Pain of Salvation
The Perfect Element, Part 1

Release Date: 2000 | Tracklist

“The Perfect Element, Part 1” is the third studio album of Pain Of Salvation and was released in 2000. The line up on the album is Daniel Gildenlöw, Kristoffer Gildenlöw, Johan Hallgren, Fredrik Hermansson and Johan Langell. The album had also the participation of Camila Andersson, Pettter Axelsson, Mihai Cucu, Gretel Gradén and Johnny Björk.


“The Perfect Element, Part 1” is the first part of two planned musical conceptual pieces around the childhood and adolescence. Its second conceptual part would be released in 2007, as their sixth studio album, not under the name of “The Perfect Element, Part 2”, but under the title “Scarsick”.

Their debut album “Entropia”, was favourably received by both, the media and fans of the genre. The material for their second album “One Hour By The Concrete Lake”, was composed amidst a difficult period that resulted in the amicable separation of guitarist Daniel Magdic and the band. Just prior to entering the studio, guitarist Johan Hallgren was drafted and tackled the impossible task of learning all his guitar parts in record time. “One Hour By The Concrete Lake” was described as being heavier and darker than its predecessor. The album reaped outstanding reviews once again and began to cement the band’s reputation as being an important, powerful new force on the progressive metal scene. Their third album, “The Perfect Element, Part 1”, balances between the hard and the delicate, the grungy and the powerful.

As usual with the band, this is another conceptual album, this time focused on the forming of the individual personality, particularly on the events that marked our childhood and adolescence and that will shape our personality forever, making us what we are today. The subject is a bit more focused on the social and educational aspects of the forming of the individual person from adolescence to adulthood. “The Perfect Element, Part 1” explores many themes within its context. It includes some and very different aspects such as child abuse (sexual and physical), sexuality, tragedy, drug abuse, love, pain, anger, loss (of live and innocence, among other things), shame, regret, despair and inner struggles. All these themes are dealt as a story that explores the live of two fictional persons, one male and one female (known in the lyrics as He and She), which are two broken and dysfunctional persons. As Daniel said, “The Perfect Element, Part 1” shouldn’t be seen as an autobiography or a true story of the band’s elements, despite some parts of the concept and its emotions are influenced by their lives. However, other parts are there because they only want to emphasize them.

Musically, the album has a great variety of musical styles, ranging throughout. It goes from the more aggressive style, to the softer and low parts that any Pain Of Salvation fan will come to expect of any of their albums. The song writing is absolutely incredible. Another element that works very well and adds something to the progressive style of the band is the continuous musical theme that runs throughout. The music is something you can relate to and feel the emotions expressed through the lyrics. The album is quite dark and at times very depressing. Every song represents a theme or an element representing the development of two people, (He and She), from childhood to adolescence. Another good thing about the album is its high level of consistency. The album is captivating from the first to its last track, almost equally, and it flows together as a symphony. It has got an intricate technique, very strong and with very efficient melodies when it comes to feelings, and where everything is just perfect. The music seems very simple, but where all the musicians, well analyzed separately, prove themselves to be very creative, technically skilled and very qualified, especially while considering the small details, and of course, watching all the arrangements, focusing on creativity. Vocal arrangements are perfectly clear, musical improvisations and arrangements are constant and quite creative, the solos are genially composed and finally the keyboard suits created the general ambience by the whole album.


Conclusion: On “The Perfect Element, Part 1” all songs are great, and even thinking this is a conceptual piece, you can listen to any song you want and still get the same effect, without having to listen to it in order. As with all Pain Of Salvation works, I recommend reading the lyrics while listening. It makes the experience much deeper. I love everything about this album, from the musicianship, the song writing, the lyrics and vocals, to the pacing of it. This is really a perfect album, where the songs flow and move gracefully from mood to mood, from crushing power to whispering atmosphere. The high standards of their two previous albums are moved even higher. The complexity of the music is wonderful. As with their other two works, the attention to details makes the music sweeping on a grand scale. The atmosphere against which the music paints its picture is detailed and richly textured. “The Perfect Element, Part 1” has a sound all its own, yet, it can be perfectly connected musically to Pain Of Salvation previous and subsequent releases.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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4.3 superb

Rank: #11 for 2000