As it always happens, when you think that a year has already told every musical story it can, after all expectations are met, in all that hodge-podge of great stuff a new name appears from out of nowhere. A name which certainly has a lot to offer. Truthseeker appears to be such name for me.

"Weightless at Dawn" is the first release of this Boston duo, which consists of Brendan James Hayter (songwriter/bassist) and Alex Fewell (drums) and is an introduction for a full-lentgh which is set to be released in 2012. Truthseeker is completely instrumental chemistry, with influences which run high from dark rock, ambient, doom, post-rock, metal to “squeezed“ prog rock.

I don’t know if their formula for success is having a death metal drummer playing slow rock beats or a wide range of influences or whatever, but the soundimage breaking out from the speakers is astonishing. Deep atmospherics in "Submerged" or Katatoniasque "Storm", the mixture of ambient and dark rock in "Daybreak", doomy "Permafrost" and symphonically semi-acoustic "Through the Waves" are impressive ingredients of this 5-track EP.

The prologue has been written and according to the same, the first chapter in the Truthseeker book is with good looks to become the groundbreaking record in the running opus. My eyes are on you, Truthseeker!

Pain of Salvation’s new child, Road Salt One is surely one of those albums that has been received and still is receiving many divided opinions. I suppose it’s along way from being their best, but I still absolutely love it. Some people complained about Pain of Salvation’s mainman’s eccentric philosophizing more than the music itself, but afterall that’s not what we should care about. As a huge fan of Pain of Salvation during the years, I’ve learned to carry on with Daniel’s experimenting and getting into new stuff and new mood changes.

Passing that way from being synonymous act in progressive metal community to, I’ll quote, “a band which desperately tries to get into mainstream”, Pain of Salvation, or Daniel Gildenlow if you like, is a man who doesn’t make any kind of concessions, at least when we talk about music and it’s probably a key factor for surviving in music business.

I’m kinda astonished by fact that someone could expect another Remedy Lane or The Perfect Element I record and that someone still didn’t learn the lesson of Pain of Salvation further progress and experimentation, which actually started with their first album Entropia, and got emphasized with BE, back in 2004. What’s it that separates this album from its predecessors? The answer could be simple. It’s nothing and everything. The 70’s psychedelic edge that clearly shows off from Road Salt One is pretty much intentional thing and there are few reasons for that. One of them was Daniel’s idea to create “70’s on steroids” record. The other is its recording and production, which is “clear” to fit with the psychedelic statement from above.

But still, Pain of Salvation with this record doesn’t reject their entire epochal monument, built up on its multicolourness, this is cut of their career so far, just a logical sequence of circumstances. It’s funny that the same destiny has been received for latest albums of Porcupine Tree and Opeth, but the time has proved again to be a significant factor in the comprehension of an artistic expression. You can’t simply be sure of what this album brings, it’s an eclectic journey consisted of classic rocking in No Way, bluesy thread in She Likes to Hide, the all beauty Sisters carries, the BE-ish atmosphere in Of Dust, the simplicity shaped in Tell Me You Don’t Know, the hidden treasures of cabaretish Sleeping Under the Stars, lullabyish Darkness of Mine, the grunge bits of Linoleum, punk-rockish Curiosity, the darkness of Where It Hurts, the pureness in Road Salt and heaviness of Innocence, in that particular order.

The musicianship on this record is simply with no mistakes. The improvement is most evident in Daniel’s vocals, who this time pulled out his best of the best to make such a brilliant vocal harmonies and certainly should be considered as one of the best vocal performers out there in today’s scene. I would like to point out especially keyboards, which bring new dimension in Pain of Salvation structure, with the presence of some of the classiest 70’s sound.

Lyrically, Road Salt One is a conceptual work, but different from all previous records, as it deals with few parallel stories. I can’t be sure what Daniel has had on his mind while writing these stories on the album, you’ll have an opportunity to read his words in an interview we’ve been completing with him, so if he’s of good will, he will say his secrets about its expressions.

I guess that this review is protectionally disposed, but I have to underline that I’m not noone’s protector here nor I have any profit from this, but finding this album very good and worthy of giving a chance made me probably speaks in this direction.

To conclude, Road Salt One maybe is not their best release out to date, but for sure it’s worth of every spent penny, as it DOES have some very interesting, nice, classic, feel-free-to-describe-it-for-yourself work and it certainly belongs to HUGE and divers Pain of Salvation opus. Still remains to hear how the second part will sound, so we can have, hopefully, a positive image of salted roads.

It’s a crime that the dictionary definition of “musically talented” isn’t “Ihsahn”. Vegard Sverre Tveitan, widely known as Ihsahn of Emperor, Peccatum, Hardingrock and many other projects (which are too numerous to be mentioned here), has released his 3rd solo album this year, named After. After presents a new form of the music from his previous two releases, The Adversary and angL, containing all the elements from these two records, but strictly rounded inside, with even more experimentation and originality.

Ihsahn’s experimentation, which began with Emperor’s Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise, is expanded upon greatly in this album. Who would imagine the appearance of saxes in the music of a former Emperor member? Well, it happens, and happens to work out very well. Jørgen Munkeby, a fellow Norwegian and member of Shining, does some sax work on this record and with of Asgeir Mickelson (Borknagar, Spiral Architect) on drums and the addition of Lars Norberg on bass, the tradition of having guest musicians on Ihsahn’s albums has continued.

When I say The Barren Lands is one of the weakest songs on the album, I mean that in the best way possible. This track is amazing, but the rest of the tracks are even more amazing. I just think they have more to give. A Grave Inversed is probably the only song on the album which is pleasing for strict black metal fans, but I guess that tons of other bands can be a substitute for that. Other than that, After gives us a clear understanding of the term “progressive”. It is most evident in his guitar playing, which is incredibly complex. Undercurrent is the first of two lengthy songs and it’s one of the pillars of this album, the other one being On the Shores. Characterized by a calmer opening with Ihsahn’s clean vocals, it soon becomes a real rocking hit, with blastbeats, dark keyboards and strong guitars. I find second half of the album to be more interesting than the first four songs and the absolute best is left for the very end. The last two pieces, Heavens Black Sea and On the Shores are my favorites. I must, however, praise the very nice proggy keyboard solo in Austere which reminds me a bit of Per Wiberg’s playing in Opeth. Heavens Black Sea is an interesting piece because of its rhythm changes and great guitar solo. Jorgen’s saxes without doubt fit best on this and the following track, which is the aforementioned On the Shores. This song is definitely the climax of the album. At least, I like to think so. It features all of the good elements this album carries. Well done sax parts, guitar playing and vocals with a remarkable bass section.

No matter of how much this album IS interesting, I can’t say it’s my favorite, simply because I find that it doesn’t top the first one. If nothing else, this album shows us very good, well balanced song structure that consists of calm to furious parts fly all over the record.

After all, this album needs to be listened and you will simply like or dislike it. No other options. One is sure, Ihsahn has not disappointed with this record. Still, we have to see what comes after After.