Album Review: PAIN OF SALVATION Panther (8/28)

 

Released by Inside Out Music on August 28th, 2020

Quick Background

Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the band's main songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and vocalist. The band has been thought too many line-up changes to count. Pain of Salvation's sound is characterized by oscillation between heavy and calm passages, complex vocal harmonies and song structures. The band’s first studio album “Entropia” was released in 1997. “Remedy Lane”, released in 2002,  is perhaps the definitive album from the band, hailed as an absolute masterpiece by many. I personally don't know their discography inside out, no pun intended, but I have some of their better albums and I thought the previous release, In The Passing Light Of Day, was a very good album, actually a top 10 album of my 2017's list. So I'm eager to see what Panther has to offer.

Panther

The 11th studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s In The Passing Light Of Day, Panther was recorded, mixed and produced by Daniel Gildenlöw with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, Devin Townsend) and comes with a comprehensive artwork-theme with illustrations made by André Meister. The theme of the album is people who feel that they are going through life at a different speed than our contexts and surroundings. Panthers in a dog’s world. The album features 9 new tracks in 54 minutes and opens with the single "Accelerator". This song did not help me getting into this album. The drums give the feeling of being programmed (as the band wanted) and the keys also project the electronic music flavor, not to mention the whining singing. Is it a bad song? Not really, but it doesn't interests me. It's certainly better than the title track which I can't listen to. It's awful,  Daniel Gildenlöw is raping, it could be a Limp Bizkit song. Nuf said. "Restless Boy" is not much better as it is also too electronic/industrial for my taste.

On the bright side, there are some good moments in Panther. "Unfuture" despite having the electronic flavor as well is more organic and features a better drum sound, a cool acoustic guitar and even heavier electric guitars (which is a rarity in Panther), and the vocals also show more energy. The one cool thing about Panther is the use of several different instruments and sounds, those not always work, but a few do. For example, the piano intro and acoustic guitar solo on "Wait" are just great. This 7-min song is one of my favorites. The short instrumental "Fur" also brings a new and different flavor. Another highlight for me is "Species", I like the lyrics and how dynamic the song is with some of the heaviest moments on the album. As usually, the album closes with an epic, in this case the 13 minute emotional "Icon". It's also a song that uses more guitars, including a guitar solo that reminds me of the solo on Let it Be, very nice touch! "Icon" brought strong emotions and a deeper connection with me. In other words, it worked like earlier albums.  

While I didn't like the sound of the drums, the dynamic production has its merits and it generates this 3D / spacial nice moments when listening on headphones. 

The Picky Guy

My main problem with Panther is the lack of guitars and the intense influence of electronic/pop music. The production, specially, the loop/programmed drums feeling, didn't help. The man bun on the promo pictures doesn't do me any favors getting eager to listen to Panther either. But at least is not on the cover.

Wrap Up Opinion 

In The Passing Light Of Day set the bar too high, and Panther could not live up to the expectation. Now, I am not saying that Panther is a bad album per se, but,in many moments, it's definitely not my cup of tea. The good moments as described did not fully compensate for the songs that I disliked or the choices that annoyed me, mainly the emphasis on electronics over guitars and certainly the title track with rapping. And a great song like the closer  "Icon" only let me with the feeling of "I want more of that and not the other stuff". So much so that I am giving Panther 74/100 meaning a mixed review. With that said, Panther is definitely a grower and an album that can work for those who won't be bothered by the intense use of electronic/pop music elements. 

SCORE: 74/100
Genre: Progressive Rock
Released by Inside Out Music on August 28th, 2020

Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
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