IN THE PASSING LIGHT OF DAY

'In the Passing Light of Day' is an amazing return to form for the legendary Pain of Salvation, a band which I've been a long time fan of but a band with which I've ultimately been disappointed by in their post Be output. What you will find in this now album is probably the most representative work of their discography. It takes bits and pieces of everything they've done, we see the return of the heaviness and syncopated riffing from 'Entropia' and 'One Hour by the Concrete Lake'. We see the return of the beautiful emotional and lush melody of 'The Perfect Element' and 'Remedy Lane'. Yet it still retains much of the rawness of the Road Salt albums, however without the 70s retro hard rock aesthetic and production, this is a very modern sounding release as the band has embraced being a prog metal band once more.

The highlights of the album are without doubt the three epic tracks 'On A Tuesday', 'Full Throttle Tribe' and the title track. The other shorter track are also fantastic as the album feels so cohesive, really capturing what makes a great concept album in a way we haven't heard from the band since Be. This album takes you on an emotional journey, one that is essentially of Daniel Gildenlow coming to terms with his brush with death when he fell victim to a flesh eating bacteria. You hear the anger and the despair throughout, the kinds of powerful emotions that used to be a trademark of the band but went missing on more recent albums.

It also needs to be pointed out the role of Ragnar Zolberg who joined the band after Road Salt 1 and 2, who co wrote much of the new album with Daniel Gildenlow, giving Gildenlow a significant writing partner which he hasn't had since the early days with Daniel Magdic. His presence has really breathed new life into the band. His vocals are also a fantastic addition, really complementing the vocals of Gildenlow.

Overall this album has really blown me away and has reinvigorated my love for Pain of Salvation. This really is a new dawn for the band and now I cannot wait for what the future holds.