REMEDY LANE

I had listened to PoS through my friends, and to be frank, the first song I listened to was "Of Two Beginnings", "Inside". Simply put, I had hated it and had failed to understand how there was so much admiration for this band. The songs, "Ashes", "Used", "Chain Sling" changed my mind. But the reason why I bought this album was "Beyond the Pale"s interesting lyrics and even more interesting instrumentalization.

Without further ado, I will pass along to my analysis.

Instrumentally (and within the boundaries of the Danube's sounds);

My first introduction to prog metal (or rather, the Pain of Salvation genre) was "Remedy Lane". It took courage to buy the album, and patience to get used to it. However, the dark mood captured me from the start. The instruments I was used to from other genres of metal were used in different ways, which intrigued me to listen to it more and more, and try to capture the changes... put aside getting used to it.

Quite different and dissonant melodies, incredibly complex and strange percussion, interesting and downright strange guitar work, and other types of instruments introduced (to me) and exclusively used in a melodic and dissonant way basically sums up the way "Remedy Lane" has been instrumentalized. On a personal note, I first thought that my CD player was breaking down when I first heard "Rope Ends".

It contains very dark and heavy passages, incredible solos, some folkloric elements and passages; and generally is sad, angry, painful, and furthermore, "deep". Most of the time, the music brings a sense of drowning... drowning within the tears that has been shed onto the songs. There is incredible changes within songs, but emotion is omnipresent.

There is only one song that distrupts the dark atmosphere of the album, which is "This Heart of Mine(I Pledge)"

Lyrically (and within the boundaries of Budapest's pains);

There are very intimate themes that ooze from the album. Mostly, it focuses around inquiry, freedom, loss, sadness, love, sexuality, self-struggle, dilemma, failure. The album itself is a journey into the mind of Daniel Gildenlöw, for it is the story of himself, in a way.

There's a certain amount of dirt I have found; a filthy feeling that is included in not only the episodes of Budapest ("Of Two Beginnings", "Ending Theme", "Beyond the Pale") which explains why there is such anger directed towards the self.("...I guess, in the end, we will both feel a little sick").

The story takes us to various places; Budapest, Eskilstuna, Falun/Malmo, Motala, and various others; but furthermore, it takes us to a bathroom filled with a girl's suicide, a hospital bed filled with loss, a hotel room of exploration and guilt, Tolkien's grounds... All of which are quite intriguing.

The time/place markers that are introduced with each song provides a chronological order to find our way through "Remedy Lane". It also forms (as far as I have found) a very intriguing order; "Ending Theme of Two Beginnings" and "This Heart of Mine (I Pledge Waking Every God)".

Concludingly, this album is near-perfect. Near, because of the disturbances within the dark mood it carries on MOST of the time. Other than that, it is quite an excellent piece to add to your album stack.

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