ENDING THEMES - ON THE TWO DEATHS OF PAIN OF SALVATION

In my review of the "Be" dvd, I had lamented the rigid structure of the show to an extent. Yes it was a great show and the structure was necessary (as it was in something like "The Wall") but I was often wanting to see the band let their hair down, tear it up, be a little unpredictable. As thrilling as it was to see a concept album performed cover to cover I was hoping someday I'd get to see a wide ranging PoS retrospective show. Enter "Ending Themes" and the operative phrase becomes "mission accomplished."

While this band is not exactly Gojira in terms of blunt force trauma, Daniel begins the show by claiming they are about to "f**k you guys up" or something very close to that. It became apparent early on that Daniel is not exactly a master of conversing with the audience, his banter full of niceties, clichés, and boring intros with little elaboration on actual themes. But that's a minor quibble. More noticeable, since I'm starting with the critical items, is what in my opinion is a pretty poor stage direction, lighting, and editing job. I watch a lot of concert dvds and notice these peripheral things because they can add or detract much from the overall experience of the show-they do matter, even if less so that the music. Some examples: They begin the video with the band simply standing on stage as if starting a practice, rustling about, killing the usual excitement of a little entrance build-up. No big deal, just an odd choice. I love a show that swims in darkness, with little visible beyond the musician playing. Here it seems as though the house lights are basically on, you see all the background, the crowd, the concourse, the techies running around-all of which cuts some of the ambiance. You hear the crowd chattering away behind quieter song moments..which I found pretty amateur. You see clumsy pans, occasionally heads cut off by the frame, and some awkward edits that just shouldn't have happened. All of the above is not as horrible as it seems, I just point this out because it seems that a band of this stature should not make rookie mistakes. Much more important of course is the performance and music.

And on that which really matters, the band reinforces why many consider them one of the very top prog-metal bands in the world. They begin with some Scarsick material which sounds really good, making me wonder why the album got the harsh reviews it did. After that they begin a sampling of material from their various albums over the years, offering a great chance for newbies to get acquainted with their work. The performance on material both new and old was good. Most notable were Daniel's vocals which are something to behold when he really pushes himself. On tracks as different as "Hallelujah" and "Disco Queen" he was able to grab the audience and elevate the proceedings with powerful vocals. The instrumentals were controlled and mostly interesting, I especially loved the intricate drum work and the soft-pastel that the piano brings to this band, something generally not present in many metal bands. I would have preferred more emphasis on "Remedy Lane" as I find that album intriguing but understandably there were trying to cover all phases of their career with this show. With the myriad of extras this DVD set is a must for PoS fans. For the casual fan like myself it is a good chance to see them live but doesn't exactly blow me away either. It does make me want to pick up Scarsick and hear more of what the fuss was all about. Sound quality is adequate but again a bit less than I'd expect from such a premier prog-metal band. "Be" is a hard dvd act to follow but this show is certainly good and worth checking out.

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