REMEDY LANE

My favourite P.O.S. album...but also the other are fantastic! Maybe it is the more complete one with sections of pure metal unite with other ones of melodies...but if you never had listen Them run to buy it!

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!

I bought this album by recommendation that these guys were like Dream Theater, but with more melodies. I would have to say that having listened to the album that description is absolutely spot on. This for me is almost a perfect progressive album, incorporating a blend of some essential prog elements: it has strange moments, beautiful moments, melodic moments, heavy moments, fast + slow moments, mood swings, guitar solos - the lot. And towards the end, in the middle of some complex song structures, comes the soaring and beautiful 'Second Love', which is stunning. This is a mature and powerful album from a band in their prime.

I bought this album expecting to begin an investment in a great band as I had her great things aobu them. I picked up this album and at first listen I wasn't sure what to think. Part of me wanted to say 'Just give it some time.' and the other part of me wanted to say 'Why did I buy this thing?'. THere is only one whole song that I enjoy in it's entirity and that is the 'Dryad of the Woods' (an instrumental). It's a really good song. I Also like 'Of Two Beginnings' but it's almost to short to mention. It starts and it ends. 'Ending Theme' was ok but there isn't anything to special about it. The same basically goes for the rest of the album. I don't really know how to describe the album other then a disappointment.

This was my first POS experience and I was absolutely blown away by this album. Not only is it interesting to listen to musically, but it is extremely emotive. I truly felt like I had gone on a journey by the end of it. Some of the best lyrics that I have ever read as well. All together breathtaking.

Pain Of Salvation continued to cement their place among the few elite greats of progressive rock with their "Remedy Lane," a dark, heartbreakingly weighty set centered around themes of sex, love, loss, and stark emptiness. Their instrumental performances are tight, creative, and beautifully dynamic; everything from metal guitar to jazzy, atmospheric percussion and sparse string textures is coherently, compactly arranged for emotional and artistic impact. The vocals are also outstanding, recalling the tone, power, and expressiveness of Queensryche's peak efforts.

Like their superb previous album, "The Perfect Element," Pain Of Salvation's "Remedy Lane" is more atmospheric than metallic; mood and texture are the dominant energy sources, not aggression. If anything, "Lane" may be even less metallic than its predecessor. In addition, as befits the crushingly weighty themes of "Lane," it is also slightly less accessible than "Element," with less consistently hooky songcraft, more edgy nuances, and more overall artistic energy.

On a shallow level, however, the album feels quite similar to its predecessor -- both have the distinctive black aura of the Pain Of Salvation sound. For that reason, despite the creativity and novel artsy edges that POS brought to "Remedy Lane," casual fans who already own "Perfect Element" may not find this an essential purchase. For serious fans of dark-hued progressive rock, however, "Remedy Lane" is an intensely emotional and profoundly moving success.

I am a big fan of progressive metal and of course dream theater and symphony are the best bands for me, but when i bought "remedy lane" i realized that there is still a genious composer in the porgmetal world. Daniel is brilliant, musics like Fandango,This Heart of Mine,Second Love,Chain Sling, is the real prove for that. The rest of the band is really good, special attention to the drummer Johan Langell with a atmosferic drumline in every song, really great. Every song in this record is really great, dont be afraid to buy it, but one thing to be remembered is that pain of salvation is not a easy listening, it takes a little time to really understand each music, but when you do... sit back, relax, and enjoy a masterpiece of progressive metal.

From great power comes great masterpiece. Yes, here they are again. PoS is back with another great work. This more-depressive-album-than-ever is delivered perfectfully. The story in this concept album is dark, painful and depressed. The music itself is more challenging, beautiful and touchy. Gildenlow's vocal is amazing. So soulful! For example, listen to "Undertow", which he perfectly delivers the song with haunted and lamentating voice. The track "Dryad of The Woods" is also one of the bests. Basically, you won't regret this album. REMEDY LANE is highly recommended. What are you waiting for? Go buy now!

After the incredible masterpiece "The Perfect Element Part 1" what more can you expect from these geniuses from Sweden? "Remedy Lane"! Ohhh, what a great work they delivered again. Very melodious music in beautifull compositions with lots of tension. The third song on this record "Fandango" is a complex one with a lot of tempo- and mood changes on it, great song with some subtile metal influences in it. Some passages reminds me of the legendary band "Faith No More", I mean the voice of Daniel Gildenlow is just as great and with many dephts in it. Pain of Salvation is one of the most innovating bands of the decade without a doubt but for how long they can maintain this status? At the moment they did that with the new album "Be". Again they proof that composing beautifull music is almost as simple as brushing their teeth for them. To stay with "Remedy Lane" what to think of ballads? With "This Heart of Mine" they proof that they are from all markets with this beautifull ballad. The songs "Rope ends" and Cain Sling" are just breathtaking and the musianship is dripping off it all the time when changing tempo's and moods! In the beautifull ballad "Dryad of the woods" the instruments are used so subtile and again they made a golden composition! After the last song on this record "Beyond the pale" I expect more music after a total playing time of 68:12 minutes wich is not short for a cd. Why I expect more? because I like this somuch and time is flying when you having fun!!! ;-) There is not a song wich I don't like, these guys have the talent to turn everything into gold!!! You are not a Metal fan? Great! Because then you will like this album! Dispite of some Metal infuences this has nothing to do with Metal but everything with Progressive Rock! If you do not own a POS album yet, do not punnish yourself more with not listening to this music and go buy an album now!

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.

I am sorry beacuse my english is very poor and I can´t express all of this album means for me. Pain of Salvation have something, something that any other band have. This album is simply beautiful. There's so much pain in this cd, and the pain is beauty, I don't have doubt about it. All the disc is great, but listen very, very carefully to Second Love and Beyond The Pale (one of my favourites songs). There's a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, a lot of anger... in one word: there's a lot of (lost) love in them.

My entrance to the deep waters of Pain of Salvation was "Remedy Lane", because of it's name, actually.

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.

This must be the most boring prog-metal album i have heard ever. The musicans approach to prog-metal is that of what i have heard a million times before and resemblences the music of early dream theater with some jazzy influences. The style of singing is indeed really crap( i hate it when men try to sing as girls) and the lyrics are very poor written and lacks that of good originality. There are about 5 songs that works and they are put toghether standardly...use some strange rhytms and thet a catchy melodic chorus and then some very badly put together instrumental sections with a guitar sounds that sounds squeekish. It is obvious what POS is attemting to do on this album and it just sounds redicilous as they fail on every attempt to make it decent and original. The main reason to give it two stars is not because the music is so bad it is just that it is so increidbly boring that you get tired after listening to it 10 times...like some kind of pop album. Besides alot of the times it reminds me of nu-metal especially the chorues with girly vocals. Very poor.

You know- I used to hate this band. The vocals just were so bad to me- but that was a while ago. Times change- so do people, so do tastes. ( I used to hate Rush as well- becauase of Geddy's voice- now they are my favorite band- forever) Pain of Salvation is a pretty special band. For me- they are essential. Prog metal is my favorite genre- and these guys are one of the best! This album, as well as "Concrete Lake" are amazing. The music- the lyrics, everything- it's different, its perfect-Nothing more to say.

In Remedy Lane, Pain of Salvation not only manages to craft another brilliant album, but a true masterpiece that even surpasses their other works. This is essential to anybody who is a fan of progressive metal, and highly recommended to every fan of music in general.

Pain of Salvation are one of the few bands out there that are able to perfect both hard and soft songs, Remedy Lane is a perfect example of this. This album has everything needed to be considered perfect (or as close to perfect as possible). Great insturmentals, superb vocals (some of the best I've ever heard!), and absolutely stunning lyrics.

True, I'm late to listen POS album, and Remedy Lane is their first album I've heard. It's tacky, but better tacky than never.

After listening Remedy Lane, I catched DT nuance on this album, vocal characteristic is differentiation (Daniel Gildenlow's vocal more slight than James LaBrie's).

In this album POS provide various songs, from slow-moving to speed-moving, from simple arrangement to complex arrangement, all in great progressive metal sounds. You want to know my favourite song ? Fandango. This song make an impression, and the others make me satisfy.

They've deserve **** as my appreciation for this album. Thanks for this great album, now my reference for progressive metal band increasingly. torro-karawang.

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!!

This is definitly the greeter cd I've ever listen too! Insturmently awesome with a vocal who can make you cry (I'm talking here about Undertow who make me cry 1/2) and very nice lyrics, "Remedy Lane" is, according to me, a lot better than "The perfect Elements" (but not already greeter than "BE" who got "Iter Impius"... another awesome emotionals track! :P )

5/5 definitly

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.

A fantastic jorney through the world of a relationship, passing diferent problems and everything on a high emotional level. Parts like the spoken one in "Ending Theme" let you dive into the story. When I first listened to the album I totally hated it, but that changed after several listenings. I'm not sure, what was the reason behind that. I was really much into metal at this time and just started to listen to progressive music. I kind of needed hard music and Remedy Lane bored me. But I've heard that many people had problems to get into this album, but later loved it. So it might be the complexity. At the end it doesn't matter what's the reason, at least it enchants you, but never stop trying. The music is different. Very often soft, sometimes (Ending Theme, e.g.) heavy, but always with interesting and mad (Fandango) ideas and great lyrics. In my opinion it is better than The Perfect Element, the only other album by Pain of Salvation so I can't anything about the other albums, but Remedy Lane create interest for more!

this album is just amazing!it combines many different styles and the concept is wonderful.it is simpler than 'the perfect element' and it is recommended if you are searching an album to enter the pos world.you are going to love it

Certainly this is one of the best prog CD's ever written! (and one od the best PoS CD's ever written - in this order!)

I can't tell which of the Band's albums is the best, but if anyone would tell me, that this is theirs best, I wouldn't argue! It's another wonderful concept album from Swedish Masters. Although it is their fourth studio album, they still play original, fresh and beautiful progmusic.

A must for everyone here!:)

Another good progressive Metal band, my top 10 favourite to be precise!!!

"Beginnings" good guitar riffs to headbang too!!!, keyboards provide a mellow sounds to give it a nice effect, flows in with "Ending Theme" with simplished guitar riffs,distorted and heavy guitar works 5/5!!!

"Fandango" opens up with symphonic and space rock elements, the lead singer does a hell of a screaming sound (wow!!) 4/5!!.

"A Trace Of Blood" has excellent guitar solos and excellent background riffs, 4/5!!!

"This Heart Of Mine" is a mellow song to start with (sigh!!!), but the rock n roll soon kicks in and with a guitar solo but mellow again, a good love song with sad concequences 4/5!!1

"Undertow" is like a ballad, and is a simple constructed song, with dark elements included, good guitaring with cool screaming vocal (a essential element in prog metal!!!) 4/5!!!

"Rope Ends" is another depressing song with an odd intro all instruments play at the same time, the song is about a mother commiting suicide on a few occasions, a nice song 5/5!!!

"Chain Sling" a catchy number with guitars as an intro, and is a must hear for all prog rock fans, 5/5!!!

"Dryad Of The Woods" is softer track arranged well with acoustic intruments and has a lot of piano works, not a very good track - reasonably average 3/5!!

"Remedy Lane" starts with a short synthesizer played weirdly, and cool guitar works, weird drumming work and the atmosphere works nicely with the next track, 4/5!!!

"Waking Every God" is a fast tempo track and is an excellent metal track!!!,and is the lushest track on the album, 5/5!!!

"Second Love" is a sad mellow love song, and is a poor track, this is a bad PoS track, the guitar is good but a dissapointing ballad, 1/5!!!

"Beyond The Pale" is a better track than the privious one and sums the album up!!!, a strange repeating guitar lasting a minute, with dark vocals, then a heavy electric guitar kick in with symphonic riffs and some growls, and a greter track too, 4/5!!!

A strong recommended complex concept album with strong despressing songwriting, and is essential for the modern progressive rock listener!!

100% recommended, 10/10!!!

I bought this album through amazon.com when i was looking for prog-metal band's that do not sounded like Dream Theater, and this is one of the best records i've ever listened.

Because all of the good reviews, I was expecting some heavy , powerfull music, with lots of crunchy guitars, and double-bass drums and long amazing solos. However, it was a competely different stoy.

This album is all about melody, about really powerfull melodies by the vocals. Everything else is there just to support the vocals, and, eventhough i don't think the singer is incredibly talented, he does sing with lots of guts and hearts.

Musically it's nothing to write home about. They do use some odd tiem signatures and stuff, but the riffs are patterns are simple (except for "Fandango". And about guitar soloing, I simply can't get into the style. The solos are not bad, but they lack the heart that the vocals. And for my personal taste, tracks like "Dryad of the woods" are lame and boring , with baby chords and a happy ballad feeling i strongly dislike.

Overall it is a grood album, though for after the 8 track it falls down, with to many soft songs. My favorite tracks are "Fandango" for the complex riffs, "A Trace of Blood", for its almost Dragon Ball-esque intro, and incredibly strong chorus, and "Undertow", for its dark, clam atmosphere.

Defenitly recommended if you want to explore a different face of prog-metal.

I'm not sure how anyone could say how the lyrics here are unoriginal as I'm almost sure no one has written about this before.The story is about a love relationship between two young people if this is so unoriginal than someone else tell me who else writes about that so before you say they are unoriginal you should carefully examine them more. This album is a complete masterpiece and nothing short.These guys sound nothing like dream theater for those of you who want to get away from Dream Theater clones.For those of you who think they sound like Dream Theater, listen again. These guys are the new dream theater. While Dream Theaters past 3 albums were great albums but nothing in the sense of a certain album called Scenes from a Memory. These guys are taking prog metal to a new level. The mind of Daniel Gildenlow is simply amazing. Those who dont like this album I'm guessing just dont understand the story as I feel I wouldnt like it as much if I didnt know the story. I'm not gonna get into details about songs because they are all good. This album is incredible.

This is a really great CD. I loved Queensrÿche, especially on "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Empire", but I think this POS album is much more intelligently composed and much less "academic". The guys of this band must be followed with great attention: harmonic progressions and arrangements are very interesting, all instruments are played very well and, of course, Daniel's voice is one of the finest voices of the last 20 years. "Beyond the pale" is an extraordinary song. Warmly recommended to all prog lovers!

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

I am somewhat new to this creative prog metal group from Sweden, Pain of Salvation. So far, I have found their music very enjoyable to listen to. This particular album is outstanding from start to finish. Daniel Gildenlöw's impressive vocal talents are in full display accompanied by some very well-crafted songs. For purposes of this review, I will ignore the overriding theme (concept) of the album and focus instead on what really moves me: the music.

"Beginnings" is the first song and really gets the listener ready for what is to come. The music fades in with mellow acoustic sounds providing a solid foundation before the guitars come roaring in to remind us that Pain of Salvation plays some mighty nice metal. The stage has been set for Remedy Lane.

The album is divided into three chapters with "Beginnings" being treated as an introduction. Chapter 1 begins with "Ending Theme", a fabulous tune with a very memorable melody line highlighted by crunchy guitars and Daniel's layered vocals covering numerous octaves (as he is frequent to do in many of the band's songs).

"Fandango" is next and is probably the least accessible song on the album with its crazy time signature changes and syncopation. Though I really like this song, it took me a while to be able to digest it and enjoy it to its fullest.

"A Trace of Blood" follows and provides a truly amazing dichotomy in that the music is so very very good and the lyrics are so very very gut-wrenching. I get excited with the catchy melody and emotive vocals, yet the words are so painful that it makes me feel guilty for enjoying this music so much. Daniel and his wife suffered greatly (and still do) so that we could be blessed with such a fascinating song. "A Trace of Blood" is a huge highlight on this album.

"This Heart of Mine" immediately follows and is a soft ballad with wonderful vocals and a beautiful acoustic guitar. This song provides a refreshing change of pace as all of the songs up until this point have been at a torrid pace. The band slows it down and the effect is very nice, in my opinion. Chapter 1 comes to a close.

Chapter 2 begins with "Undertow" which I think is another brilliant rocker. This chapter of the album flows so well that it is easy to forget where one song ends and the next begins. "Rope Ends" is next and like "Fandango", utilizes some pretty wild time signature changes. But the chorus is fantastic and is another true highlight of this album. "Chain Sling" follows and is another good installment though I don't find anything remarkable about the music. Chapter 2 closes with "Dryad of the Woods", a beautiful acoustic instrumental that is mesmerizing and haunting at the same time.

"Remedy Lane" eases the listener into Chapter 3 with a short instrumental, setting up "Waking Every God" in which Daniel really belts out the words with a lot of force and high pitch. Things slow down considerably in "Second Love", a true ballad with wonderfully layered vocals. I can get bored with ballads but I love this track. "Beyond the Pale" is the concluding song and let me tell you, it just explodes. Great vocals, spine-tingling guitar solos, building momentum all come together in this, the grand finale.

In summary, this album is worth every bit of 5 stars for this reason: there is not a bad track to be found on the album. If you like music that rocks, I think you will agree with me that Remedy Lane is fabulous prog metal.

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.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music

i can describe this masterpiece with words.remedy lane is so deep and so emotional [especially the concept that Daniel Gildenlöw put in this album it happen to me when my wife lost our baby at five months of pregnancy at 2004] i cry a couple of times with ''A Trace Of Blood'' [our dreams pour into a cold tray .two young souls in misery ] or ''Undertow'' [let me die /let me break the things i love i need to cry] i cry so many times but it also help me to keep going in life .i great album but for me is more than that. a masterpiece

"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

When Daniel Gildenlöw joined the Flower Kings, I became interested in hearing some of his main bands work. I had, of course, heard of the band before and knew they were a prog metal outfit, but that was the extent of my knowledge of them. I picked Remedy Lane because it was their latest album at the time, and because it was the only one my local CD store had in stock :-) To be honest, I wasn't that impressed initially. It seems less technical than Dream Theater, and not even really as heavy. I'm not a particularly big fan of prog metal to begin with but at that time I was curious to hear some of the more lauded bands (and PoS was quite the buzz back then).

Repeated listens, however, revealed a very unique and interesting album. The concept, part biographical and part fictional as I understand it, is quite emotional and human. The album is quite cohesive in lyrical content, though the music doesn't flow quite like most other concept albums. This isn't really a problem, as each song stands quite well on its own. The first few songs still don't stand out to me all that much, being sort of sludgy metal of the typical prog metal variety but raised up somewhat by Daniels outstanding vocals. With A Trace Of Blood, things start getting very interesting, and the album just gets better from there. Rope Ends is probably the more proggy track here, as there are plenty of time and tempo changes and quirky rhythms. An absolutely outstanding chorus on this song, which this album seems to have quite a few of. Chain Sling has a marvelous arabian type riff running through it. Dryad Of The Woods is a beautiful pastoral piece that picks up in intensity as it progresses. Second Love has one of the best melodies I've ever heard and some very restrained and emotional singing from Daniel. Beyond the Pale is a magnificent ending that lays out the purpose of the album beautifully by combining lyrics and music to create the whole picture (the words alone do not reveal the meaning of the song......bear that in mind while listening).

What makes this album is the singing of Daniel Gildenlöw. The man has so many facets to his vocals, it's astounding. Sure, when he goes into high registers it can seem a bit too 80's hair band, but he uses his range exceptionally well for the most part. And his cleaner vocals are some of the best I've ever heard. This guy can SING, like nobody else in prog.

Despite what for me, at least, is a somewhat slow and unimpressive start, this album proves to be the best PoS album to date. As much as l like the following album, this one seems to encapsulate everything this band was about up to this point, and does it with such passion and emotion and power that it is hard to dislike. Even for someone like myself, who isn't very keen on prog metal. I'd very much like to give this 5 stars, but due to my tastes and the slow start the albums has, I will have to settle for 4. 4.5 is probably closer to the mark though. Well worth checking out and certainly an excellent addition for anyone looking to try out prog metal or already a fan of the genre.

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.

Remedy Lane comes 1 year after the epic The perfect Element Part 1 and in my opinion it's even better. Not many bands out there have the capacity to release a series of excellent albums in a row, well this guys do. Album after album they just keep getting better.

Remedy Lane strongest point is the concept which Daniel himself has told is the most personal of all he has written. This is a very emotional album about a crisis in a relationship and the search of a man for answers, musically it is very different from The Perfect Element and i believe this one is more creative.

There are a lot of soft melodic songs like This heart of Mine, Second Love or the instrumental Dryad of the Woods, all of them are simply amazing songs - compositions.

Every song on this album is amazing but the top ones for me are Beyond the Pale where Daniel once again shows us the versatility and beauty of his voice, other great songs are Chainsling, Waking every God, Rope ends..well every single one of them.

This band is in my opinion the best prog metal band out there, their music is excellent, emotional and inspiring, their concepts areclever and interesting, their vocalist is just..well

I walked the Remedy Lane and I will never be the same...

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 Pain of Salvation's quintessential masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, I loved The Perfect Element Pt. 1 (as well as their former releases) and Be was undoubtedly an ambitious attempt, but Remedy Lane is more moving, emotional, powerful, focused, and charged than anything they have done to date. The whole band are at their absolute best, especially Gildenlöw. It is the duty of every progressive metal fan to buy this album; if you are anything like me, it will change the way that you view the emotional impact that music can have on the listener. Seriously, buy this album, its just that good.

Pain of Salvation is one of my favorite progressive metal bands and Daniel Gildenlow is one of my favorite singer and lyricist. I just can find anything that I want in a band, intensely emotional song, delightfully outstanding vocals, beautifully intelligent lyrics, and distinctively original kind of music in the progressive music. Emotion is the main factor that I really like from PoS and strongly demonstrated by their music, lyrics and vocals. In my opinion their vocals arrangement is one of the best in progressive metal, almost all the guys in PoS capable of singing and it really support the emotion of the songs they sing. The lyrics, mainly written by mastermind Daniel Gildenlow, deal with various subjects, things that we can obviously see around us, War, Pollution, Politics, Fracture Relationship, Love, Hatred, Adolescence, Human Existence, Greed, God, and other intellectual topics.

Remedy Lane is my first record I have from PoS despite I've already known PoS far before I have this record. I got some samples from their homepage that I found by coincidence when I tried to explore progressive music world. I downloaded all songs in the free-downloaded list such as Foreword, Inside, Handful of Nothing, Used, In the Flesh, Ashes, Morning on Earth and Fandango. I had a great expectation that time that I've already found another great progressive metal band which might be sound like DT. But after I listened to these songs my expectation flew away, it don't impress me much, because for me progressive song must be like DT's Metropolis Pt 1 or Pull Me Under. It sounds nothing, no complexity, no speed, no virtuosity; it's just average metal songs. That's my initial impression. But I still keep it in my PC and occasionally I listened to it, give it a try to appreciate. Then I found it totally goes wrong, the more I listen to these songs the more subtleties and emotions revealed. And finally I really fall in love with PoS when I found Progarchives.com and I downloaded Beyond the Pale and King of Loss.

Remedy Lane is like a musical journey, flows beautifully from one song to another, divided into three chapters, vary in musical influence such as industrial metal, jazz, progressive, folk, acoustic, ballad etc. The opening track of Two Beginnings has an interesting lyrics and I'm very surprised when read it for the first time, how it could be a child of ten having a sex or maybe he just playing a game. The music set the atmosphere and ambience for the next song, the powerful and beautiful Ending Theme. What follows is Fandango with its catchy keyboard melody throughout the track. Whenever I listen to this song I want to dance along with the music. And then arrive a Trace of Blood, a great progressive metal track, I really like the guitar solo, varied singing style and the screaming by Daniel Gildenlow in the middle of the song, it's really high. The beautiful ballad This Heart of Mine closes the first chapter. The second chapter opened by the haunting ballad Undertow, the vocals in the end of the track is powerfully delivered by Daniel Gildenlow and he really pours all the emotion he has while sing it. Salute! Rope Ends is another great progressive metal track with strange beat, memorable guitar solo and crazy time signature. Chain Sling is the song with the Celtic feeling. Dryad of the Woods is a beautiful acoustic. Remedy Lane is computerized instrumental, the first track of third chapter, here you can listen some melody from other tracks. Great bass work by Kristoffer Gildenlow and incredible screaming can be listened on Waking Every God. Second Love is a mellow track with beautiful melody. And finally Beyond the Pale, one of my favorite PoS songs, so much emotion, delivered by varied singing style, concludes the album in powerful style.

Wow, Remedy Lane must be listened as a whole from the beginning to the end and don't forget to read the lyrics while listening to the songs, it will be more worthy and meaningful and you can feel the emotions. Great lyrics, vocals, song writing and concept construct a great album. maXmury - Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

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.

Lately I've been wondering if maybe my assessment of The Perfect Element Pt. 1 as the quintessential Pain of Salvation album and one of the best albums of this inglorious decade is somewhat hasty. Only somewhat. I truly love that album; it is concise, dark, cathartic, and very, very emotional. However, so is Remedy Lane. Maybe even more so. There is a wider palate of instrumentation here, more varied and adventurous than The Perfect Element Pt. 1, which causes the impact of this album not to have the sort of blunt force trauma appeal of its precursor. The subject matter is just as dark though, continuing on with the exploration of psychological wounds and scars we can all relate to in one way or another. As with The Perfect Element Pt. 1, I still do not understand the storyline or sequence of events in this album fully, though I do remember Daniel Gildenlow explaining that it the main character is returning to Budapest, one of many cities that correspond to dates that accompany the songs throughout the album, to rediscover what led him to the emotional state he is in. If I got that wrong, and I probably did, please tell me the whole story, as I'd sure like to know. I also remember reading that this album was somewhat inspired by a miscarriage by Gildenlow's wife. This adds reality to the album and makes the impact just that much more intense.

I don't really want to go into the songs all that much, as I'm never good at it. But know that Remedy Lane is distinguishable in Pain of Salvation's discography as a simultaneously dark, vivid, and adventurous collection of songs. BE would stray from the darkness but keep the adventurousness; One Hour By The Concrete Lake and The Perfect Element have the darkness, but with lessened adventurousness. Both of these albums feel more concise than Remedy Lane, however, because of their somewhat monochromatic musical nature. Remedy Lane covers a lot of musical ground, from softer, melancholic ballads (This Heart of Mine (I Pledge), Dryad of the Woods (one of my personal favorites, by the way), Second Love) to the heaviness we can expect from earlier albums (Waking Every God, A Trace of Blood). Of certain importance is the excellent closer, Beyond the Pale, Pain of Salvation's second best album closer (The Perfect Element is first). It has one of the greatest builds in the band's repertoire, and the feeling of utter self-loathing and resentment in the lyrics pours out. It is magnificent. So, of course you should buy Remedy Lane Pain of Salvation may well be my favorite progressive metal band, and this album captures them at the peak of their career. One can only hope that with their next album, they recapture the glory they continued to display with this album.

First of all, I would like to thank the ProgArchives community for bringing Pain of Salvation to my attention. I saw the high ratings and decided to try them out. I've purchased four albums so far: The Perfect Element Part I, Remedy Lane, Be, and 12:5 and have thoroughly enjoyed each one.

For me, Pain of Salvation bridges the gap between my Neo Prog (Marillion, Pendragon, Arena), Prog Metal (Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Riverside), and Prog Related (Coheed and Cambria) tastes. PoS covers that entire range quite well and then some. Even their heaviest material maintains musical integrity without resorting to thrashing, machine-gun drums, vocal growling, or skill showboating (a reason why prog metal is often hit or miss for me). Their music has great harmonies, soaring emotion, violent rage, and gentle melodies. Add to that one of the best vocalists I've ever heard and this band clearly demonstrates that it is a rare find.

This is an excellent album which is equally as good as The Perfect Element Part 1. While TPE is more consistent, Remedy Lane has more peaks and valleys and in my opinion has more easily identifiable songs. It also has what I would call a more wicked temperament. Good examples of this would be Fandango and Beyond the Pale. The latter of which is a masterpiece of emotive songwriting. The phrase beyond the pale means outside agreed standards of decency, which fits this song well. Dryad of the Woods is also an excellent instrumental and exemplifies the band's ability to write gentle melodic music as well as heavy impassioned music.

Songs: Beginnings (8/10), Ending Theme (7/10), Fandango (9/10), A Trace of Blood (8/10), This Heart of Mine (8/10), Undertow (8/10), Rope Ends (7/10), Chain Sling (9/10), Dryad of the Woods (10/10), Remedy Lane (8/10), Waking Every God (8/10), Second Love (9/10), Beyond the Pale (10/10)

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.

I was skeptical when my friend first told me I needed to listen to this album because I was not a huge fan of progressive metal and I knew Pain of Salvation would be heavier than most of the music I liked. I was surprised then, when I fell in love with this album and spent the next few days listening to it over and over. Unlike many prog metal albums in the past, I liked it because of its heaviness and not despite it. Remedy Lane tells a powerful emotional story that in some parts is autobiographical for Daniel Gildenlow.

This is the most emotional album I have, both musically and lyrically. The best song in my opinion is A Trace of Blood, a song about Gildenlow's wife's miscarriage. He has an amazing ability to make the listener feel his emotions and this song has brought me to tears. Musicaly this album is intersting and progressive, but the highlight for me has to be the emotional factor. Sit and listen to this album with no distractions and listen to the words and you would have to have a heart of steel not to feel affected by it. Do not take this to mean you will just sit feeling depressed the whole time, it is an amazing emotional ride featuring many complex feelings. To be honest, I was fairly indifferent to this album after the first listen, but once I sat and gave my full attention to pain of salvation I was hooked. This is must-listen for any prog metal fan and even if you arent a big metal fan (like myself) I strongly recommend you give it a shot. It is a masterpiece of progressive metal.

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.

As with time, most bands would slowly decline with their creativity and even their musicianship. But with Pain Of Salvation, their music just increases by new creative heights. Although, Scarsick has been getting bad reviews and fans seemed to be a little ambiguous to it, I found it to be an amazing album. It not being their best, the songs are still very catchy and effective.

Remedy Lane is a mammoth of emotions, melancholy and beauty. The concept is incredibly personal to Daniel, using his own previous experiences mixed with fictional events that may have happened. The lyrics are incredibly amazing and would leave any poet in tears. The emotions and language used is amazing. At times, the lyrics could even make you cry, and words that could express emotions are pretty powerfull.

The concept of this album is easier to understand and a lot more emotional. Apparently these songs are so personal to Daniel, that he won't even play some of these songs live.

1.Of 2 Beginnings ? This is the intro basically. Very nice and sets the albums tone.

2.Ending Theme ? The chorus of this song is incredibly moving and quite catchy and sad. This song is epic and very bombastic. The concept shows us the protagonists in a Hungarian hotel room with a young prostitute?wow very deep.

3.Fandango ? This is basically the Stress of the album. Very polyrhythmic and disjunt. The music sets the emotional feel of the song, which is based on the 2 main characters meeting for the first time.

4.A Trace Of Blood ? An incredibly emotional song which is about Daniel's wife having a miscarriage. The music is formed well with amazing heartfelt lyrics. It's a shame they never play this live.

5.This Heart Of Mine (I Pledge) ? This a love song, written to Daniel's wife. Very soothing and moving.

6.Undertow ? This song is incredibly beautiful. I prefer the live version than the album; due to the fact I thought piano did the song more justice than guitar.

7.Rope Ends ? This is probably one of my favourtie songs off this album. It's also quite sad, due to the fact it is based off Daniels' wife's friend who tried to commit suicide and also one of Daniel's friends who attempted to commit suicide, but Daniel was there to support him, by lifting him from the ground. The song is very dramatic and has an amazing chorus. A classic Pain Of Salvation song really. It is very unique, and it's a shame that they don't play this song live.

8.Chain Sling ? This song has a very catchy jaunty riff. See the live version of this song on Ending Themes, I think that Johan's vocals are amazing, and to be honest, I think he has a more purer voice than Daniel.

9.Dryad Of The Woods ? An nice wee instrumental to lighten the mood.

10.Remedy Lane ? I like the way that the themes are presented. It's very weird to find 2 short instrumentals beside each other.

11.Waking Every God ? This song has a very early Dream Theater vibe to it. This song also has an amazing chorus.

12.Second Love ? Another love song, basically. Quite simple, but very beautiful.

13.Beyond The Pale ? This song is another epic mammoth. The vocals are incredibly emotional and honest. The dramatics are amazing and believable. This song ends the concept, with the cheeky cheating behaviour enacted, and the main character left pondering life, with the closing mantra, "We will always be more human than we wish to be." I think we all feel like that in life.

CONCLUSION: I think Be would be my favourite Pain Of Salvation album (as you will see in my next review), but this album comes a close second. Incredibly emotional and amazing musicianship. The songs are more structured and simpler than their other material, but the simple themes suit the mixed up concept.

I really want to love this album, because I really love Daniel Gildenlöw's vocals and progressive metal, and they're from Sweden like me. But a lot of the songs doesn't work for me.

In Ending Theme the spooken part doesn't fit at all. Fandango just lacks a good structure and melody. In A Trace of Blood the heavier lyrics allmost sound parodic and the heavier parts and softer parts don't go well together. The Rope Ends has the same problems as Fandango.

Fortunaly there are some really good songs here aswell. Undertow has a good melody and I like how the vocals grow darker and more powerfull throughout the song. Gildenlöw truly shows his voice in this one. Chain Sling is a very good song, the refrain is upplifting and Gildenlöw's voice is perfect in this one to. Dryad of the woods is a very nice instrumental piece and the combination of the the guitarr and the piano works very good. And finaly Second Love is a beautiful love song with a good melody.

But in the end I think this is one of the most overestimated albums of progressive metal alongside Operation: Mindcrime. I do think that the instrumental perfomences are great throughout the album and Daniel Gildenlöw's vocals are perfect and very emotional in allmost every song, it's just that the lyrics often don't fit with the music.

Best track: Chain Sling

The album gets 3 out of 5 stars.

If you liked The Perfect Element Part I and are looking for a more complete, improved album with the same style, Remedy Lane is your new best friend.

It's depressing, angry, yet beautiful, the latter of which I couldn't say for TPE1. There's still strange uses of rap and jazz from time to time, and it still holds that nu-metal feel to it, but it's been toned down just enough to balance itself to near-perfection. Because of this, the only "problem" I can complain about is that it's still not for everyone, but come on, what is?

This is a must-have for any fan of TPE1 and still a great addition to any newcomers to the band. I can't call it essential because of it's strange structures, but those structures are blended so well here that it's hard not to appreciate.

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.

WHY THE PROGRESSIVE METAL ARE NOT GRUNTS

And it is because of those grunts that I hate heavy metal and even some prog metal bands.But with Pain of Salvation is different.They not need it to show how talented they are (because they already have Daniel Gildenllow to this) .But I just came to this conclusion after listening to "Remedy Lane ".

This is the first album by Pain of Salvation that I'm hearing full.It´s a masterpiece certainly a testament to the quality of guys.Like other albums, is a concept album, somewhat autobiographical (as Daniel himself said), but not counting as a central character as the first two albums.

The musicianship is excellent, although I am familiar with the metal bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X, I like their sound very.Although all tracks are good, the last two, "Second Love"and"Beyond the Pale" are best.The first is a simple ballad, in contrast to the complex musicality of the band, while the other is a wonderful mini-epic about 10 minutes.Other great tracks are "A trace of Blood","This heart of mine(i pledge)" and "Waking Every God".The voice of Daniel are unquestionably perfect, this guy is one of the best musicians of today, he alone is reason enough to listen to this album.

I am a fan of progressive metal, but there are several bands in the genre that I don't care for or really like at all (Dream Theater, the iconic band, being one). Now, Pain of Salvation is really different from just about every other prog metal band I've heard, and the band does an amazing job at telling a story with such emotion and passion, combined with virtuosic musical performances. Remedy Lane may just be my favorite prog metal album, though Sym X's V and Opeth's Still Life both rival it. This album, about human relationships, is teeming with amazing performances from everyone in the band, especially Gildenlow. In the genre, his voice is unparalleled, and his compositional abilities are extraordinary. The album never loses its flow, and the concept is just as important as the music is. Highlights on the album include Fandango, A Trace of Blood, Remedy Lane, and of course Beyond the Pale, though every song is fantastic.

Pain of Salvation are quite an eclectic band, and, as such, have albums that I both regard as among the greatest ever released, while others I despise with a passion as deep as the Pacific. I'm happy to say, Remedy Lane numbers among the former. I'd even go so far as to call it not only their best album, but one of the greatest works of the 21st century.

It must be said that Pain of Salvation is not a stereotypical prog band. On Remedy Lane, songs never go on long winded solo flights of fancy, the songs always naturally flowing as one cohesive whole, and each leaving its own unique imprint on the album's sonic landscape. Despite the infrequent rehash of a musical riff, such as the one that opens Ending Theme, and can also be found in the short instrumental that shares its name with the album, they are always used in a different context, breaking new ground musically.

The driving force behind the band, Daniel Gildenlow's vocals perfectly complement the music in every way. His strained performance evoke the entire range of human emotion. It is safe to say that this band wouldn't be what it is without him at the helm, vocally, musically, lyrically.

However, the unique sound of every song to be found here often does take getting used to. This album can take multiple plays to reveal its magnificence. However, after its true value is found, it has almost eternal replay value. I would be hard pressed indeed to find even a single fault amidst the gems on display here.

I only have a few things to say about this album.

The problem for me with this album is that I can´t help getting bored after the 5th song. The first five songs are nice and kind of catchy, although I feel they don´t really offer anything too special. For me the highlight of this album is the 4th song Trace of Blood. After many many listens over 2 years it still remains a mystery to me what makes this album so great, that it´s in the top 100 albums of all time. There are some albums there I don´t like up there, but I still see why they are there, but this is not one of them.

Remedy Lane is one of the most prolific and important albums in modern progressive metal. It combines dizzying arrays of showmanship through complex instrumental passages with beautiful arranging and songwriting. The lyrics are emotionally charged and powerful. The songs are innovating, creative, catchy, and unpredictable. If you're a fan of progressive music of any kind, you ought to be ashamed that you don't already have this album. Get it now!

Of Two Beginnings - 3/5 This is really just an intro track. It's certainly not bad, but it's nothing special. It introduces a few themes that you'll hear later in the album.

Ending Theme - 4/5 It's the Ending Theme, but the second track. Hmm, weird... Anyway, this song is haunting in a way. It builds up for the first 2+ minutes, slow and driving, eventually heading into a spoken word or "Rap" section which continues to build in tension before heading into a heavily layered short instrumental section. This leads back into the chorus, the vocals soaring high, and eventually lead guitar fills come in behind the vocals, shredding away as the song comes to an end.

Fandango - 5/5 Have you ever been mind-f*cked? Here's your chance! The song comes creeping up on you in 5/4, the guitars dancing around spastically as you wonder WTF you're listening to. You're thinking to yourself, "The guitar line sounds amazing! Too bad there's no way the vocals could ever do this..." and then the vocals do precisely that. This song is almost like an extremely demented kids song on acid. Yeah, it's that good. The chorus is off-beat and jerky, but sounds good. Eventually the song goes into an instrumental section that is mostly riff-based. The guitars chug as the piano sneaks in, then the vocals scream into the upper echelons of a male singer's physically possible range. This song isn't aptly describable with words. Your ears are needed.

A Trace of Blood - 5/5 A great 7/4 intro beginning with piano and single guitar chords. The guitars, bass, and drums begin to come in more prominently as the song builds, culminating about 1:05 into the song when everything breaks down into a chugging guitar riff behind an intro guitar solo. The verses are a little gravelly; a stark contrast to the pre-chorus, which features high-pitched singing. The song then returns to the intro riff in 7/4 and heads into the chorus, which is extremely anthem-like and catchy. There's an acoustic guitar part after this, the vocals cautiously skirting around the music before coming through strongly as the electric guitar aggressively attacks. Gildenlow's vocals scream and then his guitar follows. The song wraps up with the chorus.

The Heart of Mine (I Pledge) - 4/5 The peaceful tone set by high-register basslines, clean guitar sounds in major keys, and inviting vocals makes for a very relaxing atmosphere. This song is a nice break after some of the craziness exhibited in earlier tracks, but the band certainly didn't take a break from creating awesome music. While this track is much more tamed and less proggy, it's still a very well-written and meaningful song.

Undertow - 5/5 This song starts out VERY restrained; nothing but soft, low vocals and a light guitar line behind it. A minute and a half in, the piano and drums come in and the volume cranks up a notch. The piano plays the vocal melody beautifully before the vocals take back over. Finally, an electric guitar lead comes in, full of digital effects and adding to the atmosphere of the song. The vocals come back in, seeming to plead with the listener, beseeching to just let Gildenlow friggin' have his way. He's so needy... You have to let him do all of these different things. But really the lyrics are pretty awesome when you take them in all together.

Rope Ends - 5/5 This is a song about someone hanging herself. If that doesn't set the tone, I don't know what will. This song begins with an off-time crushing heavy metal riff and rumbling drums. The vocals whisper harshly "She is still young!" before the first verse begins, a variation of the intro riff playing. This goes into another section of music before hitting an upbeat riff for several bars. The chorus is absolutely fantastic, a 6/8 feel with wailing vocals and wodnerful harmony. The song follows this same pattern through the second chorus. Then the fun begins.

A mysterious middle eastern-sounding guitar permeates your ears, the solo blazing across the soundscape and fitting in perfectly. The instrumental section continues on, in a Dream Theater-like fashion. The song ends with the pre-chorus and chorus... This isn't a song you would expect to find allusions to Winnie the Pooh in, but you will find exactly that.

Chain Sling - 5/5 Phenomenal song. It has an old, middle ages feel to it in the intro, harmonies and all. The chorus is catchy and fun. This song will make you want to grab your lute and dance on the street corner, which really isn't such a bad idea. You ought to try it! The way this song remains upbeat but proggy and catchy at the same time is really impressive. The fact that it's always changing and constantly moving from one section into another makes ADHD prog fans everywhere rejoice. The entire song is focused around someone telling Gildenlow, "If you love me, you must let go" and ends with the simple words: I DO NOT KNOW HOW!

Dryad of the Woods - 4/5 A very melodious classical-style guitar line opens this song, beautiful and pure. The bass complements the guitar perfectly. The two intertwine their notes until a minute and a half into the song, where the drums pick up the beat and the piano joins into the counterpoint. `This continues until about three and a half minutes into the song, when the beat and sound changes into a driving feel that closes out the song.

Remedy Lane - 3/5 This song is heavily digitalized: techno-like effects dominate the song, playing some of the themes from earlier songs. This song is really more of a filler track to me, and doesn't really stand out by itself all that much, though it certainly isn't unpleasant to listen to.

Waking Every God - 4/5 The bass pops powerfully and is the spark that drives the beginning of this song. This is some of my favorite PoS basswork. The vocals are also extremely stand-out in this song, layered over and over again, creating a very interestingly busy atmosphere. I can't really think of any points in which there is only one vocal track going on throughout the song. The guitar solo is really good, blending between shredding and melodious - the perfect balance between two awesome things. Gildenlow then gives a high-pitched "Aaahhh" before heading back into the pre-chorus and chorus.

Second Love - 5/5 A really beautiful and dare-I-say sweet love song. Did I just lose my mancard? I really hope not... The choir-like Gildenlow backing vocals, supporting his harmonized-at-times main vocals blend together for a great experience. The lyrics are easy to identify with, bitterly cursing love. The song builds as it hits the next verse. The guitar solo is very light and melodious, flowing well with the song in a jazz-fusion sort of way. The song dies down and goes softly for a few bars before coming in full-force for the final chorus. This would have been the perfect way to end the album, I think, but there's more to come!

Beyond the Pale - 5/5 This song begins with silence. Gildenlow then softly sings, a single pino note accompanying him. Then, 40 seconds in, a heavy broken guitar riff comes roaring in. The piano adds in playfully as the drums change up slightly. The song then revisits a riff from Chain Sling before booming into a chorus that then dies down into a soft, peaceful section before returning to the Chain Sling riff. It then dies back down into a snare attack and light bass. The vocals pop back in, much like they are in Chain Sling, building in momentum and intensity. Hey, we're half way done with the song!

The vocals then snarl angrily in an almost yelling or screaming sort of way. All of a sudden the guitar is whizzing through your ears, shredding in your face. Wait, no, it's a jazzy solo now, pleasing the souls of all around you. Things die down again and then punch you in the face with that intro riff. This goes on for a while before hitting the chorus again.

Eventually the song ends with spoken word chants from Gildenlow. Solid way to end the album.

This album is a complete masterpiece. It's not often that you find so many high-quality tracks on one album, and there isn't much filler, either. If you don't have it yet, Remedy Lane is worth picking up ASAP.

Remedy Lane is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Pain of Salvation; even though I like it very much, I cannot agree with this statement. I think it is a very heterogeneous album, with several flaws which prevent it to be a masterpiece - like The Perfect Element pt 1.

One of the main flaw is the general style of Daniel Gildenlow to overload his songs with too many arrangements and talk-style-lyrics which make the whole thing un-needed and excessive: for example a good song like Ending Theme is made boring by the long talk in the middle. The mellow and romantic songs, like This heart of mine, Dryad of the woods and Second Love are very very banal, even though nice. Even the best songs, like Rope Ends or Trace of Blood have some deja-vue melody into it. Undertow consists in just a progression of the same melody, which is made great only by the incredible voice of Daniel rather than for the song structure itself. Waking every god looks just like a filler to me, and this is bad for a bunch of creative geniuses like PoS.

But being a Pain of Salvation album, it contains moments of deep, heart-breaking emotions: my favourites are Of the beginning and Beyond the Pale. Both for the lyrics and for the music, these two pieces are epic, tragic, deep in a way that only Daniel Gildenlow can perform, and few times I happened to be so thrilled and touched by a rock song. These two songs, and the above mentioned Trace of Blood, Rope Ends, and Chainsling are excellent, emotional touching songs.

Remedy Lane is a good album written by an awesome band, which suffers from the shadow of some sort of "hybris": it attempts to achieve and transmit too much, but it doesn't have so many arrows in its quiver like its predecessor had. This flaw will be openly evident in its follower, Be, which is really a failed attempt in my opinion. Remedy Lane still contains some tops of creativity and an abundance of emotions. Still Pain of Salvation at their almost-top.

I vould give 4 stars minus, rounded up.

I was planning to write a review for this album for a long time but i couldn't wait more due to pepato's review..He gave 4 stars to the album.that's ok..he expresses his feelings for it that's ok..but i really CANNOTunderstand some things he said..For instnce he says that Second Love and This Heart of Mine are banal...Seriously now?Anyway..Remedy Lane is the BEST prog metal album followed by Images And Words..so simple..The production is top nutch..It serves it's cause 100%..The compositions are perfect..Musicaly i think POS took the best elements from TPE and filled them with more exciting and maturing ideas and the result is Remedy Lane..That's why i coside it better than it's predecessor..In this album POS knows exactly what they want:to make a masterpiece..How else can you descibe it?Listen to jam session in Rope Ends,listen to Fandango's prog intro for instance and they take your breath away..These are my fav songs on this album..But all the songs have this originality,quality,magic,feeling that has to have a masterpiece..But technique is present too..Especially in songs like Beyond the Pale or A trace of Blood..What makes this album so special is it's magnificent instrumenatl parts alongside with the UNIQUE and powerful refrains..All in all a 5 stars album that all progsters must have..

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.

It was the winter of 2006 when I first heard the Perfect Element. I did not like it and did not understand it at first. I was looking for loud music, with distortion, thunderous drums, melody and power chordes.The Perfect element wasn't any of these things. It was, and still is, a masterpiece of musical complexity, with multiple philosophical layers and a clear, perhaps even crude, view of the world. My 15 years old ears were not sufficiently sensitive to these things, and I gave the album up. Fortunately, I gave it another chance two years later, after I have learned a thing or two, and I knew pretty much what I wanted from myself, from the world and my music, three things connected so deeply with one another, it's always strange to me that people seperate them apart. on a second and more sober listening I found all those things I missed before. Ever since then POS became my favorite band. A little later I came across Remedy Lane. Quite a few people praised it as POS' best album, but I was skeptical. I heard it several times and I liked it, but it just couldn't reach the level of The Perfect Element, it just wasn't it. Here, too, I had to go through a kind of twist of perspective to understand the true ingenuity that lies within it. I had to develop as a person, to understand another piece of the world so that I could truly appreciate it. And this change, as you might expect from a teenager, occurred not too long afterwards. By the time I thought I knew everything about the world, I went to hear this album again as my mental state was not particularly stable and I found it comforting. the musical dimness, the lyrics, dealing with love and pain, spoke to me. So I found myself immersed in it, in its meaning, in the emotions it evokes in me. Slowly, through a gradual process, it became the epitome of my love for music. I just can not hear music the same way since. This album completely changed my attitude to music, the world, and myself (because, as noted, these three things are interwoven with one another). The truth is that at some point I abandoned it. It was so deeply ingrained in my head, that I didn't need to hear it anymore. I could also give credit to the emotional ascent I experienced in the last couple of years. This week, however, I had a slight regression, and I found myself going back to places I haven't been to in quite a while. I stared at my iPod, which has, on a permanent basis, the two albums I mentioned by POS, and I wondered if one of them could improve my mood. I decided to hear Remedy Lane again, and suddenly I found myself connecting to it in a new and different level, more mature, as if it revealed a new face that I did not know, which is unlikely because I've heard it dozens of times before. But still it was like this album changed its face completely. When I thought about it I realized that the reason for this feeling wasn't that the album had changed, because it , obviously, remained the same album, but rather because I had changed. How could an album conform to the soul of the listener in such a powerful way? The concept of the album is so far from me - it takes place in Budapest, and it has some sort dimness to it, the kind which belongs only to people who knew true hardship during their lifetime, which luckly I had not, and yet I feel so close to it that sometimes I think that it describes in words and notes my life. how does he do it, Daniel Gildnlow? How can a person that has absolutly no connection to the concept of the album feel like he's part of it? Daniel makes you feel as if you're participating in the album in the kind of way that filmmakers, writers and other musicians could only dream about. Daniel is a master emotional manipulations. this album has so much ingenuity in it and only a little of it is expressed musically. First of all and before all this album is about sexuality. Daniel puts the cards on the table right on the album's opening lines, and makes it clear to us. Unlike anything in modern Western society, and especially the entertainment culture - music, literature, television, cinema, which is based on thin sexual tension, delicate and subtle (sometimes more and sometimes less), Daniel addresses the elephant in the room right from the very beginning. The ingenuity in that is that it frees him to engage in other issues and gives him the opportunity to explore the true meaning of sexuality in our life. What this tells us is that as far as this album is concerned, again, contrary to what we have been taught to think by modern culture, sex is not the summit of human endeavor, it's only a means, it's only a stage in our development as human beings, it's only a glimmer of humanity in a sea of ​​thoughts and emotions we tend to ignore, but they are the human essence in the act itself. The album is a search for meaning made by a person who has lost his beloved, and as a result has lost himself. He starts with a desperate return to Budapest in attempt to meet with his lover from the past, and have a sexual experience which was supposed to solve all his problems. Slowly we learn the source of the doubts, and why the two parted, and what answers were received after that voyage, but not before we move along with the protagonist, through the journey along Memory Lane (an expression which is the inspiration for the album's name). What POS does better than any other band is to paint the human soul with musical notes. While other music is really just a collection of notes which are there because they sound good, or because they are suitable for mathematical or any other reason, POS's music is built of emotions. Each note comes exactly where it should to express a feeling, a thought, an idea . every strum has a meaning, every drum beat and every scream. Take for example the song "A Trace of Blood". It tells the true story of Daniel's wife pregnancy which ended with an abortion, and the emotions involved. The song begins with a fast and joyful keyboards line, like the emotions felt by young parents designing their happy future, it puts a smile on your face. little later the song brakes into a heavy guitar riff which overshadowes the joy, like a message that something is wrong with the fetus. The lyrical complexity of the song reaches its climax in the last chorus in which Daniel expresses his total control of language - "I never saw your face and now you're gone without a trace, except the trace of blood that's deeply scarred into my eyes to fill your place." Another good example is the remarkable duality between the songs "This Heart of Mine" and "Undertow". The first is a beautiful love song which demonstrates Daniel's diverse and fascinating language and describes his love for his wife. it begins with a calm and mellow tone as its opening words describes a quiet and peaceful scene, and slowly build up and culminates in a heart rending solo that emphasizes the emotional outburst that this song is. a perfect burst of true love. The song has two layers, the real dimension and its conceptual level as part of the album. In reality the song was written as a love song to Daniel's wife. In the album it describes the love the protagonist feels towards the Hungarian girl, the trust formed between them, the promises that were promised. At this stage of the album, the listener is not yet aware of the source of the rift in the relationship, so it looks like a sincere and genuine emotion between two people in love. Precisely for this reason, the next song seems a little odd, almost detached from reality, because it is the exact opposite of it. It's a song of pain, a song of despair, of grief, of desire for independence. the repetition of the words Let me go, let me fly, let me run, let me bleed, let me die makes the despair the hero felt clear. We still don't know what the source of this pain is, but we can feel it. This is the memory of the breaking point. The point in the relationship where the protagonist just wants to go, escape, not verbally or physically, but spiritually. He wants to be free from a lost love, the promises he had promised her, the world he created with her. The song repeats the same riff over and over. It starts quietly at first, expressing some kind of quiet even sleepy desperation, which changes the second time to grief, then anger, then panic, and finally back to despair. The real beauty in "Undertow" is that in the middle of it the melody from the second half of "This Heart of Mine" enters, as if to remind us what the source of all this pain is. Because all this time, even when the distortion goes crazy in the background, the drums roll and Daniel screames his throat to death, the memory of that perfect love is still there, in his mind, and even in moments of despair, grief and anger, it's still there, and that's exactly what the protagonist is trying to break free of. More of Daniel's ingenuity is revealed in the song "Second Love". If I'd have heared this song apart from the album, I would have said it's a typical pop song not characteristic to POS and probably wouldn'y give it any further hearings. But as part of the album its an integral part of the concept. It was written by Daniel when he was 16 and speaks exactly about the theme of the album, love and loss, with the language and simplicity of a child of 16. Daniel wanted a song that feels true and genuine, so he put it there, because it was real, real pain of a child. This album has an element of musical beauty. POS are not limited to limitations of modern music. It's sometimes difficult to distinguish a logical structure in their songs and sometimes even a uniform rhythm. Because POS does not play music like we are used to. Instead, they do what they need to do in order to express the emotion they require.they are not the kind of progressive music reflected in thousands of solos and virtuosity, they are progressive in spite of themselves, because their music too, like the human soul, changes over time, adapts to the spirit of things, made up just like the people who created it and those who hear it. Ever since I heard this album my life weren't the same anymore. I'm not listening to music the same way. In fact, this album signifies to me, above all, the last time I was really moved by music. When I hear it, and the Perfect Element to be honest, I shudder and fill with shivers. I've yet to encounter this phenomenon with any other album. I've been looking for more music like this ever since. original music originating from the soul, the kind that you connect to in so many ways that sometimes you would rather keep quiet and let it speak instead of yourself. I hear a lot of music, and I try to hear something new every week. I Have not found anything that transcends it. This is perfection.

The popularity of this band and this album in particular has long mystified me. Maybe it's because I am generally not a fan of Daniel Gildenlow's melodramatic style of both writing and singing, but I am often less wanting to reach my hands through the stereo and choke him so he will shut up. He is just one of those guys who personalities comes shining through in his music way too much. That is not to say that this album is without its moments, which is why I am giving it 2 stars instead of 1. Undertow is a solid song, and Beyond the Pale had good ideas (even if he bludgeoned them with his overbearing personality yet again), but on the flip side, songs like This Heart of Mine are just absolutely putrid. If you are a fan of this band, I can see this being an album you should have, but I would not recommend this CD to anyone I like.

Listening diary 31st August 2021: Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane (progressive metal, 2002)

This is probably my favourite Pain of Salvation album, and I say that with a bit of a caveat, since despite all my trying, their mix of prog with strange alt-metal cliches, shoddy grunge production and questionable vocal performances has never really been to my taste. But this doesn't dive into that side of their sound very often, and when it keeps firmly to one side it showcases some quite emotive and eclectic progressive metal. I admire that they're more about the passion than the technicality, and it really shows in a few of the longer, more melodious songs here, but the ugly timbres and occasional alt-metal bursts do still crop up enough to keep me from fully enjoying it.

6.7 (6th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

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

I see several reviews basically saying that this piece of work isn't nearly as good as their other offerings. The issue is that P of S has set the bar pretty high. If you listen to this album and don't feel like a good amount of time and effort was put in writing and composing then maybe I'm deaf because most of the tunes are very well layered. Maybe I am basing this on the degenerative quality of most music these days, but "Remedy Lane" seems pretty polished to me and any progressive music fan should be pretty proud to have this album in their collection.

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*)

Listen to it on a really sad day: 8/10

Aside from excitement, boredom, enjoyment, or nostalgia, I have never had felt anything while listening to music. For the first time, though, REMEDY LANE's sheer pessimism and darkness touched my heart and changed this hitherto paradigm. I still remember my experience with it: I felt morose for the rest of the day. Never it happened: never music was able to evoke such intense (and dark) emotions to me. The anguish from a year ago feels as vivid and intense as from yesterday. The music is gloomy although nothing too profoundly, but the lyrics, good lord, it feels like staring into an abyss, as its darkness sluggishly and intensely injects grief and anguish in your mind. Maybe its efficiency in being emotionally provocative have something to do with its introspective and truthful nature, being frontman Daniel Gildenlow's "biography" and also viewpoint on several horrible things that happened in his life. Lyrically and conceptually, the album is a devastating - and touching - masterpiece, although musically it is rather lackluster. I can't seem to find material for replayability, mostly because if you listen to this out of context it'll lose its potency. Nonetheless, HIGHLY recommendable. An excellent and highly memorable album. In the end, that's the point of music: to provoke something. And REMEDY LANE does it so masterfully.

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.

3 chapters for an album that smells like OMNI, come on, let's take off because after 'The Perfect' I didn't expect better! 1. Of Two Beginnings for the intro that kills... no more war or soft wars where we don't know anything, or too much with the war against covid and this intro already pierces my heart... ! It's beautiful go no need to go further, no I'm extending!

- Chapter 1: 2. Ending Theme with dreadlocks and shaved heads, that suits me for the opening; a phrasing voice, poised, superb, the latent rise nickel, Daniel who sings as if he were at your place, the phrasing very distinct now and this hard, nasty riff.. as for their hair? Yes I still dream of having one, in short just 5 minutes for a trip to Scandinavian lands, Swedish lands, the musical bluff 3. Fandango connects yes 4 drawers that will give; here it is already staggering; a detuned sound... good complex, we'll say Michel, I just came out of Gentle Giant where I didn't understand much, here it's the mixing of different sounds, choirs, a metallic riff, a raw animal sound, a voice with the ZAPPA and a title that can be listened to, glued to its seat; a mixture of hard and pop, brutality and love song, the whole amplified by an instrumentation which... agrees with the wire of the title, disconcerting; how to create a sound, an original, inventive and really brilliant musical structure, the word is... written; piano behind, a break, bellows, whispered words, a cascade of piano keys, choirs, it goes up, Daniel who starts to castrate, too good 4. A Trace of Blood cuts with a piano intro eyeing the waterfall now; the riff, basic, raw, the one I'm waiting for and comforts me that prog has survived thanks to metal whatever people say... a touch of brutality in a progressive ambient atmosphere, yes don't nod your head, in concert we expect this unhealthy heavy violent side; good this trace of blood where it is? in the fingers of Johan, Fredrik or Kristoffer who give it their all without bleeding; I love Johan with his syncopated hit that sets the pace; good the long title where I have the most trouble all the same me progueux in front of the eternal incredible; too melodic, too predictable, I already ask too much of them 5. This Heart of Mine (I Pledge) follows and sets the tone; a not at all bloodthirsty nursery rhyme to rest one's anvils and other stirrups, that's it, I forgot the 3rd one which lodges in our ears, retirement and oblivion arrive and put me in a state of contemplation; I believe... well, I'm trotting from note to note to base a post which I hope will be as expressive as possible on this Swedish sensibility, on this singular creation...

- Chapter 2: 6. Undertow and the memory of this fabulous concert, let me fly, let me dream on this brutally gentle track, on a crescendo where the intensity develops a saving impression; the desire of all progeurs to want to see their group evolve with this dark, dirty, hard side... but in a controlled way, in short, a title that every musician has dreamed of playing 7. Rope Ends continues and breaks the rhythm from the intro, Daniel's voice used as an instrument; air leaves, seems out of tune..; like GENTLE GIANT? I loved this album for this mixture of basic heavy sounds with progressive drifts, I love this hard riff which can frighten the Canterburyan, I love when Daniel sees his phrasing mixed with these warm choirs; a smooth rise, a unique exercise in style, like the wooden piano of time, the pad and the shearing guitar riff, an oriental orientation à la ZAPPA, PAIN OF SALVATION is truly unique; here it goes jazz-rock for a while but a supercharged jazz and the single-phase choirs come back, bewitch the ear with the hammer which vibrates even more, well I found that one 8. Chain Sling follows...pompous, animalistic, brutal; calm, gentle, mesmerizing; this air still oriented towards the thousand and one nights, towards the wild festivals where the pigs were roasted and gulped down warm while the cervoise flowed from dirty mouths; wow this title sends heavy, well I got a little lost but what was it good... nod to those who have their avatar on a hops slope 9. Dryad of the Woods to complete this second triptych and the musical beauty embodied; yes it's not prog he starts to bother us with that, if it continues... but yes precisely it continues on an instrumental drift stirring (hops eh!) folk, arpeggio, Andalusian air... kind of 'mod'ler' with which I say hello to my big son who said that.. small on 'Innuendo' by QUEEN... see where PAIN OF SALVATION takes us: a bit of piano to end this dreamlike passage

- Chapter 3: 10. Remedy Lane ..., ..., ..., ..., my head is spinning, I'm shaking, I know I'm going to put this track back on replay: the one I spent the most with 'Merlin will', 'Eurekâ In Extenso' and 'Mae Dae'... looking for bands is easy; a title, the title that made me love my speakers by pushing the sound and feeling the wood, the insulating wool and the paint vibrate on these notes; good what else to write? concentrated prog, avant-garde sound, an air that nails you to your chair, your armchair... your cross; synths that make your teeth clash, that remove fillings, that stop time, that's Remedy! Ok, I stayed objective. 11. Waking Every God ... yes it took a nah not a God to wake up a title on which I have the most trouble; at that moment I said to myself it's the wear and tear 70 minutes you don't swallow like that; I tried in 1st but no nothing helps... this album is a good concept, each title fits together as you listen, too bad we can't say that I'm subjective! Well the riff is good, Johan's solo rolls by itself...but that's the way it is 12. Second Love follows and launches the melanco-romantic ballad but I can't sleep anymore, I am completely taken, bewitched, hypnotized and amazed by this album; so a little sensitivity doesn't hurt; the guitar solo seems more highlighted in fact on a title of this caliber, Daniel excites a little more the sensitive chord on the emotion; you start dreaming of seeing them again in stadiums, the whole audience hanging arm in arm and taking up the chorus, beautiful end... 13. Beyond the Pale... nay! the sharp notes come out there on the right, Daniel whispers, oh there that riff, yes in concert it was also devastating; rock metal at its peak, it's heavy, it rocks, it drives, this riff listen to the...the rise where you're waiting for the chorus...10 mins of intense trance, 10 mins of musical high, 10 mins of suspended time with soft, strong, padded, violent and dreamlike drawers; the military battery to relax and it starts again on a generalized programmed violence, Daniel at the limit of the cry! boom the solo that kills well yes we really arrive at the end so we knock out all the floors; let's go back to this note... sharp, I'm going to take my shower, I'm bathed in sweet sweat having made an effort not to scream the total success of this album.

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.

'Remedy Lane' is the fourth album by Pain of Salvation, released in January 2002. It is a concept album about focusing on a character's search for self-discovery. 'Remedy Lane,' written by Daniel Gildenlöw, is semi-autobiographical in nature. I view 'Remedy Lane' and its predecessor, 'The Perfect Element - Part 1' as companion albums. Sonically, both albums are similar. However, there are still aspects of 'Remedy Lane' that make it a unique album in the Pain of Salvation discography. I find that I can listen to many of the songs on 'Remedy Lane' in isolation, which I can't say for most songs on 'The Perfect Element - Part 1.' 'Remedy Lane' is structured the same as 'One Hour by the Concrete Lake." The album is divided into three chapters, and "Of Two Beginnings" is the prologue. Chapter 1 consists of the tracks "Ending Theme," "Fandango," "A Trace of Blood," and "This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)." Chapter 2 consists of "Undertow," "Rope Ends," "Chain Sling," and "Dryad of the Woods." Chapter 3 consists of the title track, "Waking Every God," "Second Love," and "Beyond the Pale."

The opening track, "Of Two Beginnings," lulls the listener by starting atmospheric and tentative. Then, the music sucker punches the listener with an explosion of music. This transitions nicely into "Ending Theme." I love the irony of the title. "Ending Theme" captures Daniel Gildenlöw's broad vocal range. Gildenlöw raps during the bridge. "Ending Theme" is a fairly accessible song. The lyric, "to be honest, I don't know what I'm looking for" is Gildenlöw's mantra of life. A drop-D guitar riff in 5/4 opens "Fandango." The vocal melody is idiosyncratic, but after numerous listens it makes sense why this melody was chosen. Like the vocal melody to "Morning on Earth," there are unusual intervalic jumps, but Daniel Gildenlöw sings it well. I like the dichotomy between the unsettling verse and the harmonious chorus, which uses a 5:4 polyrhythm. There's an interesting back-and-forth vocal effect during the "All his life..." lyric, which is discombobulating. Gildenlöw sings high, reinforced falsetto notes during the final "Watch them dance" lyric, which is the climax of "Fandango." A stripped down chorus at the end featuring just piano and vocals ends "Fandango," and transitions into "A Trace of Blood." The first minute of "A Trace of Blood" reminds me of Fish-era Marillion. Especially Fredrik Hermansson's piano, which reminds me of Mark Kelly's playing. The lyrics are heart-wrenching as Gildenlöw vividly describes his wife's miscarriage, which occurred during the recording sessions for 'One Hour by the Concrete Lake.' The line, "Now I will always fear to hope again," resonates with me. The guitar tapping towards the end and the accompanying music reminds me of music from Mortal Kombat. "A Trace of Blood," like "Fandango," ends with a stripped-down, melancholic chorus. "This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)" is a beautiful song filled with major seventh chords; something you don't hear much in a Pain of Salvation song. The second half takes on a darker mood and is the climax of the song. "This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)" is one of the happier moments on 'Remedy Lane,' which is an aspect that makes this album different from 'The Perfect Element - Part 1.'

"Undertow" is one of the most popular Pain of Salvation songs and one of my personal favorites. "Undertow" begins with a beautifully dark guitar melody. The song gradually crescendos to the climax, which is a highlight on 'Remedy Lane.' "Rope Ends" has one of the strangest syncopated rhythms I've heard in a song, but it works and isn't overused. "Rope Ends" has an excellent instrumental section, similar to "Her Voices" from the previous album. This section contains a shred guitar solo that is melodically interesting. Pain of Salvation are known for writing lyrical music, but they also provide a satisfying balance of vocal bits and instrumental bits, as demonstrated on "Rope Ends." The music of "Chain Sling" has a Celtic quality and reminds me of music from Lord of the Rings. "Dryad of the Woods" is an instrumental piece. The beginning of "Dryad of the Woods" is driven by guitar, and then the music builds into a piano-led chorus. The syncopated ending is pleasant.

The title track is an electronic instrumental that reprises themes from throughout the album, including "Fandango," "Rope Ends," and "Ending Theme." Despite only being two minutes, the title track augments the gravitas of 'Remedy Lane.' "Waking Every God" has a groovy hemiola and contains slap bass from Kristoffer Gildenlöw. I love the pairing of the delicate piano and the distorted guitars. "Second Love" was an old song that Daniel Gildenlöw wrote in his adolescence. It's the simplest song on 'Remedy Lane,' but one of my favorites. "Second Love" has an element of country music, making it accessible and radio-friendly. Nevertheless, the emotion is still felt on this song. The final song, "Beyond the Pale," is a classic Pain of Salvation song, and is one of Daniel Gildenlöw's best vocal performances. "Beyond the Pale" is the grand finale of 'Remedy Lane.' In terms of structure, "Beyond the Pale" is fairly simple. A harshly raked guitar ostinato starts "Beyond the Pale." This time, there is a polymeter between the guitar riff, bass and the rest of the instrumentation. The main theme of "Beyond the Pale" was introduced in "Chain Sling," giving 'Remedy Lane' a sense of cohesion. Daniel Gildenlöw growls during the "Come and drown with me" lyric, which leads into two guitar solos. The final lyric of the album, "We will always be so much more human than we wish to be," is essentially the theme of 'Remedy Lane.'

In conclusion, 'Remedy Lane' is another masterpiece from Pain of Salvation. If there was one album I had to recommend to someone who wanted to listen to Pain of Salvation, it would be 'Remedy Lane.' I think that 'Remedy Lane' is a fairly accessible album that didn't take me a long time to audibly digest.

Here is another album I know absolutely nothing about. The only thing I know about Pain of Salvation is they are a Swedish prog-metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw. I only hope that the "growling" vocals are not a part of this, or at least not too much. So without further ado, here's my track-by-track, real-time listening review.

Track 1 - Of Two Beginnings

A steady eighth note rhythm with sustained keyboards brings in soft vocals, until?Bang! Big power chords and strong harmony vocals hit us at around 42 seconds in. Then a big ominous rhythm takes over. Kind of scary-spooky sounding, perfect for the Samhain/Halloween season during which I'm listening to this. The short, but dramatic opener ends with a synth sound that almost reminds me of dial-up internet sounds, but not quite.

Chapter 1:

Track 2 - Ending Theme

Interesting that a track called this is near the beginning?Irony? Or does it have a deeper meaning? Let's see. A nice full sound at a mid 4-4 tempo kicks this one off. Then everything but a clean arpeggiated guitar riff and vocals. The drums and bass join in, and lead into a keyboard backed vocal. A bit of accent turns us back to another verse. The song is slowly building, with harmony vocals. Then at around 2:15, big vocals and a louder dynamic level suddenly hit us. Some spoken word parts come in after the chorus before a melodic guitar solo. So far, I am really pleased with the sound of this band. A chorus follows, then guitar solo mixed with the spoken word part. This leads directly to:

Track 3 - Fandango

Begins with a clean guitar riff, on possibly a 7-string, baritone or down-tuned guitar. The tempo becomes steady, and a countermelody joins in?very "Tool" vibes. Staccato vocals in the verse. Longer sustained notes in the chorus. A change to a more moderate tempo temporarily at around 2.5 minutes in. Technically very challenging, but not my favorite song so far. I don't hate it, just not crazy about it, although I appreciate the skill. This track ends and goes straight to:

Track 4 - A Trace of Blood

A big power chord lets us know that we are in a new song. There is a quick melodic piano pattern behind the guitars. Nice quick tempo. 7-8 time, then a change at about 1 minute in, it's more of a 7-4. Then the vocals begin over that groove. The chorus has a brief section of sustained chords, before going back to the 7-4. Gruff vocals, but not a demon-growl. Lots of vocal textures on this one, as a smoother voiced harmony part follows. Then a melodic guitar break, with a quick lick at the end of the short instrumental section Frequent meter changes. This track is more Dream Theater like. An impressively held high note at around the 6:00 mark leads to a guitar solo. This song is much more to my taste than Fandango. Good track!

Track 5 - This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)

A slower tempo and clean guitars with electric piano. High pitched vocals with harmonies. The rhythm section keeps a subtle groove underneath. At around 1:50 there is a bit of a change with sustained chords, and ride cymbals. The dynamic level increases after that but everything stays clean. Excellent singing here. A melodic guitar solo starts around 3:15. Things ease back off after the solo for a peaceful close to the song. Nothing "metallic" about this track at all. Another good track.

Chapter II

Track 6 - Undertow

There is a pause between tracks here. A low pitched, clean guitar riff starts off chapter 2. The vocals and guitar take the melody together in the opening verses. The song begins gradually building in intensity. Piano and drums join at about 1.5 minutes. Bass follows suit on the second verse. Everything is still clean. There is a more intense guitar solo section, but still clean tones. A bridge with 2-part harmony vocals follow and lead into another verse in a higher register. The intensity continues building throughout. Lots of angst ("Let Me DIE!"). Excellent track!

Track 7 - Rope Ends

Distorted guitars return to start this song with a staccato, morse code kind of riff. Very syncopated against the drums. Excellent drum fills. Vocals join in both low in pitch and in the mix at first, before becoming more prominent. The dynamic level drops briefly before a big shift at around 1:20. Faster, steadier and louder but very syncopated, but syncopated differently than the intro. Then sustained harmonic vocals against a half-time feel. Nice counter melody vocal part near the end of the section before returning to the opening groove. The time changes are head- turning in the best possible way. The sections cycle through again. A quintessentially prog instrumental section begins at around 3:55. Guitar solos join in over the top. Then a more funky groove at around 4:40, As guitar solos continue. Back to the second syncopated groove, followed by the half-time feel to close the song. This is probably my favorite track from the album so far.

Track 8 - Chain Sling

High pitched clean guitar at the beginning, joined by harmony parts and a build-up. Then the full band explodes in (yet it's still a clean guitar sound) with a middle eastern feel. Very high-pitched vocals singing the melody. Then he drops to a mid-register vocal while the band kicks back in. As mentioned, this one seems to have a Middle eastern/North African flavor to it (Moroccan/Tunisian?). Very cool. Ends with a major chord vocal harmony. Awesome track!

Track 9 - Dryad of the Woods

We start with a subdued, clean electric guitar playing a chord melody pattern. Cymbal work accents the pattern and a second guitar part joins in, before we lock into an easygoing rhythm with piano on the top. This one is an instrumental track. Later an acoustic guitar solo happens. Following that the tempo picks up slightly over a syncopated clean guitar, then it turns to a double-time beat. Nice track.

Chapter III

Track 10- Remedy Lane

We begin with 80s style "na-na-na-na" synths?.and a keyboard melody develops over top. The drummer is playing in a manner not unlike Nick Mason on PF's Time intro. A short instrumental track. Interesting that the title-track is the shortest on the album. Great track, still.

Track 11 - Waking Every God

A few beats of solo piano leads the band in, and they lock into a 7-4 groove. Distorted guitars are back, but not excessively heavy. The vocals join in singing in octaves first, then harmonizing. We change to 6-4 in the chorus with layered harmony vocal countermelodies. Nice vocal arranging. A well-executed scale run leads the guitar solo in. Vocals return for the closing portion of the song with a well-done high pitched musical scream note as the climax of the vocals. Again, this track is a bit heavier than we've heard in a while, but not extreme?Just rockin'

Track 12 - Second Love

A clean electric guitar starts this one with a riff that reminds me of the opening acoustic guitar chords from the theme from M*A*S*H. Gentle vocals come in after a few bars joining the guitars. Wonderful vocal harmonies join in. Then the rhythm section and piano enter on the second verse with a moderately slow groove. A nicely played melodic guitar solo follows. The vocals re-join with the beautiful harmonies. An outstanding jump to a higher vocal register near the end made me go "ooh!" We close out the song with a bit of the M*A*S*H style riff. A wonderful rock ballad!

Track 13 - Beyond the Pale

This appears to be the closing Epic at just under 10:00 long. Clean electric guitar playing a staccato pattern starts us off with the vocals quickly joining. A heavier guitar and bass accent the beats, then after the verse ends the drums and keys join in. The second verse comes in over the top of this groove. The feel changes at around 2.5 minutes with a brief instrumental interlude on a heavier riff. Then we have a chorus with soaring harmony vocals over a still different groove. Things ease off and become gentler at around 3:00. Big power chords over a rhythm section and keyboards lead us to a quieter, but rhythmic section setting up the next verse. Lots of meter changes ensue. Then we get probably the most metallic riff I have heard, but still not thrashy. The vocals are gruff but not a demon growl. An awesome guitar-god solo follows. The original guitar riff returns at around 6:30. With heavier syncopated rhythms and very high soaring vocals. Another slower vocal section comes back later. The opening riff returns with only low-pitched spoken vocals in the final minute, with the guitar fading out while the vocals complete the song with only a very faint synth-bass drone fading out several seconds later/

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

WOW!! What a great album that was. This is probably my biggest undiscovered gem so far in this challenge. I had heard of this band, but that was it. They are typically categorized as Progressive Metal, but if this album is indicative of the rest of the catalog, I'd say they were more of a modern symphonic prog band with some metal leanings (POS fans let me know). It never gets too heavy, in my opinion. Daniel Gildenlöw is a very well-rounded musician. He can tackle many different styles and deliver them well. The only track I didn't love, but didn't hate either was #3, Fandango. This is a very solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.