salvation prove that it's the blend of deep emotional connection from the lyrics augmented by powerful, complex and feeling driven music that makes this such a great album in a similar way to its predecessor, The Perfect Element. As you can imagine, the overriding feeling of this album is very bleak and sad, punctuated by a couple of softer, calmer, more easily digestible songs, namely This Heart Of Mine ( I Pledge) and Second Love. The constant sense of loneliness and pain really does get to you with this album, bringing your mental state down a notch along the way with the previously named tracks being the only real let up to this and allowing the listener to recover a bit.

The music the band play is maintained at an extremely high level that was set on their debut album, Entropia. In-fact, if there's one thing that can be said for it is that it has been made a bit more streamlined to make it more catchy, more commercial almost, but without sacrificing the complex layers and arrangements, just making them a little easier to get into and follow. However, this isn't actually easier to get into than The Perfect Element because of the downcast atmosphere, which can put some people off, or make it hard to listen to regularly. Also, despite the impressive quality of musicianship from them, many of the songs don't quite grab you so intensely, like past greats of Pain Of Salvation. However, as always, there are definite exceptions to this and in particular is A Trace of Blood, Rope Ends and Beyond The Pale. On these three songs, as well as numerous points throughout the album but most pronounced here, they show their incredible command of breathtaking structure, rhythm change and an all out feel of how to grab you and just rock. Listening to Beyond The Pale, from the opening clipped chords to the closing chant of Gildenlow, is an affirmation of why I love this band.

This album is filled with moments and songs that I really love and enjoy listening to regularly, but the concept and its effect over, and with, the music makes it very difficult to get into for some people, and can easily be passed off as an angst filled rant, a stance that belittles the albums true nature. I do find, though, that it never quite grabs me in the same way that The Perfect Element did, a milestone that all of Pain of Salvation's albums will now be measured against, and in the end its this slight deficiency to its predecessor that holds it back from receiving 5 stars from me, though it gets incredibly close so I'll give it 4.5, rounded down to 4. A very worthy addition to any prog collection and a must have for most.

After the acclaimed The Perfect Element Pt. 1, PoS decided to rest on their laurels and instead released this opus. Remedy Lane. The concept is , the similar to the one on One Hour By the Concrete Lake, which is introspection, but it's executed far better. Daniel fills every song with emotion and the rest of the band is more prominent than usual, but it's still Daniel's show. The story takes place over a few days in Hungary and travels through the range of human emotions.

The album is split into three chapters, with the protagonist revisiting his memories. The story is somewhat autobiographical. "A Trace of Blood" deals with the pain of a miscarriage. "This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)" is a love song, but it's followed by "Undertow," a dark piece revolving around the now-broken relationship. "Rope Ends" deals with attempted suicide. In the end, the painful memories create a sort of "Remedy Lane" that proves to be therapeutic.

Daniel's vocals have always been astounding, but he gives his best performance on this album. He captures the range of human emotions as well, maybe even better, than Arjen Lucassen would do on The Human Equation. The flaw here, as with all PoS albums, is that the rest of the band gets little time to shine. However, there are more instrumental bridges this time around. This album is essential to prog metal fans and to those who have an interest in metal but don't like Dream Theater. Buy now.

Grade: A

PAIN OF SALVATION is a band in constant progress and with a very personal approach to their music. They're becoming more and more complex and the compositions gets better and better with every new album, really??? i'm not agree with most of the reviwers from here. Their new concept album about a fractured relationship, titled "Remedy Lane" . Now, with all this i don't find Remedy lane a masterpiece, not by far, at some point is boring like short movies ( telenovela) from Soth America. This kind of metal i hered before in the '90, so is not big deal with this album, i don't know what is the fuss about Remedy lane. Some tracks that are better in my view are the instrumental one Dryad Of The Woods, and Remedy lane who sounds like keys of Manfred Mann but with modern techonology add on. My rating is 3 stars. Not one of my fav bands ore album.

"Remedy Lane" is another very interesting prog metal album I found via the enthusiasm of our own sinkadoten. It's only my second PoS review so I'm not qualified to rank it amongst their others but I will say that I prefer the live "Be" material to this one.

That said, this is still a heck of an album. Complex structures, unbelievable musicianship, good vocals, it's all there. One of the things that blows me away about this group are the guitar solos, of which there are not quite enough! But Johan Hallgren has this amazingly interesting style of soloing that will be hard to explain but I'll give it a shot. I don't know about you but when I listen to many guitarists do their solos, my mind usually assimilates the song and player fairly quickly and I can hear where the solo will go ahead of time, in other words they're often predictable. Even on albums I've not heard a million times, you can get pretty good at just knowing where a player is going with something. But with Hallgren I have noticed that he rarely goes where I expect him to and he frequently surprises me. In addition to this he will also get to what you think is the end of a given run of notes, and then he'll tack on something extra right there where you would normally expect the next "part" to have already begun. I hope you can understand what I'm getting at. Both of these tricks make it really fun to listen to him play. I only wish he had more time on his own, he is usually on a short leash due to the rigid structure of PoS songs.

Which leads me to my criticism of the band. As good as the album is, and as much as complexity can be wonderful, Remedy Lane at times nearly suffocates in its seriousness and complexity. There are times I would really love to hear this band explode into a different kind of jam, looser and free of Daniel's constant lyrical drama. I'm not tanking the album over this because I still like it very much, just needed to point that out. I'd love to hear these musicians go NUTS without Daniel just a little more.

Hermansson and Langell are also veritable forces that raise this band above so many of their peers. The keys and drums are so consistently good you take them for granted after a bit. Very impressive. And then there's Daniel. What can you say? I imagine he's one of those love him or hate him kind of presences for metal fans. You could say that he's too overbearing and keeps this band from reaching where they could if they had more freedom from his epic concepts. On the other hand his songwriting talent is undeniable as is his vocal range, his charisma, and his amazing talent for turning emotion on a dime. He's good mellow, he's good at power, he's good at rage. And he can so smoothly shift gears where lesser singers would have difficulty.

It's impossible for me to find enough adjectives to go track by track on this release because there is so much consistency and thankfully it's uniformly good. If I had to pick one song that knocks me to the floor it might (on this day) be "Rope Ends" with its jaw dropping shifting rhythms, piano parts, and guitar. It's a killer.

I really look forward to hearing Scarsick and knowing what all the fuss is about. That one seems to divide the fanbase which means it must be interesting. As for this one, there's not much division. Recommended to all PoS fans and prog metal fans without hesitation.

Pain of Salvation succeeds amazingly at the impossible feat of following up an album as good as "Perfect Element" with something AS excellent while still progressing into new territory. "Remedy Lane" takes the band's dynamic and unique sound into new levels of professionalism and maturity, lead by the group's exceptional and memorable songwriting.

The album opens strong and ends its first act with the amazing "Trace of Blood", which will have the listener throbbing with delight only to follow up with "This Heart of Mine", a beautiful example of the group's ability to shift styles and probably their finest ballad. The grand finale, "Beyond the Pale," might just be one of the coolest songs you'll ever hear, but it is far the only thing holding this awesome album together. "Remedy Lane" has enough variety in songs and tone to please just about anyone.

The group's playing is of the highest caliber, and most importantly... is DIFFERENT than most of their contemporaries. Highly recommended!

Songwriting: 5 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 5 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

Just did the review of The Perfect Element as well as The Concrete Lake album and revealed my feelings about this highly acclaimed band. And that is what Pain of Salvation is. It's a huge prog metal band with a unique style and approach and they have their special place in the subgenre. I also noticed not everybody loves them but that's what you get when you don't play the 13 in a dozen style as we say it over here.

I have enormous respect for Daniel Gildenlow both for his vocal performance as for his compositional talent. Yet this Remedy Lane doesn't show his second mentioned talent to full extent I believe. If I compare this work with TPE I feel TPE is the better album. There are quite some "common" songs on this one in my opinion. It's simply less special to me despite the presence of Beyond the Pale which is one of their best songs ever.

So all in all a very good/excellent album deserving the four stars in the end though rounded up.

Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane 5 stars

One of the most emotional album's ever created in music.

The album can bring one to tears if they listen to it during a really depressing point in their life, but I can't help but recommend it, because you will feel at peace in the end. Daniel Gildenlow did almost everything on this album as he wrote the entire concept and lyrics as well as writing all the music except the instrumental in 'Rope Ends' which Fredrik Hermansson gets credit on that. That is quite the feat for an artist to accomplish, especially for a work like this. This supplements my reason to why I consider Daniel Gildenlow to be my musical idol. 'Remedy Lane' and the previous work, 'The Perfect Element' have the same sound in a way compositional wise, just like how 'Entropia' and 'One Hour by the Concrete Lake' had a little bit of a similar compositional style before they moved on.

The line-up is still consistent from the 'One Hour.' period. Daniel Gildenlow (Guitars,Vocals), Fredrik Hermansson (Keyboards), Johan Langell (Drums, Vocals), Johan Hallgren (Guitar, Vocals) and Kristoffer Gildenlow (Bass, Vocals)

As I mentioned before with the compositional comparison to the previous effort, this album is again broken down into three chapters.

Remedy Lane - 'Of Two Beginnings' This is basically just an intro to an album and possibly the greatest intro one could ever hear, with some great lyrics like this 'Now in this hotel room I lie wondering who I am. Never quite as sure after a life of questioning'. Ahhhh the goodness.

Chapter 1 - 'Ending Theme', 'Fandango', 'A Trace of Blood', This Heart of Mine (I Pledge' 'Ending Theme' was an interesting piece because it was thrown into the beginning, not really in agreement with the title of the track; it serves a greater purpose though. 'Fandango' is also another strange one, this is some of the weirdest vocal work Daniel has done, Mike Patton was probably proud of this. 'A Trace of Blood' is a tearjerker of a track; it is one of the finest they have done with some rapid changes of mood and an exquisite chorus. 'This Heart of Mine' is another one of those tracks similar to the peaceful ballads of 'The Perfect Element', nothing short of amazing.

Chapter 2 - 'Undertow', 'Rope Ends', 'Chain Sling', 'Dryad of the Woods' 'Undertow' is one of the most well known Pain of Salvation tracks, and unlike 'Ashes', good reason. It is a lyrically and vocally driven piece, with the instruments only supplementing the background until the chorus. At the end of the track Daniel is nearly screaming out the lyrics to make it an extremely powerful track. 'Rope Ends' is a poetic track. There are dueling vocals in the chorus except the one in the background is simply read rather then sung. There a pretty nice polyrhythm going on throughout the entire track, it is pretty cool and easy to follow. This track actually helped my fully understand what a polrhythm was. 'Chain Sling' is a strange one, because of the way the verse and chorus is sung. Very hard to describe and I don't think I have the ability to. 'Dryad of the Woods' is one of my favorite instrumental tracks, entire peaceful and very upbeat. Acoustic guitar and grand piano are at the forefront the most; towards the end it is taken in a new direction but keeps the overall tone of the track the same.

Chapter 3 - 'Remedy Lane', 'Waking Every God', 'Second Love', 'Beyond The Pale' 'Remedy Lane' is exactly what one should think of. It sums up what the listener has heard so far, except it is all electronica and ambience, very fitting track if you listen to the album all the way through, like you should with any album anyway. 'Waking Every God' and 'Second Love' both are very slow and passionate tracks, they try to end the album but at the same time build up to one of the most powerful closing tracks ever created. 'Beyond the Pale' is a conclusive track that takes a look back on what was covered in the album and puts it into glorious end. The chorus is some of Daniels best work on the microphone, with a crescendo singing 'Someone still this hunger, always growing stronger' that just sounds so epic. Followed by just spoken lyrics, where Daniel is nearly crying saying 'this is not who I wanted to be, this is not what I wanted to see'. 'Beyond the Pale' is a masterpiece of progressive music.

Well I just reviewed my two favorite prog-metal albums and I feel quite satisfied. I would once again recommend this to anyone and as a first for anyone to wants to check this band out. The album seems to me, much more accessible and is the one that led my to really dig this band and buy into their discography, something few bands were album to do to me which include as of now and certainly not in the future, Yes, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Mastodon and Canvas Solaris (The bands need to have 3 albums or more). Anyway, this is the most depressing album I have ever heard and I hope my OPINION could be taken seriously. I have heard a couple thousand albums so please take my advice.pick this album up.

Even after claiming this to be my favorite prog-metal band.perhaps after 4 years of listening I still have no clear-cut choice as to which my favorite album is between this and 'The Perfect Element'. Depends on my mood I guess, which is why this band works wonders.

This is the final album in Pain of Salvation's discography that is, well, typical Pain of Salvation. Following Remedy Lane, the abnormal becomes the normal. But here, they're still playing prog metal with a strong poetic drive to the lyrics and songwriting. And it is with Remedy Lane that they surpass The Perfect Element, Part I.

The album opens rather unexpectedly, with the strange construction and the uncomfortable subject matter. If discussions of sexuality (done from a fairly healthy standpoint, at least) bother you, this album is likely not one you should jump into. Of Two Beginnings segues to Ending Theme (marking the strangest labels of two initial tracks on any album I've found yet), a short and straightforward track highlighted by some Gildenlow poetry reading and a nicely zesty guitar solo outro. Fandango enters next, and boy is this one a doozy. A sliding, stuttering bass line, plinking pianos on top, polyrhythmic choruses, dual tone rapping, very high-pitched singing... if you ever want to show a friend what kind of strange things progressive metal has created, this song is the poster child. A Trace of Blood follows, with some upbeat piano in the intro misleading you into thinking this is not a song about his stillborn child. It includes a very touching chorus with great harmonies.

This Heart of Mine is one of my personal favorites. Essentially a love song in two parts, the first is a gentle acoustic piece. The second features Daniel singing very passionately and very impressively (if you're one of those people who just loves bombastic and crazy vocals, this might just do it for you). Next, Undertow is a fan favorite, starting slow and building towards a powerful vocal climax. The lyrics are a bit... angsty, though. Rope Ends is quite possibly the weakest song on the album, despite perhaps having the best chorus on the whole CD. In the center of this song, the band randomly degrades from heartbreakingly singing about his ex-wife's attempted suicide to a poorly segued typical prog metal jamfest, complete with shredding and all the typical trappings of the genre that can divide fans so easily. Thankfully, the next track, Chainsling, is much more cohesive and singular. Almost reminiscent of an acoustic Ayreon, it ties together several themes of the album. Dryad of the Woods is a brilliant acoustic instrumental, and it definitely deserves one of the top spots in the Pain of Salvation hierarchy of songs. Very well constructed, very beautiful, not cheesy at all. The title track is just an electronic interlude rehashing some earlier themes.

Waking Every God is an enjoyable little rocker, and is perhaps the very last time that Kristoffer Gildenlow slapped the heck out of his bass for a Pain of Salvation song. The intro is just covered with delicious (though undermixed) funky basswork. The rest of the song is solid, too. Second Love is something like This Heart of Mine: a gentle acoustic love song. This time, instead of Daniel singing his heart out, we have two and three part harmonies forming the dark romantic choruses. And that brings us to the final track, Beyond the Pale, a stunning way to end the album. It builds on a bizarre minimalism for the first few minutes, featuring slowly building music and some tortured vocals. The song overall is filled with powerful, soaring, grumpy, and all other sorts of singing, and perhaps is one of Daniel's best moments in front of a microphone--especially the last three words he sings. And this closes the album, save for a slow fadeout and rhythmic poetic whisperings.

In short, if you heard The Perfect Element and thought it was great, I hope you try this one out, as it is much stronger and has much less prog metal noodle abuse. This is the band's most consistent release, not as progressively brilliant as their followup, BE, but definitely the best full-band sound they ever achieved. If you're into metal and into prog but are tired of your usual prog metal options, perhaps this is a good place to look.

Their previous album The Perfect Element combined fine progressive and metal music: it was my fave amongst of their output so far.

When I listened to this album for the first time, I was a bit disappointed. The first trio of songs is rather thin, and one has to wait the very good "Trace Of Blood" to discover the first true great song of the album. It owes a lot to "Dream Theater" though, but this is not the first time that this relation can be stressed.

The rock ballad "This Heart Of Mine" is the occasion for Daniel to demonstrate how good a vocalist he is. The classic guitar break to close this song is also well polished (even if very predictable in this genre). The mellowish other one available on this record is much less brilliant ("Second Love").

This album clearly puts their prog characteristics into brackets and features a heavier angle ("Undertow", "Rope Ends") and when the band is trying a more acoustic style ("Chain Sling" or the instrumental "Dryad.") they are not quite convincing.

This album has a lot of five and four star ratings (even if only twenty % of the reviews available are commented) but I'm afraid I won't be as generous. Actually, this is my least favourite album from POS so far (you might know that I review a band in the chronological order). Average to my ears. I am downgrading it to two stars because there is really only one outstanding track in here, as far as I am concerned.

I have tried very hard to like this album. I think TPE deserves its place at the top of Prog Metal lists, and Remedy Lane often is rated on an equal footing. (Across different sites and boards, this is variable) I obtained both albums at the same time, after having Entropia for several years. At first I thought that maybe my Pain of Salvation circuits had just been overloaded, so I've given it a couple months before trying again. And my opinion has deepened a bit, but in the end my overall feel has not changed. I actually find some of this album unpleasant to listen to. The clean guitar tones on this album are tinny and grating, but moreover, many of the ideas Gildenlow uses on this album just don't work.

PoS pushes harder on this album than TPE, and there are indeed some great moments, (Fandango is my favorite). But the vocal delivery is much like a stage show (not that that's unique to this album) and too often melody gets lost in the place of overlong dramatics. Like a classical piece, there are again thematic melodic elements (unimaginatively named Ending Theme here, though I'm sure the authors found that ironic or clever). There are lots of highs and lows, heavy and soft, time changes, but much of it seems too intentional and doesn't flow. I really never get lost in the music itself.

The album begins with a section that feels like the start of act two rather than the start of act one, though the song itself (Of Two Beginnings) is strong enough once it gets going. In fact, the whole beginning I would rate as simply good with rough patches but the album heads south midway. Tracks 9-12 are extremely forgetable, most of all the cigarette lighter ballad Second Love. Luckily, the album ends on a high note (Beyond the Pale) where the clucky plucked clean guitars actually make musical sense for the first time, though they still are pretty grating to my ear.

Before submitting a review this harsh, I went back one last time and scanned through the tracks, and thought to myself that there really is a lot of good material here. Perhaps it's just an early draft that needed more fine tuning. But in the end, where The Perfect Element continues to pull me in, impress me, and pique my musician's sense, Remedy Lane makes me search for interest, instantly brings out my inner critic, and simply doesn't succeed for me.

2.5 stars rounded up.

'Remedy Lane' - Pain of Salvation (9/10)

One of my all-time favourite records, Pain Of Salvation have crafted a true work worthy of being called a masterpiece. There is a fantastic sense of flow on this album, and the concept (albeit a bit hard to follow) is interesting and emotionally driven. What you get is an incredibly empathetic work, taking you from feelings of Sadness to Fear to Heartbreak and the occasional glimpse of Love and Devotion.

Lyrically, 'Remedy Lane' is semi-autobiographical, concerning different, important times in Daniel Gildenlow's (the songwriter and vocalist) life. Much of the content revolves around the apparently torrid lifelong romance between the protagonist and his love. What comes through is a great amount of sincerity, and a sense that Gildenlow truly means and cares about the music he is writting/performing. The feeling is rare to be felt, especially in the progressive metal genre.

The music is beautiful, to be blunt. Even the heavier parts such as the highly progressive polyrhythmic 'Rope Ends' emit a vulnerable, lamentable beauty about them.

An hour of such a gut wrenching, depressing, and invigorating journey can leave one pressed for tears... A true, beautiful masterpiece, and will always hold a special, relatable place in my heart.

Just one year before the release of this album progressive metal masterminds Pain of Salvation released their magnum opus "The Perfect Element Part 1". So how do they follow up an incredible album? Make another incredible album. This was my introduction to Pain of Salvation's music, and made me raid their entire discography. This is a great place to start listening to Pain of Salvation music, along with "The Perfect Element Part 1".

I think the music is slightly stronger on "The Perfect Element Part 1", but the concept and story is much stronger here. It's really hard for me to pick which of these two incredible albums I like more. Daniel Gildenlow's songwriting is great, and his unique singing style shines here as well. Daniel Gildenlow may very well be the greatest frontman in modern prog. He even ranks up there with Peter Gabriel and some of the classic performers. One of the few knocks I can give this album is that the bass isn't very prominent, and sometimes I can barely hear it. With that said, there are so many bands in the world where I'll almost want to ask "Do these guys even have a bassist?!?!" because the production quality is so bad. Pain of Salvation, luckily, is not one of these bands.

Like I said, this was my introduction to Pain of Salvation, and it took a little while to grow on me. The first time I heard it I thought it was just average progressive metal. One day I decided to pull it out again, and I was completely addicted. I think the reason why it needed to grow on me was not because there was anything wrong with the album, but more so that the band is different than anything I've ever heard before. After three or four listens any prog metal fan should like it a lot more than the first listen.

With that said, there is not a single flaw on this album. There isn't a moment of filler, which is something that usually cannot be said. The best song is the epic ending "Beyond the Pale". It shows the way they beautifully combine dark and heavy sections with light and emotional sections. Some more of my favorites are the experimental "Fandango", "A Trace of Blood", and the ballad with a wonderful vocal performance "Second Love". All I can say is go buy it. You won't be disappointed.

5/5 stars

I first encountered this amazing album on the PA right here hailed as one of the greatest prog albums of all time so I had to check it out. I was not disappointed.

Daniel Gildenlow is the backbone behind this sprawling saga of a woman who decided she could not take it any more and therefore indulged in the final solution, a walk down 'remedy lane'.

The musicianship is excellent throughout from D Gildenlow (Guitars,Vocals), Fredrik Hermansson (Keyboards), Johan Langell (Drums, Vocals), Johan Hallgren (Guitar, Vocals) and K Gildenlow (Bass, Vocals).

There are three chapters that unfold the captivating and distressing emotional story.

Chapter 1 is comprised of 'Ending Theme', 'Fandango', 'A Trace of Blood', and 'This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)'. This chapter begins with melancholy symphonic styles and then launches into full blown prog metal with the awesome 'Fandango'. This track is my favourite on the album and features some of the most complex out of synch drumming you will hear. It is stunning how the drums are off kilter at times adding to the sense of madness and alienation. The fractured rhythms and metrical patterns are unburdened by lilting, shimmering keyboards and arresting low pitched guitars. The riffing is hypnotic as are the vocals of Gildenlow, that are as bizarre as the lyrics. The other tracks are very solemn, somber ballads that are at times beautifull but cast a shadow of darkness to come.

Chapter 2 comprises 'Undertow', 'Rope Ends', 'Chain Sling', and 'Dryad of the Woods'. This is the most haunting chapter beginning with the powerfully executed 'Undertow'. 'Rope Ends' is the most memorable track for me as it features the chilling lyrics about how the lady hung herself with her husband's Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore silk tie. The illustrations in the booklet are unforgettable. The chorus is melodic and very sad echoing the pain of the traumatic female's mind. 'Chain Sling' is a very off kilter track with strange harmonies, and 'Dryad of the Woods' is a wonderful instrumental that slows things down acoustically somewhat to prepare us for chapter 3.

Chapter 3 consists of 'Remedy Lane', 'Waking Every God', 'Second Love', and 'Beyond The Pale'. The first track is a veritable summary of all the events thus far. The pace is slowed down with symphonic ambience with 'Waking Every God' and 'Second Love'. One of the best POS tracks is 'Beyond the Pale' that is also the longest on 'Remedy Lane' at almost 10 minutes. This track features heavy metal guitar riffing and time signature changes throughout. It begins with a repetitive estranged pitchy guitar sweep. All is masterfully executed with glorious lead guitar breaks and the awesome vocals of Gildenlow. It finishes the album on a high note amidst all the darkness, like death coming to life.

So my first taste of Pain of Salvation has been a pleasurable one, hopefully many more to come. I liked how they structure their music and the songs are not as heavy as other metal prog bands I have heard. They have a quiet patient ambience blended with sharp blasts of metal distortion. The tracks are easy to listen to though the concept was a bit dark and heavy handed for me. I have never been a fan of suicide depression themes as they are obviously downbeat and morbid. However, for pure innovation, this album is certainly worthy of any proggers collection.

Pain Of Salvation is yet another top-brand from Sweden, a true marvel in progressive metal, standing out from the pack by their eclectic nature. They steer their music in all sorts of directions, ranging from progressive Gentle Giant adventures to biting Faith No More epics, from melodious guitar leads to System of A Down alternative metal aggression.

As such they manage to have power as well as subtlety, originality and intensity. Add their clever catchiness and a wealth of inspiration to that and you got the ultimate recipe to make a peak album in the progressive metal field. Unfortunately, their versatility comes with some weird breaks and modulations that you got to be in the mood for. The chorus of Fandango is such a moment where they come off slightly cheesy to me. But you get used to it over time.

Remedy Lane served as my introduction to Pain of Salvation and for me it shows a band on the brink of a really stunning release. The highlights and creative surprises follow one another in an unrelenting pace, but near the end sit a couple of ballads that sound like leftovers from the previous album. With a more selective approach to their own songwriting it might have been a stronger album.

If Pain of Salvation had restrained themselves more they might have crafted a masterpiece here. On the other hand, if restraint would have trimmed their imaginative excessiveness, it would sure have been a lesser album. So I'll accept it as it is and skip the filler bits. A huge musical improvement over the preceding album.

Remedy Lane is missing something that The Perfect Element has...now if I could just figure out what that is!

Despite racking my brain to figure out exactly why, I still cannot pinpoint why I feel that Remedy Lane is a slightly lesser album than its predecessor. In many ways, they are similar pieces, as they are both very well-produced, with plenty of heavy, gloomy atmospheres, boatloads of masculine harmonies, and a welcome dose of creativity and envelope-pushing.

Unlike The Perfect Element, with personal favorites such as Idioglossia, King of Loss and In the Flesh, I can't point to any song on Remedy Lane that really sticks out to my ears. Sure, I enjoy the impassioned poetry of Ending Theme, the restrained beauty of Dryad (with even a melodic reference back to Ashes), and the quite tricky rhythms of Fandango and Rope Ends, but nothing specifically pulls me back to this album.

In other words, I don't entirely trust my gut regarding this album in recommending Remedy Lane to others. All I can surely say is that many of the enjoyable Pain of Salvation elements are present, Remedy Lane has never captivated my ears as has The Perfect Element.

Like many other prog metal bands which seem to get universal praise from others, I find Pain of Salvation a very hit and miss affair. Once again, the band's histrionic and melodramatic musical style tips over the borderline into irritating cheesiness for my tastes, and the album's concept seems just as irritating preachy as One Hour By the Concrete Lake or Entropia. The studio production is impeccable, but to me that's part of the problem - the band seem to be more interested in trying out all the studio tricks they are in the simple skill of writing a good tune. Frankly, this seems to be the problem with many prog bands - they're so dedicated to being progger-than-thou that they neglect more basic skills of the rock musician's craft, to their detriment.

This is the fourth album by Swedish prog metallers Pain Of Salvation and although it is again a concept album, it is not a follow-up to 'The Perfect Element Part 1'. The band has decided not to work on a sequel just yet, although that is in place for the future. POS have been working with the usual suspects in the past, having toured with both Threshold and Arena while band leader Danny Gildenlöw also found himself playing with Transatlantic. They have also confirmed dates with Dream Theater in the near future. Danny describes the album himself as follows "If you're looking for a band that sounds like your favourite group, forget about us. But if you happen to be looking for a band that lets you forget your favourite group, take a few walks down Remedy Lane and you'll find that you're not the same person that you were before".

The album is about failed relationships and the role of a person's past when entering into a relationship. At times the music is very heavy, at others very light, but there is a constant tension between the two, so that the listener is never quite sure what is going to happen next. The vocals also take on an important aspect as they move between rock screams and almost spoken passages, while at all times maintaining a certain menace.

While there are no really long tracks (closer "Beyond The Pale" is the longest at less than ten minutes), the proghead cannot feel hard done by as there is plenty of complexity and intricacy to get their head into. Again an intriguing album from Pain Of Salvation that may be too heavy for the proghead while being too complex for those into metal, but it is rewarding for those who follow the path to the end.

Originally appeared in Feedback #67, Apr 02

Having read about this album I was really excited when I put it on for the first time. It did not sound the way I had imagined but that's alright. Prog albums rarely do. Isn't that the whole idea of prog, not sounding like anything you'd expect? Well, turned out to be a hard one to review. Really it is. I am no stranger to heavy metal, I was sort of raised on it. It is not that. It is rather the fact that Gildenlöw is extremely talented, obviously, but I do not agree with his musical vision wholeheartedly.

I will say this, the music found on Remedy lane really is a real concoction of styles. It is though Gildenlöw has gathered together everything (or nearly) from the commercial side of hard rock to the more extreme, almost death-y, metal. That is a feat and as such I applaud him. But do I think it is a success? Well, maybe not in my book and maybe not to the full extent intended. I cannot embrace the album as muych as I'd like to. The ambition and talent is unquestioned but I am simply not that enchanted. And in that lies the difficulty.

There are tracks I really enjoy. The trio of "Rope ends", "Chain sling" and "Dryad of the woods" are very enjoyable indeed. The folky side of "Dryad..." is quite beautiful and "Rope ends" is certainly a multifacetetted piece of music, well worth exploring.

I do not suggest that the other tracks aren't enjoyable, as a whole or in bits, but there are elements I disagree with. There is a side of this album that makes me uneasy and not in a good way. It is hard to describe but I hear elements of music I quiver about, like contemporary pop-metal of sorts. Since I cannot digest those bits I find it hard to love this album. It is a good album, a brilliant one if I was to clear the plate from all those elements I find hard to swallow.

All in all, Remedy lane is a good album. Full of talent and intent. It just don't agree with me. Sorry.

Review Nº 24

Pain Of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal group founded in 1991. The lyrics show deep concerns told through elaborate concept albums and the music is just all over the place. In a five minutes song, it's quite common for Pain Of Salvation go to different tempos, time signatures and musical atmospheres, changing from powerful aggressive parts to sweet and gentle melodies.

'Remedy Lane' is their fourth studio album and was released in 2002. It was almost entirely written during a two month period, from August to September 2001 by Daniel Gildenlow, and was recorded in autumn 2001 and released in spring 2002. The album was produced and mastered by Daniel, Anders 'Theo' Theander and Pain Of Salvation, and the Graphic Art and Multimedia was made by Daniel and Entropia Productions.

The line up on the album is Daniel Gildenlow (lead vocals and guitar), Johan Hallgreen (backing vocals and guitar), Fredrik Hermansson (keyboards and synthesizers), Kristoffer Gildenlow (backing vocals, bass guitar and cello), and Johan Langell (backing vocals, drums and percussion).

'Remedy Lane' has thirteen tracks. The concept and the lyrics are all written by Daniel. All the music was also written by him, except 'Rope Ends' which was written by Daniel and Fredrik. The thirteen tracks are divided into an introduction and three chapters. The first track 'Of Two Beginnings' is the opening track and is a kind of an introduction to the album. The second track 'Ending Theme', the third track 'Fandango', the fourth track 'A Trace Of Blood' and the fifth track 'This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge)', makes part of Chapter 1. The sixth track 'Undertow', the seventh track 'Rope Ends', the eighth track 'Chain Sling' and the ninth track 'Dryad Of The Woods', makes part of Chapter 2. The tenth track 'Remedy Lane', the eleventh track 'Waking Every God', the twelfth track 'Second Love' and the thirteenth track 'Beyond The Pale', makes part of Chapter 3.

As Daniel explains, the meaning of the album title 'Remedy Lane', is about an English expression 'Take A Walk Down Memory Lane', which means, to visit your past or going to a nostalgic trip. For him, that is what happened with this concept album, which is the need to reconcile ourselves with the past, to find remedy for our personal crisis.

'Remedy Lane' is a concept album, focusing on the search of a man to discover himself. It's also about love, sex, a crisis in a relationship and the interactions with other people. The story of the concept takes place in Hungary, in different places, where the songs take us. This album is a part autobiographical and a part fictional of a period of Daniel's personal life, and as he said, it's his most Pain Of Salvation personal album.

'Remedy Lane' is a superiorly recorded and released album, what is usual with all Pain Of Salvation albums. It has an excellent conceptual cohesion, which brings originality and diversity to the metal progressive sub-genre and in my humble opinion it represents the band's finest musical creation, until now. Musically, this album really goes all over the place and lives up to its progressive reputation. The song structures are wild and complex in their dissonance and the instruments are performed with technical ease, and the vocals of the singer and guitarist Daniel Gildenlow range from passionate to absolutely insane. The songs themselves are also packed with a good deal of variety and range and portray the stories of the lyrics well and offer something for just about any kind of listener.

Just one more thing! I'll leave you with the Daniel's main reason to like or dislike of Pain Of Salvation, particularly of this album. And I'm going to cite him: 'If you are looking for a band that sounds just like your favourite band, just forget about us. If you are looking for a band that will make you forget about your favourite band, we are there, just walk down Remedy Lane and you will never be the same'.

Conclusion: I met Pain Of Salvation by Progarchives, and 'Remedy Lane' was my first encounter with their music. I read that the group had an excellent reputation, but the real truth is that I wasn't really prepared for listen something like this, an incredible and beautiful album. Although, being not a specialist on progressive metal, one of my favourite bands is Dream Theater, I oddly missed the Pain Of Salvation phenomenon until now and I do regret it, sincerely. As you can see, 'Remedy Lane' is a very special album for me, because is so unique, so pure and so authentic. So, for those who don't met yet Pain Of Salvation, and after reading the Daniel's citation and be still interested on the band, I suggest begin with this masterpiece, despite their live album '12:05', be certainly more accessible. Surely this is an album that appeals to fans of Dream Theater and Opeth, or to everyone with a taste for something new and different.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Which is better, The Perfect Element Pt.1 or Remedy Lane?

I think it depends of personal tastes. The Perfect Element is darker, harder and more difficult to appreciate. However, once you are into the world of this album it takes you forever. Remedy Lane is melancholic and dark sometimes, but also shows a more romantic and sentimental side of the the band (or Gildenlow). For this very reason, I think it is also more accessible while maintaining all the elements that made this band so great back then, marking the peak Pain of Salvation's career.

The production is crystal clear, especially the incredible vocals mix from Gildenlow who has in absolute top form here (producing also the album together with Anders Theander), and everything sounds just perfect. The concept of the album is autobiographical and very touching, giving the best lyrics of the whole band's career in my opinion, and as I said, this is one of the few prog-metal album that is instantly accessible (This Heart of Mine, Waking Every God) and very complex (Fandango, Rope Ends) at the same time.

Best Tracks: Of Two Beginnings, Ending Theme, Fandango, A Trace of Blood, Undertow, Chain Sling, Second Love... There is no weak moment to be found here. Really!

Conclusion: Remedy Lane marked the creative peak of Pain of Salvation in my opinion, being of the best prog-metal albums of the last decade. Intricate but accessible, dark and romantic, soft and fierce, and with a beautiful lyrical concept which deserves to be delighted slowly and many, many times.

Sadly, after this masterpiece nothing would be the same for Pain of Salvation again.

My rating: *****

If there is one album within progressive metal that truly moves me it is Remedy Lane, and if there is one band that is most genuine in their lyrical content and sound it is Pain Of Salvation. We find in this album complexity in structure, and skill in musicianship, that will made a seasoned musician blush. The lyrics may make you blush too if you play this in public to an average non-prog fan, without the right mood or context, so be aware of that too! haha. Remedy Lane tackles concepts such as the dangers and ecstasy of sexual exploration, in this case younger than the protagonist is ready for, depression in the face of true life struggles anyone can relate to, fear of becoming a parent and what that will require, the tragedy of life when it is stripped away from you, the grief that comes with the resentment of a lost unborn child, the rage and confusion that comes from the inability to place blame for such an event on anyone, the choice to point a finger to ones' self in hindsight for such an tragedy, loss of all will to live, trying to protect our loved ones from their own internal pain, and finding the will to move on from all of it.

Yeah, this isn't your average progressive metal album filled with songs of fairies, monsters, demons, and magic. This is much much scarier and much more substantial. These song talk of real life circumstances real people have dealt with, or may deal with at one time or another, or at least someone you may know or have seen walking along the street may have experienced in their life. This music is heartbreaking to say the least. Pain Of Salvation weaves these stories with incredibly high levels of musicianship coming from all band members (the drummer in particular is just one of the best to come from the progressive metal scene, period) and a vocalist that is the feature of the band for good reason. This guy Daniel Gildenlöw has a voice that is almost inhuman in its' range and versatility. He's basically progressive metals equivalent of Freddie Mercury from Queen. He might even be better than Freddie Mercury in some ways. Yes, i mean it, and i realize that Freddie Mercury is known as one of the greatest voices to ever grace rock music as a whole.

If you enjoy progressive rock, or progressive metal at all, you must give this album a chance. This and 'Perfect Element Pt. 1' are pinnacles of the progressive metal genre, and of all of progressive music of any genre. I like this one a bit better, but to each their own, and both are landmarks of prog. This is a concept album without any of the pretentiousness, or over long drawn out jamming that so many concept albums fall prey to.

Pain of Salvation is back with another highly acclaimed release of theatric power prog.

1. Of Two Beginnings" (2:24) gets one excited for that which could follow! (8.75/10)

- Chapter 1 2. "Ending Theme" (4:59) great chords and melody possibilities in the opening. Things slow down and drop away for the singing of the first two verses. Very sensitive and delicate; I was not expecting this! At 2:15, with the busting out of the chorus, we finally get the full feeling I was expecting, but then the overly dramatic "film narration" within the music . Nice keyboard and guitar interplay in the fourth minute's instrumental section. When Daniel returns singing in his upper register, it's pretty powerful--and then the guitar is unleashed (al little) for the finish. Great potential but too much is held back, held in check. (8.75/10)

3. "Fandango (5:51) frenetic guitar play opens this one before keys and second guitar join. The sinister Joker-like vocal has a Ozzy, Anthony Keidis, or Michael Sadler quality and style to it. (8.75/10)

4. "A Trace Of Blood" (8:17) part Fish-era MARILLION, part RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, and part GUNS 'N' ROSES. (17.75/20)

5. "This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge)" (4:01) a tender love song that could almost have come from MINNIE RIPPERTON, BENNY MARDONES, or SEAL. Gorgeous and heart-felt! (9.5/10) - Chapter 2

6. "Undertow" (4:47) Almost a Post Rock construct as it rises slowly, building to a crescendo. The highlight for me is the shift into fullness at 2:22 and again at 3:33. (9.5/10)

7. "Rope Ends" (7:02) syncopated staccato riffs of tightly coordinated guitar, bass, and bass drum are joined by keyboard washes and cymbal play before multi-voiced lead come in to sing. The white bread chorus is a bit of a let down. Weird piano-based jazzy psych-pop funk section begins at 3:50 in order to support soloing. Overall, I'm just not a fan. (12.25/15)

8. "Chain Sling" (3:58) using a kind of balalaika effect on the lead guitar riff that repeats ad infinitum in this song, Daniel sings a fast paced, almost-continuous vocal which, to a deaf-to-lyrics kind of guy like me, only serves to hammer home the boring tedium of the melodic loop. (8/10)

9. "Dryad Of The Woods" (4:56) more interesting finger-picked electric guitar work. (Why doesn't he just use a classical guitar?) He's no Jan Akkerman. After 90 seconds piano, bass, and drums join in. From there, this instrumental borders on New Age GOBI-like stuff. Such an incongruous song among the others (but, then, so were "Chain Sling" and "Fandango"). This leads me further from supporting any claim (or theory) that this is a concept album. (7.5/10)

- Chapter 3 10. "Remedy Lane" (2:15) synths & percussion that remind me of a combination of The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" and Pink Floyd's Dragon Toms intro to "Time" run through a flange/chorus effects box to provide an interesting, if dated, futuristic soundscape. (4.25/5)

11. "Waking Every God" (5:19) Weird synth piano opening that is quickly joined by abrasive guitars and jazzy bass. Quite an odd and incongruous selection of instruments! Weak, almost vocals enter feeling as if the engineer and producer were unsure whether or not to include them in the song! (8.5/10)

12. "Second Love" (4:21) finally: an acoustic guitar! Opening with an almost BON JOVI- or POISON-like ballad feel, there is some nice lead guitar play in the third minute over the piano, but, overall, this is just an 80s power ballad. (8.25/10)

13. "Beyond The Pale" (9:56) Probably the best/my favorite Pain of Salvation epic-length song I've ever heard. There are parts (at the beginning) that drag, and the vocal stylings once again sound very familiar, but there are just some great textures here and an overall flow and construct that is pretty awesome. (18.5/20)

Total time 68:06

The band might have a little more of a consistent vision of what it is they are trying to say on this album--both musically and ideologically--and the music feels a little smoother (and less creative) and the singing more staccato- rap-influenced (less creative) than their previous effort, The Perfect Element - Part 1. The music here reminds me more of bands like Fish-era MARILLION, ANGE, SAGA, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, and GUNS 'N' ROSES than their previous album and just feels less creative and innovative than Perfect Element. Also, the music of the song constructs are remarkably simple--which leads me to my final comment/question (which is the same as with my review of The Perfect Element): Is this really Prog Metal?

B/four stars; an excellent addition of prog metal-lite to any prog lover's music collection.

Swedish prog metal pioneers Pain of Salvation released their fourth studio album 'Remedy Lane' in January of 2002 through Inside Out Music, after gaining momentum with three very well received records that presented something entirely different to the progressive music scene - an innovative approach that incorporated a variety of styles and techniques not yet heard as well as a taste for the dramatic, cerebral and thoughtful lyrical presentation, wrapping everything into the sophisticated shell of the concept album; Pain of Salvation might have been seen as a prog band that is not necessarily explicitly prog but an intriguing collective of very talented musicians that were gradually forging an identity of their own, a severely original and a movingly memorable one.

'Remedy Lane' is a concept album that deals with the narrator's search for self-discovery, while touching upon themes like love, sexuality, loss, anger, and suicide - surely a darker prog album that surprisingly or not, contains uplifting and inspiring moments, whether they be through the instrumental prowess the listener is exposed to, the touching lyrics or the unpredictable twists of the songs. Thematically strong, lyrically intriguing, and musically astonishing, we have to say that 'Remedy Lane' impresses as much as it surprises through its unusual songcraft, gently balancing aggression and feel. With all this in mind, it might be needless to say that 'Remedy Lane' contains a lot of masterful and involving compositions from the band, many of which are still played live by them and beloved by their fans.

It is all the twists and turns, all the interplay between the musicians, all the heartfelt episodes of ingenious heavy music, incredibly well-conceived and well-performed, that make 'Remedy Lane' ever so special. It is an album that necessitates the listener to experience it and to allow himself to be engulfed by its atmosphere. Perhaps in some sort of divine inspiration, Pain of Salvation had composed a contemporary metal opera that shall forever be remembered for its originality, daring, yet provocative nature, myriad of memorable sounds, and acutely inevitable emotional reaction by the listener.