LINOLEUM

Well, first i'm glad to submit the first review of this expected ep, but also a bit surprised nobody did it first, as Pain Of Salvation is THE cult prog-metal band of many, myself included. Instead of giving a track by track review, i will try to put general ideas of the ep as a whole, with a few exceptions of elements worth mentioning. At a first "glimpse" the music strike me as dark, heavy, eclectic, with retro elements like the classic organ sound and the doomy-sabbath like riffs. If Pain Of Salvation is to be defined by a word, besides progressive, that word is eclectic. Like in the two past albums BE, and Scarsick, in this last one there are a lot of musical elements blended in a perfect mixture, like the aforementioned retro organ sound, the doomy-sabbath riffs, but also bluesy and psychedelic guitar lines, busy Bill Ward like drum fills ( courtesy of new drummer Leo Margarit), industrial or almost death metal growls by the always amazing Mr. Gildenlöw. If a clue towards the new album is to be seen here, i'd say it must be the tendency of the music to a more dark, moody, melancholic, but also angry character. The only particular song i'd like to mention for being such a nice surprise is Yellow Raven, a cover of The Scorpions from the Roth-era album Virgin Killer. This song fits very well with the overall nature of the album and rounds it perfectly. It's such an emotional song like the original, with Gildenlöw's voice and Hallgren's guitar bringing chills to the listener's spine. (At least for this one, hope it does the same for everyone). If this ep is just a taste, i can't wait for the next album, hope it comes out very soon.