Pain of Salvation - Road Salt One Lim. Ed review

I finally hold Road Salt One (or Ivory as I prefer to call it) in my hands (and I like it so much that I want to eat it :P) and must say that it is a fantastic album. Road Salt is pervier than any previous work of PoS and full of soul despite the light hearted attitude it seems to have at the first listen but then (much like Disco Queen) when you start paying attention at the lyrics it all starts to sink in and take shape. You gotta turn things around to reveal their true nature ;)

It must be me but some parts of it reminded me of feelings that BE brings to me so that's a huge compliment for the album :) I must say the booklet is gorgeous. If I have one wish for the future of PoS is to keep making albums like Road salt 1 :)

I would like it to be a bit longer. The songs are shorter than what PoS got us used to but they don't lack greatness :)

"What she means to me"

More an intro than a song that sounds alien at first but when "No way" begins it feels like an answer to the first song :D No way has some fantastic lyrics and Daniel Gildenlow does amazing things with his voice in this album.

"She likes to hide" is a song that takes you back in time. It's a mix of blues meets PoS for jamming and the melody follows you around for hours after :D

"Sisters" is the first great big shiny diamond of the album. Not that the previous songs are bad but "Sisters" rips my soul to shreds, duct tapes me up again and then tosses me down a cliff. The piano is haunting and beautiful and it feels like a soundtrack to a very sad love story. I cried a lot when I first listened to this song. I still cry ocassionally...

"Of Dust" is the next big shiny crazy diamond. It's kind of a chant/gospel like song(It rings a "Nauticus" bell) that has some heartbreaking lyrics. There's also a spoken part in it which PoS considered removing and to be honest I'm very glad they didn't. "Of Dust" is a song that's not made for single material but comes back to haunt you when you least expect it.

"Tell me you don't know" is another time machine song. White Stripes meet the Doors and then Join PoS in their jamming sessions to give us this light hearted song. /loves

"Sleeping Under the Stars" is the weirdest song of the album. "Wait, darling wait for that sound of electric guitars" it starts but guitars are nowhere to be heard on this song! There are some nifty alien (to rock and metal music) instruments though, like mandolin :3 This is a road dirty song that also has a melody that sticks around afterwards.

"Darkness of mine" is an on and off song starts low then rises in the chorus then goes low again and has nifty lyrics!

"Linoleum" is the known and love same song we listened on the same titled EP of 2009. Daniel's vocals impress me more and more with each album. Linoleum, although I can't consider it a new song is my next big shiny diamond.

"Curiosity" is the most perv song of the album. It might sound vulgar but it is obviously played with a humouristic attitude and if you're offended by it I'm sorry but your humour sense is broken. Go buy a new one.
"You say love is divine well baby, so is mine
See, the only time I hear you take the name of the Lord, is when you're tied to the bed with your face against the headboard
So, do you take it in vain? Then why would you take it again and again?"


"Where it hurts" is a great ballad with breathtaking lyrics and a very promising, soon to come videoclip. Another road diamond.

"Road Salt" is another song I already knew due to its participation in Melodifestivalen (Eurovision). EV is an extremely shallow contest though so songs with heart and soul rarely belong in it. Lovely diamond I relate greatly to. I think I prefer the Eurovision version but that might just be because I got used to it since March.

Finishing with "Innocence" which is a song several people found boring and uninteresting but I really love it. It's shorter than the usual ending track of PoS but that might as well be because this album is only part one and was conceived as a double album. Maybe that's why it felt so small in the first place.

In conclusion, Road Salt contains 13 songs, 5 of which are HUGE DIAMONDS and the rest are fantastic as well. If you like Pain of Salvation and beieve that progressive music should be static then you're a dork and shouldn't listen to this. If you don't mind experimentation and pushing one's limits then you're going to cherish Road Salt.

I belong to the second group.
/ [Jitter]

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