PAIN OF SALVATION — The Perfect Element, Part 1 (review)

PAIN OF SALVATION — The Perfect Element, Part 1 album cover

Album · 2000 · Progressive Metal

1.5/5 · 2011-07-02
Isa

The only disappointing "masterpiece" I've yet encountered.

I suppose I'm just one of those people that I've seen before who find this album dreadfully dull and uninteresting, rather than a five star masterpiece. In general, I tend to agree with the opinions on this website when it comes to highly rated bands and albums. In fact, there are only three prog-metal bands of the many I've heard that I just could never enjoy on any level. I can say that Pain of Salvation, particularly with this release, is one of them.

I have tried to listen to this album about ten to twenty times, and almost every time I wanted to turn it off out of shear boredom and annoyance, and often did. The main problem is that every track that came on, I'd think, "oh cool, this is kind of an interesting intro... I wonder how they'll develop the song from that." And they never really did. Granted, the music itself sounds like it was put together in a pretty balanced way usually, but I never got out of the feeling of waiting for the song to go somewhere, only to be disappointed as it ended.

This is indeed progressive metal, and of the slightly more eclectic and less cliche type, using sounds and instrumentation that breaks even the mold of the progressive metal sound. This is the soul reason for me giving this more than a one star, is the uniqueness of sound. Guitar tones are pretty nice, and vocals are competently in tune with decent (albeit alternative sounding) tone.

Unfortunately, it's the composition, the rise and fall of a piece, the melody, harmonies, riffs and solos that make up the interest of a song for me personally. This album sounded more like a mushy mass of eclectic sounding prog metal in the end. The vocal melodies (and even the harmonies) were dull. The riffs were dull. The transitions between sections were dull. If I were to imagine something moving to this music, it would be a humanoid mass of sludge trying in vein to walk forward despite its own weight dragging itself back. This is the image, the feeling I had in my mind for every song beginning to end.

These are good musicians, and the album has good production, but the composition is just so under-developed that I have no interest in really pursuing other albums, except to find redemption for this band in for my ears. If you're a fan of this band, go for it. As highly rated as this album is, I reckon if you like their other work, you'll probably like this one.

more than 2 years ago
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The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Also I really like "Be" though it is pretty difficult. To put it mildly haha

The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

1.5 for this album, and I thought I had some counter mainstream reviews! lol
It is a well written one though and hey, we all got our opinions!

Bartje1979 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

"Be" your second fav? Ok, I will wipe off the dirt of it and give it another chance.
It's funny to see how much tastes and opinions can differ.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

"Be" is my second favorite PoS album after this one - if you can deal with tons of pretentiousness and such, you should enjoy that one as well! :-)

Bartje1979 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Quote Isa: "In fact, there are only three prog-metal bands of the many I've heard that I just could never enjoy on any level."
PoS is one of them. I was just wondering which are the other two.

Bartje1979 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I agree with J-man. At first I was also disappointed with this album. It was not what I expected after masterpiece "One Hour...". After rediscovering this album much later, I began to love it.

Hopefully I will also love "Be" one day, another so-called masterpiece collecting dust on my shell.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Of course, it does seem like you've thoroughly examined this one before dismissing it.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Well, PoS is quite different from your average prog metal group. I discovered them through "Remedy Lane", which I had initially hated... I actually hated it so much that I put it in my CD rack and didn't touch it again for another 6 months! When I finally re-discovered it with a pair of fresh ears, my opinion changed and I now consider it a 5-star masterpiece. :-)

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I have to say, I don't like this one either, or this band for that matter, which has always been a surprise to me given how well regarded they are. They just never 'clicked' with me.

Xaxaar wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Actually haven't gave this one a shot yet, but surprised to see such a low review for it; usually see it getting praised. Like to see a good bad-review of this.

P.S. Nice name. ;)

Isa wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I appreciate the comment! I really wanted to like this album too, it had such a good variation of timbres.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wow, I never thought I'd read a review I disagree with this much! Of course, it's always interesting reading the opposite opinion, though - this is a well-written review and I enjoyed reading it... except for the part where you forgot an additional 3.5 stars in the rating. ;-)