BE LIVE

Pain of Salvation showed what can be considered very minor variations in their sound during their 4 album evolution leading up to this work. None of their work lacked in dynamic contrast. However, while well executed, much of their sound and instrumentation was very conventional in relation to its heavy rock and metal roots. This changed dramatically for 'BE'. The sounds eminating from the band and orchestral instruments fit more with the concept and feeling of each piece rather than an implied or academic musical direction.

Prior to 'BE', my favorite POS album was 'One hour by the Concrete Lake', an album typically not well received. 'BE' employs a broader spectrum of styles to convey similar questions of, to quote Douglas Adams, "Life, the Universe and Everything". But where 'One hour..." was rooted in the terrestrial, 'BE' encompasses the relation between the terrestrial and metaphysical. The use of a small orchestra, even during the metal parts, is well conceived and executed. The included reading material explains the evolution of the project and Gildenlow's ponderings of our very existence, and in turn, since we are created in God's image, God's questioning of his own existence. A monumental concept album.