Review Summary: A powerfully complex, emotive record that impacts the listener in a deeper, more personal way with each listen.
When I sit down to listen to “Remedy Lane”, an album which I have probably listened to a total of 50 or 60 times, I still hear every moment of it so clearly. There is a phenomenon that an avid or even casual music fan knows where the shine of a great song or album dulls off over the course of many listens. For some this can be remedied by revisiting those certain works much later or going on a music “tolerance break” (for lack of a better term) so as to polish that shine once more. But there are some albums that surpass that phenomenon, albums that reach deeper into one’s soul upon each new listen. These albums are few and far between, but are timeless and game changing. Long story longer, “Remedy Lane” is one of these albums, and if you listen once there is no going back.
While I hate doing reviews that go through each track on the album, this is an album that warrants it, as every single track on this beast has some kind of brilliance that cannot be overlooked. Starting off are what I view as the two “Intro” tracks. “Of Two Beginnings” and “Ending Theme” both set the stage for the rest of the album, with passionate vocals from Daniel Gildenlow, singing and belting out lyrics that paint a beginning picture for the record, with themes of love and loss, and the strange yet beautiful journey that is life and growing up. There have been comparisons made to this band and Faith no More and Fates Warning, but while there are some minor cosmetic similarities, I assure you PoS are entirely their own animal. Next “Fandango” rolls in, quite literally. This song is like a serpent coiling and unwinding with strange time signatures and brilliant vocals and instrumentation. Each instrument on this track stands out apart from the rest, but the keys are the main highlight. The soaring chorus and pre-chorus are a delicious taste of what is to come later, especially and the next masterpiece of a song.
“A Trace of Blood” is the best track on this album, it has one of the most powerful and genuine choruses that give me chills every time. It’s progressive, beautiful, haunting, and it’s genuine progressive metal, in that it treads new ground with exciting, and meaningful passsages. The distant and technical overshadowing of most Prog Metal is what Pain of Salvation have taken and turned inside out, with the technical prowess taking a back seat (make no mistake it’s still there in spades) and the emotional and lyrical themes being the star. The fantastic songwriting and musicianship is merely there to bolster the already masterful themes of this record.
Truly one of the best love songs of all time, “This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)”, is a romantic and convicting display of love and passion. The bridge of this song is truly chilling and shows Daniel’s authentic feelings for his wife, even though it is told from the perspective of a character on the album. Juxtaposed with this is “Thorn Clown”, a track that only appears on the Japanese Special edition, but is essential nonetheless. This track has multiple layers, progressions, and an overall spiteful and downtrodden atmosphere to it that is like no other track on the album. The ending of this track is one of the most blistering and chilling moments here. Continuing the loud and soft alternation theme is “Undertow” a simple, less progressive track, that builds on the same theme in a superbly original way, climaxing at Gildenlow screaming “Let me drain, Let me die”. The character has reached the end of their rope so to speak, their misery being the only thing left. And so begins “Rope Ends” on the most technical, strange, but original pieces of music I have yet to find. All of the instruments here are cohesive and rhythmically put together in one of the best compositions I have ever heard, continuing “Thorn Clown”’s use of 7/4 to 6/8 and 4/4 to 6/8, but in a much more impressive manner. Also, the bridge of this song is one of the most fun, bouncy, and entertaining portions of the records.
“Remedy Lane” is one of my favorite autumn records, and the next two tracks “Chain Sling” and “Dryad of the Woods” captures this atmosphere flawlessly. The former track is a frantic, bouncy and percussion driven song that gives the image of a ball, two lovers dancing in a feverish frenzy, and the latter is a calm, pristine walk through an autumn forest, a gentle wintry breeze blowing calmly. The title track that ensues is not a grandiose 10 minute epic like on Pain of Salvation’s previous record “The Perfect Element”, but is simply a electronic encapsulation of some the melodic themes on the record.
The final act of the album contains 2 songs that are certainly growers, “Second Love” being the weakest ballad on the album, but still magnificent. “Waking Every God” is a song I have come to love, although admittedly I used to skip it quite often to get the grand closer. It’s chorus is catchy, the keys are outstanding, and the final piercing high note Gildenlow hits at the closing of the song is one of the top moments on the album. Not many albums have a perfect closer, that completely and satisfyingly wraps up the last 50+ minutes of music. “Beyond the Pale” is that perfect closer. Clocking in at just under 10 minutes, this is a track that is gripping, edge of your seat catharsis, where Gildenlow is growling frenetically, an image of someone coming to grips with their direction in life as a result of turmoil and tragedy, but ultimately coming to grips with the fact that there is no saving, and there are no saviours. Humanity is fallen and selfish, and the only truth is that life is hardship and growth as a result.
