THE SECOND DEATH OF PAIN OF SALVATION

I have to start by saying that I don't actually own this live album but after seeing the live performance on DVD at my friend's house and streaming the album off Spotify for the last couple of days I consider myself to be sort of an expert on the issue of this release and therefore will now share my views on it. If you consider these qualifications unworthy of an opinion then by all means restrain yourself from reading the rest of it.

Previously I've mentioned that every time Pain Of Salvation decides to do something for the first time they put a little extra effort into making it as memorable as possible. This happened on the band's first live album 12:5 which resulted in acoustic re-workings of the their studio material. The same thing with their live DVD of Be Live which was a well produced and choreographed stage performance of the concept album Be. Finally the band's first EP entitled Linoleum had a fun little surprise embedded towards its end.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that this rule should be expanded with an annotation that mentions that although every time Pain of Salvation does something the second time around they do something more of an ordinary nature. The Second Death Of Pain Of Salvation is a live recording of the band's 2007 performance at Paradiso in Amsterdam. There isn't anything spectacular about this particular performance unless it's put in the perspective of being the last released album featuring Johan Langell on drums who left the band after this tour to concentrate on family commitments. This, together with Kristoffer Gildenlöw's departure from the band, marks the end of a chapter for Pain Of Salvation and in that case this release does fit well into the order of things.

Unfortunately I don't rate this particular performance anywhere near the shows that I've seen this band perform over the years. I saw a big chunks of this material live at the Sweden Rock 2008 performance which, to tell you the truth, was far better than what these guys accomplish here.

I remember reading an interview where Daniel explicitly said that he found it difficult to emotionally invest time and energy in this particular production because of the changes that the band underwent at the time. It's true that the DVD production isn't top notch but it's nice to see that there was a lot of effort put into the design of the artwork and menus in order to simulate a sort of fictional TV-series feel to it. This doesn't really enhance the performance which is still the main attraction of a live CD/DVD purchase but at least it counts for something.

There are of course a couple of highlights like the unexpected performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah which actually fits surprisingly well into Pain Of Salvation's repertoire. I also liked how the band's didn't try to hide their influences in the intro to Cribcaged which did originally remind me of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here on the studio album recording, but here the band actually starts the performance off by playing that famous intro section!

I guess the fact that I restrained myself from purchasing this live album speaks louder than any words and there were quite a few of them in this review, so you can't blame me for not trying.

***** star songs: Hallelujah (9:04)

**** star songs: America (5:55) Nightmist (7:47) Handful Of Nothing (7:43) New Years Eve (5:47) Ashes (5:25) Undertow (5:10) Brickworks 1 (Parts II-IV) (6:25) Chain Sling (3:59) Diffidintia (7:35) Flame To The Moth (6:03) Cribcaged (6:23) Used (5:42)

*** star songs: Scarsick (7:09) !(Forward) (6:47) Disco Queen (8:14)

Review Nº 363

In 2001, after the release of 'The Perfect Element Part 1', Pain of Salvation was the headliner of the Prog Power in USA. They were also the headliner of Dream Theater Fan Club Convention, receiving great reviews, including Mike Portnoy, the Dream Theater's drummer, who said that he was the number one fan of the group. They also realised other several shows and participated in several live festivals such as the Dynamo Open Air, the US Powermad and the Prog Power Europe, in Netherlands, as headliners. Daniel Gildenlow participated, as a musician stage playing guitar, keyboards and backing vocals on Transatlantic's live album 'Live In Europe'. After that, Portnoy invited Daniel and Pain of Salvation to open the future Dream Theater's European live tour. In 2008, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, the Ayreon's mastermind, invited Daniel to be as one of the seventeen singers on his rock opera '01011001', which was to be released in the same year.

What I want to mean with everything I wrote before is that Daniel was a much appreciated musician and that Pain Of Salvation was one of the most respected bands in progressive music and was also one of the most original, innovative, progressive, unexpected and controversial of all. So, it was with great expectation when I got this live album from them.

'The Second Death Of Pain Of Salvation' is the second live album of Pain Of Salvation and was released in 2009, in a double disc format. The album features the full concert video from the Paradiso show recorded in 2 March 2007 in Holland. The concert was also released on a DVD version. So, you can buy the video version instead the audio version.

'The Second Dead Of Pain Of Salvation' is the only album with the participation of the new bassist of the band Simon Andersson, who replaced the original bassist Kristoffer Gildenlow, in those times. It was also the last album featuring Johan Langell, the original drummer of the group, who was replaced by their new French drummer, Leo Margarit.

The album has sixteen tracks with eight tracks on each CD. The band decided to revisit all their six studio albums, at the time, with live versions of some tracks from those albums. There are also two tracks that don't belong to those albums, at least, in their original format. So, from 'Entropia' we have two tracks, 'Nightmist' and '! (Forward)'. From 'One Hour By The Concrete Lake' we have two track, 'Handful Of Nothing' and 'New Years Eve'. From 'The Perfect Element Part 1' we have two tracks, 'Ashes' and 'Used'. From 'Remedy Lane' we have two tracks, 'Undertow' and 'Chain Sling'. From 'Be' we have only one track, 'Diffidentia'. From 'Scarsick' we have five tracks, 'Scarsick', 'America', 'Flame To The Moth', 'Disco Queen' and 'Cribcaged'. Apart all these tracks, the band decided to include another track, 'Brickworks 1 (Parts II-IV)'. It was originally recorded on their live album '12:5'. The band also included another track, 'Hallelujah'. This was totally unexpected because this isn't a Pain Of Salvation's song. This is a live version from a song originally composed, recorded and released by Leonard Cohen on his album 'Various Positions'.

The live performance and the music are pretty perfect. The overall effect is that here we have the band on fire. There is a heavy leaning towards 'Scarsick'. But I guess this isn't surprising since this was the 'Scarsick' live tour. However, elsewhere this is a real 'best-of' run through their career to date. Highlights are the vocal performance from Daniel, which at times really does take your breath away. The guitar inter-play between he and Hallgren is also fantastic as is the energy they create working the stage and crowd in unison. The intricate vocal harmonies, drum work and the various atmospheres created by the use of keys and piano are also given a full platform. All the performances here are solid and entertaining. The more midpaced songs work better as the band has more room to mess with the arrangements. The faster songs on the other hand occasionally feel rushed and more frantic. Of particular note, as always with this band, are Daniel's vocals, which expand from the original melodies and into new exciting territory. The backing vocals are also solid, leading me to suspect studio overdubs, but the end result is quite a pleasure to listen to.

Conclusion: 'The Second Dead Of Pain Of Salvation' is a fantastic live album very well performed, very well representative of the repertoire of the band with songs from all of their studio albums until then, and it has also a very good, interesting and surprising live version from 'Hallelujah', of Cohen, which curiously became the most beautiful moment of the concert with a healthy communion between the band and fans. I would say that 'The Second Dead Of Pain Of Salvation' is a must have for all fans of the group, as there is only one 'new' song here, the Cohen's cover song. It certainly doesn't divide their more traditional fan base because it works much better than some of Pain Of Salvation's more recent previous attempts, especially 'Scarsick'. So, 'The Second Dead Of Pain Of Salvation' is, in my humble opinion, one of the best live albums in the lats decade, is an album not to be missed, and is also for those who aren't familiar with the band's music, a good way of presenting the group's music and its evolution, until that moment.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)