SILENCE OF ANOTHER KIND

Briefly - a little bit disappionting. Do not misunderstand me - this is not a bad record, but after such masterpiece as Kallocain, and also very good Timeloss, You may have expected something more.

Paatos music simply gets simplier and simplier. I much enjoyed the simplification on Kallocain, cause the music was something like pure, non-formal expression of emotions. Here it's get's even a bit poppy. Songs are short, not enought linked between each other, and the magic in Petronella's voice seems to disappear somehow..

But still it's very enjoyable, moody.

a non-expected nice surprise this new Paatos studio album, unfortunatly it has a lot of surprises... 3 1/2 stars.

First of all, I thought that the voice of Petronella was stronger and powerfull but i realised that Steven Wilson`s hand in "Kallocain" had to much to do with it. We can notice here in "Silence of Another Kind" that the voice is not as good as before. Second, the progressive mood and exploration in "Timeloss" is all gone. I always dreamed with a new concept studio album from Paatos, but i guess here they are only including some rare arrangements just to try to avoid the Pop`s music comparitions. In adittion, the tracks are too short and the albun is just 42 minutes long. It`s a perfect album like Petronilla`s said? I don´t think so, I guess is full of loose ends especially the final tracks.but i have to be clear on this: YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT if you are a Paatos fan anyway... I like the first 4 tracks a lot...as a fan you won´t be dissapointed with this album. But Paatos musicians have to be sure if they want a comercial succeed or continuing with this great music it will be a Shame if they turns it ways into Rock Stars.

Paatos: We are pleasesd with this ""Silence of Another Kind" but we expect from you a lot more!!!!!!

After the brilliance of Kallocain, I was prepared for a lowering of standards, and at first I was a bit disappointed in the new album. However, having listened to it a dozen times or more, I realise that it is just about as good as Kallocain. The songs are similar in mood and sound, and there is plenty of atmosphere. Unlike other reviewers, I think Petronella's vocals are even better than on Kallocain. It is worth listening carefully to the arrangements as there is much to enjoy in the individual playing.

The only complaint is the length,or rather lack of it. At 42 minutes, it is a couple of songs short of being totally satisfying, but the quality is such that the cd finishes with me wanting to hear more.

Third album from this Swedish combo, that had such a promising start, but is definitely having problems confirming the high expectations raised from their debut album. If Timeloss was breaking new grounds openly mixing some trip hop into Scandinavian prog ambiances, Kallocain was a real deception, failing to go further in that direction, almost regressing a bit, the main flaw of the album is that past the energetic opening (atypical) track, the rest of the album was fairly eventless (nothing much happening), eventually rendering the album flat and a tad bit boring, and left us hoping for a better third effort, more in the line of Timeloss

Alas, SOAK takes much more after the dull Kallocain than the exciting Timeloss even if the opening track is again energetic and reminiscent of Timeloss or Anekdoten. The ill-titled Shame is easily the best and most adventurous track and puts to ..shame the rest of it. Then come two tracks (or is it three? Not sure ;-) that just glide by slowly like a sailboat on a lake during a windless dogdays of summer, dragging on endlessly, lazily, treading the same slow pace with Petronella 's good voices mixed a bit loud as it covers a bit the her husband's good drumming (the only good thing in Falling) while tracks like No Miracles border on the insufferably noisy Cure-type song.

One cannot say that the trip hop noodlings are absent from the album the Still Standing intro (one of the most interesting remaining track past the opener) and later on its climax, and the closing instrumental (if you can call it that) title track, but overall the ambiance of this album is much reminiscent of Landberk's less interesting albums (the middle two). Slightly more interesting than Kallocain, this will probably be the last Paatos record I buy without listening to it closely first.

Quote from www.paatos.com : After some touring around Europe, Paatos starts working on their third album, Silence of Another Kind, released spring 2006. From touring more and more, the music started to take on a slightly heavier tone, something which affected the music on this recording. The love for mesmerizing trans-like grooving landscapes was still there, but also the wish to create strong contrast.

I agree with most of the previous reviews on this site about "Silence Of Another Kind". I didn't read anything about PAATOS's third album and just got it as soon as it was available, because I was very pleased with their debut album "Tmeloss", and I even found their second album "Kallocain" even better!

I hope it is just because I haven't heard "Silence Of Another Kind" as often yet as their predecessors, but I am afraid that this album is just of lesser quality and a bit more boring indeed. I completely loved the new direction of progressive "folk" rock that this band started out with, but like some other bands the magic on their third album seems gone. For newcomers to PAATOS: don't start with this one, but "play safe" and get "Timeloss" or "Kallocain".

Unfortunately I can rate this album as 3 stars only.

Like Anekdoten, in my opinion this Swedish band has grown better and better with time, as their musical style has matured during the group's evolvement. The album is opened by song "Shame", which lyrics criticize directly the foreign policy of the world's leading military power. Via my nihilism, I'm not so convinced how much with such activisms can be achieved, but the song itself is truly fabulous, unlike my nihilism. The music creates a very powerful oppressive feeling of distress still without being heavy metal. I would describe it as a bit more electronic version of the current stuff done by Anekdoten, being artistic and having beautiful moods, consisting professional and imaginative arrangements and using tasty vintage sounds like Mellotrons along with more contemporary sounds. There is an interesting section here, where instead of an instrument an extracts of political TV speech is being used as the solo instrument.

"Your Misery" moves then to more slower melancholic directions. There are some interesting carefully crafted sonic treatments of vocals and instrumentations to be heard here, making this a rewarding album if listened with loud volume through good stereos. Along with the following "Falling" it is evident, that exceptional melodies are a true trademark of this group. This is not very difficult music to be listened, so there should be lots of potential in the markets of accessible but independent music for this album. Though the rhythms are not very exotic, the drummer treats them imaginatively and pleasantly. I also believe that Simon Reynolds' characterization of post-rock finds relevance on this music, though the rhythm section builds these songs as more common rock song structures.

"Still Standing" opens with an electronic experimental intro, a feature which was established on their previous "Kallocain" album. This song doesn't deviate from the strong depressing line of this release. Also the strong verses and the contrasts of calmer instrumentations and stronger orchestral like patterns are very beautiful. "Is That All?" is the first song having a delightful feeling instead of anxiety, being a very fragile and beautiful Major key ballad with again strong verse. The following "Procession of Fools" is then just a short and weird soundscape, this didn't quite open to me, but it didn't last very long either.

"There Will Be No Miracles" sounds most conventional rock song of the tracks of this record, resembling some grunge tunes of the 1990's. But there are some experimental solutions here too, for example I think that the sound of playing the guitar frets were recorded with a separate microphone to get a strong sound of touching the strings. Also the verse is the most powerful of here with crunchy fuzzed guitar licks. "Not A Sound" fusions elements of Scandinavian folk music with modern electronic sounds, and returns to the melancholic despair moods. I must admire the bands talent to summon up these chorus melodies, and it's wonderful that these gifts are used to produce artistic music instead of more profitable commercial music products. The end of the song treats the chorus in a stronger manner, and an electronic soundscape carrying the album title ends this fabulous CD.

This record brings yet another wonderful album to the family of depressed Swedish Mellotron driven records, already containing LP's of Anekdoten, Landberk, Morte Macabre and Opeth's "Damnation". They truly reflect the inner vision which I have sawn, and thus the listening of these records has enforced my awareness and affected my spiritual inner currents. Later I realized that in order to experience the outer world more purely, it would be necessary to swim away from these introvert currents to new foreign tides. It is yet possible to return time to time these charming dramatic things, but escape constant wallowing on the same litters, how comfortable they should ever be.

Another fine accomplishment.

This album is not as good as Timeloss, but despite this, it is still quite good and worth of being looked into. It is a softer and mellower approach, but still a good one and the atmospheres are very pleasant. The work is emotive, expressive, even if it may be sub-par in some areas of compositionally and lacks a technical presence.

Some of this is much more commercial in approach, with hints from early 90's rock being thrown into the mix to varying degrees of success. There's also mixtures of various electronic soundscapes that work quite well. However, there is really no signature track that stands out among the others, and as others have noted, it can become a bit tiresome at times because of the lack of dynamics.

Silence of a Kind is a wonderful little album to have, although I would suggest Timeloss over this. For those looking for a modern expressive band, Paatos should make you feel quite at home.

Starting off pretty interesting, in a couple of minutes this album evolves into a sequence of extremely boring and uninspired songs. At first listen, I was patiently waiting for something fresh, but - alas! The only thing I can say - thank God (and the band of course) it is not a double album. I was really surprised when learned it was only 42 minutes long. Seemed at least like an hour to me. A couple of months later I took the cd off the shelf to give it another try. You know - sometimes you're just not in the mood to listen to certain kinds of music, and only later discover what it's about. Well. This time I could not stand it further than 3rd song. Same thing when listening for the 3rd time. Sorry guys but smooth instrumentation and a nice voice alone do not make good music.

This album opens brilliantly (but it is the third time in a row that they produce a great opener).

"Shame" is a wonderful and catchy song (almost pop) with a fantastic mellotron line. The melody is enjoyable and the beat sustained. If the band has been used to produce great openers, they have also the tendency to throw their best songs in the first part of their albums.

One can feel the same sort of ambient and tranquil mood that was noticeable during "Kallocain" while listening to the mellow ballad "Your Misery". Again, the vocal performance of Petronella is aerial, warm but the melody doesn't speak to me as usual.

On the contrary, "Falling" is just sublime. So sweet and profound vocals, splendid melody and if ever you don't know yet, I am just in love with these mellotron sounds. Such a track is a great and precious treasure. "Anekdoten" could also bring this type of ultimate beauty and melancholy. "Falling" is just breathtaking. Have a listen. It is simple, touching, astonishingly sweet.

After such a jewel, "Still Pending" falls shy even if again the band proposes a strong melodic piece of music. But it seems that the same problem than with "Kallocain" is taking place. The overall atmosphere is probably too uniform.

Of course, the chorus of "Is That All", is more upbeat but the band remains in the mellow territories but as a whole, this album is probably a deception. I wonder if "There Will Be No Miracles" was a premonition.

The album "Silence." conveys such a good feeling, a boiling coldness, an hypnotic serenity. I can only be thankful to "Paatos" to have brought back such forgotten sounds and have brought them into modern progressive music. As their fellow countrymen "Anekdoten" have done earlier on.

Thanks to several outstanding numbers, this album still reaches a good level. But Paatos should pay attention not to go some steps further down. They can do it.

It’s worth noting that Paatos’ recent live release includes only two tracks from this record. While I like this band for the most part, they seem to have suffered from a bit of a letdown on their third studio album. With ‘Kallocain’ Paatos showed a wide range of influences in their music, Porcupine Tree, Portishead, Pink Floyd and Björk among them.

But with ‘Silence of Another Kind’ the band seems to have slipped into a comfort zone that isn’t really all that appealing. I’m reminded of the rather tepid ‘Home’ album from the Gathering; like that album, this one is too languid, too safe, and not at all innovative or adventurous. The band seems to prefer to settle into a soft-rock groove with mild goth and Scandinavian gloom-rock undertones. I’ve heard too many records like this before.

I will say that the lyric writing seems to have improved somewhat, with fewer trite catchy phrases like that of “Gasoline” from ‘Kallocain’ or “Téa” from their debut album. Instead, some of the songs address social and political issues (“Shame” in particular).

But elsewhere the music borders on being dreary. “Not a Sound” sounds more like a Barbra Streisand ballad than a progressive rock tune. And the title track is nothing more than a brief experiment in digital soundscaping that has little relevance to the rest of the album.

I recently picked up the band’s live album and it shows they are still active and have the energy for serious music. So I have to assume this modest album is just an aberration. The band clearly benefited from Steven Wilson’s production on the excellent ‘Kallocain’; they’ll have to either sign him up again for the next album, or find some other way to generate a new creative spark. This album won’t go down as one of their finest for sure. Two stars and not really recommended.

peace

I really wasn't expecting too much from this release after hearing a lot of negative opinions. Well as they say "Don't believe everything you hear". This is an excellent album much like THE GATHERING's "Home" release, very melancholic with the focus on Petronella's vocals. I really like this style of music and especially the mellotron that is featured on 5 of the 9 tracks. By the way i'd like to point out former LANDBERK bass player Stefan Dimle's fabulous playing. Incidentally he also owns the record label "Mellotronen", and was an important part of the band MORTE MACABRE. Oh, and another plus is that the length of this record is 42 minutes. Just right.

"Shame" is simply an amazing song that I can listen to over and over. Quite heavy to open but it settles when the vocals arrive. This contrast continues. Mellotron flows freely and check out the samples 3 minutes in as bass and drums continue. Just a great track. "Your Misery" is very atmospheric to open, but it ends up being all about the vocals. A slow moving track with strummed guitar, piano and lots of atmosphere. "Falling" is laid back as well but only better. Vocals, keys and light drums lead the way early. Mellotron before 2 1/2 minutes and 4 minutes in. Good tune. "Still Standing" opens with over a minute of processed vocals. Then those beautiful vocals come through after 1 1/2 minutes, contrasted with mellotron and a fuller sound before 2 1/2 minutes. This contrast continues. I like the atmosphere with the vocals and piano on the mellow passages. Some flute as well. Another killer tune and the best one since the opener. It reminds me of "Home" from THE GATHERING.

"Is That All ?" is even better ! Gentle guitar and soft vocals are followed by some heaviness and emotional vocals. Gulp. Incredible. The contrast continues. Love this track. The song starts to slowly build with vocal melodies 4 minutes in. Check out the heaviness 5 minutes in as drums pound and gale force mellotron blows in. What an intense ending. "Procession Of Fools" is a brief instrumental. "There Will Be No Miracles" is the only song i'm not fond of, in fact it doesn't even fit in on this record in my opinion. Uptempo and commercial sounding but it's ok. "Not A Sound" is back to the melancholic mood with cello, mellotron and violins. Sad vocals as well. The fuller sound after 5 1/2 minutes to the end is a highlight. "Silence Of Another Kind" is experimental sounding with spacey sounds and samples. Kind of cool.

They thank THE GATHERING who they were touring with, as well as Peter Nordins from ANEKDOTEN.

It's been 3 years already since this album was released. A quick guess tells me that I haven't played it much more then 10 times during that time. The reason is evident. There's something essential missing on this album, something called enthusiasm, excitement and songs.

It begins very strong though. Both Shame and Your Misery head off for a promising start, and Falling is a beautifully melancholic song like they can only make up so high up there in the north. With Still Standing the album makes a turn, strong verses again, but a chorus that seems a bit far-fetched, bit of a drained melody I think.

Petronella's voice has evolved quite a bit. She's more confident here and at times she comes close to the softer timbre of Anneke Van Giersbergen's voice. Of course, a good voice needs strong songs but with Is That All?, the string of quality pieces comes to an end. It's an uninspired song with weak playing and unsatisfactory melodies. With a catchier chorus, There Will Be No Miracles could have been a great pop song. But no, it takes till Not A Sound till the real Paatos comes shining through again. It's a brooding track with gorgeous melodies that will get under your skin in no time. The closing track is not much more then a little sound collage.

Despite many good tracks, it's a disappointing album from Paatos. I had expected much more after the two previous albums. With 27 minutes of good material, I can't come closer then a solid 3 stars.

"Silence Of Another Kind" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish rock act Paatos. The album was released in May 2006 by InsideOut Records.

The music on the album is female fronted atmospheric rock with some nice organic sounding keyboards/ synths backing. The band use both mellotron and organ quite a lot in their music and it's more the sound of those instruments that gives the music a progressive edge than it's the structure or development of the actual songs. This is very much vers/ chorus structured music. The vocals are mostly delivered in a mellow almost sedated style with only a few stronger emotionally outbursts. References to acts like Portishead and especially Hooverphonic are valid IMO. While all tracks are well composed, well produced and well played, the album does come off as a bit emotionally one-dimensional. There are few highlights, but on the other hand "Silence Of Another Kind" is a very consistent album and if you like the band's laid back dreamy flow I'm sure the lack of standout tracks won't bother you too much. It's not much of a surprise really. "Kallocain (2004)" is not much different in that respect.

"Silence Of Another Kind" has taken me a couple of years to get through and really appreciate. The album has a calming effect on me and I simply have a tendency to get all drowsy and sleepy when listening to the album, so it's not often I've been able to finish listening to the full album without falling asleep. I know that sounds like a terribly negative thing, but really it isn't. It's not because the album is boring or anything like that. Never think that. It just has a soothing calm sound that often lulls me to sleep. I actually like albums like that and a 3.5 star rating is warranted.

28th March, 2021: Paatos - Silence of Another Kind (art rock, 2006)

Paatos really head down the dream pop route here, with some of these songs sounding far more Twin Peaks than Genesis. It's a welcome move too, as it does reinforce them as something relatively unique within 2000s prog, and in my opinion quite underrated. The use of violin and saxophone here is also nice, and gives the songs a bit of a chamber pop edge. Any genuine prog here is relatively minimal, but the prog mindset helps the songs from getting too samey in their tone.

6.1 (1st listen)

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