Pain of Salvation
One Hour by the Concrete Lake

Release Date: 1999 | Tracklist

“One Hour By The Concrete Lake” is the second studio album of Pain Of Salvation and was released in 1998. The line up on the album is Daniel Gildenlöw, Kristoffer Gildenlöw, Johan Hallgren, Fredrik Hermansson and Johan Langell.


“One Hour By The Concrete Lake” is perhaps the heaviest and darkest album of Pain Of Salvation. Their debut “Entropia”, had clearly its great moments, but nothing could have prepared the band's listeners to this follow up album. Creativity doesn't even is the best way to describe this album. It’s completely unique and leaves the listener never knowing what is coming next. You have to be careful with Pain Of Salvation, especially with this album, because they don’t sound like anything else you have ever heard before. You have to give them time. What do they sound like? Well, they sound like Pain Of Salvation. All their albums sound like Pain Of Salvation. This is the best I can say about them.

This is another conceptual album focused on the issues of the nuclear power and waste, displacement of indigenous peoples, the firearm industry and human discovery. The story is about a disillusioned man that works in the weapons industry and that begins to bring the morals and ethics of his occupation into question, falling into doubt about what he really is and what is he doing from day to day with the Big Machine. Will his actions are actually harmful? On the New Year’s Eve, when he backs home, he makes the decision of to discover just what affects his apparently harmless actions are having on the world in general. He sets off on a journey around the world, visiting far reaching places and becoming witness to terrible acts that go against everything he was once told and he believes. Civilizations ripped apart by war, lands left barren by environmental devastation, careless water consumption and much more things. In the last step of his journey, he arrives at a desolate shores of Lake Karachay, a place in the former Soviet Union, which was used to store nuclear waste for more than forty years and that was eventually covered by concrete to dampen the incredible amount of radiation that was present. The concrete began to split open after several years. Consequently, a person would only need to stand on the shore of the lake for a single hour before the radiation exposure reach such high levels that the person would die from physical injuries, in approximately two weeks. Horrified by his discoveries, the man returns to his home. Considering his situation, he realizes that he will never truly be able to distance himself from the Big Machine, because it’s his home and because the world is just a giant labyrinth of machines within more machines. Instead, he begins to understand that a machine is only made up of its wheels and he is nothing more than a wheel inside of other wheels. He decides to stay inside of his chosen machine in an attempt to change its direction.

Musically, the album is very deep and intricate, as usual on all Pain Of Salvation’s albums. The song structures are very well written and nothing is very repetitive on it. The songs usually go to very powerful to suddenly very soft, which is also usual. Pain Of Salvation has really some brilliant musicians. First of all, we have Daniel’s vocal range and his emotional singing. He goes from the softest and low most emotional vocals to the most aggressive. Actually, four or five band’s members sing which you will notice most of the time. There are a lot of vocal parts with subtle instrumentals. The guitars are powerful and beautiful at the same time and have some great riffs and complex solos. The keyboards are one of the most important things here, which are used very often, and the little piano parts make the album very enjoyable to listen. At the heavy parts, they’re usually in the background, and while they might not stand out to much, the songs would sound empty if they weren’t there, as if there was something missing. One of the best things about this album is how well all the instruments flow together, and all the band members play integral roles in the construction of each song, making of the album a whole.


Conclusion: “One Hour By The Concrete Lake” is considered the weakest of all Pain Of Salvation’s first five albums. It also seems to be the less favourite album to Daniel. I’m not sure if it’s true because, to my taste, it doesn’t disappoint on any level. It’s lyrically deep and emotionally intense and it’s musically rich and involved. I have to admire how Pain Of Salvation aren’t afraid to release albums that causes the listener to think, to replay tracks, to work at catching the whole of the song. Like “Entropia”, this is a very diverse and difficult album, to typify as it bridges, the little and usual cubbyholes, we like to use to categorize music. To say that Pain Of Salvation is like any other group would be to them an injustice and certainly an insult. Like Daniel said: “If you are looking for a band that sounds just like your favourite band, just forget about us. If you are looking for a band that will make you forget about your favourite band, we are there”. They’re simply their own and generously they have chosen to share simply their music with us. God bless them.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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3.8 excellent

Rank: #100 for 1999