Beekstraat 1 - B-2640 Mortsel - Belgium

PAIN OF SALVATION: Be

Release

Style

Man has always been fascinated by his existence.  Who am I,  where do I come from,  why is it that…,I try to understand why…,I can’t remember when I wasn’t here…and a lot more questions with no answers.  This CD is a concept album based on several ideas surrounding existence.

There is a very important collaboration here between POS and the profound presence of The Orchestra of Eternity (TOOE).  It’s in this way that undeveloped musical areas are explored without losing their trademark sound.

The album begins with desperate gasps of air, heart beats and then a series of questions and suppositions running through people’s heads.  The intro of “Deus Nova” has a classical sounding beginning (TOOE) but then continues as the usual POS song.

The CD is arranged in a very strange way. The time counter on some of the parts runs backwards. This goes for the intro of “Imago (hominess partus)” as well, which is a very strong folk song that reminds me of The Tempest in terms of ambiance and vocals.  It’s a beautiful song with the usual POS drive that we also found on their acoustic album.  It combines folk music and nature which gives this track the right dimension.  Naturally, this combination reminds you of “Songs from the Wood” from Jethro Tull.  Once again, there’s some very nice teamwork between POS and the classical musicians of TOOE.

“Pluvius Aestivus of Summer Rain (hemines fibula inilium)” could have appeared on a classical music album.  The wonderful piano playing and the staccato violins give the feeling of a soft summer rain.  This superior piano piece by Fredrik Harmansson could easily take its place by the world’s greatest pianists such as Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson.  Absolutely superb!

The combination of POS and TOOE shines once again in “Lilium Cruentus (Deus Nova) On the Less of Innocence”.  TOOE takes the leading role in this song.

The ambiance of “Nauticus (Drifting)” conjures up images of a blues or gospel singer.  It’s neither  blues nor gospel, but rather a ‘prayer’ to be a good person.  I think it’s a good song and both the album’s content as well as this track will become a topic of conversation.

The sketch in this once again reverse counting intro of “Dea Pecuniae” is amusing indeed.  It’s typically human (although sexist) and really conjures up images in your head :-).  I’m not going to discuss its contents because this may distract attention away from the best song on the album, “Be”.  It’s a very Zappa style track that grabs your attention starting with the very first note.  Although it’s got that very special mix of classical and modern sounds, POS doesn’t lose any of their punch.  I would even go as far to say that their inventiveness has blossomed even more.  This song contains the first guitar solo and the vocals of Cecilia Ringkvist compliment those of Daniel’s very well.  It’s a song to cherish.

“Vocari Dei serdes aetae (message)” are messages that fans have left on the answering machine that have to do with God and existence.  The background music is really cool.

“Diffidentia (Breaching the Core)” and “Nihil Morari” remind me most of POS songs from previous albums.  It’s here that you find their use of structure in layers as in their earlier music.

The instrumental “Latericius Valete” tries to restore calm after the fires of the previous songs.  Beautiful church organ sounds give ambiance to the short lived song “Omni”.  Daniel’s voice on the piano intro to “Iter Impius” betrays us because this indeed is a very sensitive and intense song.  The guitar solo supports this feeling in just the right way.  It’s a very powerfully constructed song.

The closing track, “Martius/Nauticus II” contains a summary of all the songs.  This musically prestigious piece ends with some very nice drumming.  The album ends almost as it began, with gasping and the determining of ‘I am’ and then comes 3 minutes and 30 seconds of nothing, until a child telling a joke ends the album.

There were high expectations riding on this CD and after a long time of waiting, the fans will surely be rewarded.  POS has delivered, without a doubt, a mile stone that will be talked about for years to come.  The question that now remains is ‘how high has the bar been set’?  But that’s for the future.  Let us now concentrate on existence (‘Be’)!

Musicians

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Last updated: 23/12/2006 .
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