Pain - Psalms Of Extinction review
| Band: | Pain |
| Album: | Psalms Of Extinction |
| Style: | Gothic industrial metal |
| Release date: | April 18, 2007 |
| A review by: | jupitreas |
01. Save Your Prayers
02. Nailed To The Ground
03. Zombie Slam
04. Psalms Of Extinction
05. Clouds Of Ecstasy
06. Play Dead
07. Does It Really Matter
08. Computer God
09. Just Think Again
10. Walking On Glass
11. Bottle's Nest
12. Bitch
Up to this point, I always thought Peter Tagtgren's clumsy attempt at making industrial rock had the most appropriate band name ever: it was indeed a pain to wade through this stuff. And yet, the masochist that he must be, Pete continued releasing albums under this moniker, to the horror of reviewers and fans of substantial industrial-tinged metal out there. His latest release, Psalms Of Extinction, most likely wont change your mind about this side of his creative output, whether you are embarrassed to even listen to Pain or if you're a misguided fan. With all this said, I have to report a marked improvement of Tagtgren's formula on this album.
The said improvement manifests itself mainly in the songwriting aspect of this release since the lyrics are still laughable (at best). The kitschy keyboards have been toned down and Peter rarely resorts to the trademark "toneless Swede trying to sound emotional" style of melodic singing that plagued previous albums. Instead, he often uses his death metal rasp, which is, as we all know, extremely impressive and works wonders in almost any context. His delivery varies between low-register forceful singing (think goth-metal), chanting, whispers and the afore-mentioned death metal roar. The guitars also have a more prominent role on this album. I think the obvious conclusion of all of this is that Peter simply shouldnt overexert himself in tackling styles far removed from his death metal lineage as by far the best songs on Psalms Of Extinction are those that make a fair use of monolithic riffs, screams and fast tempos. "Save Your Prayers" is by far the best example of this as it is a thoroughly successful and enjoyable song. The title track sounds like something from Hypocrisy's self titled release and as such is also a powerful song. The rest of the album is mediocre but not "painfully" so. Just dont listen to the lyrics: "You have to feel real bad/Before you can feel good again", "Master of disaster has raped my soul again/I feel like shit and my body hurts", "Pardon my French, slimy bitch"... Well, these quotes speak for themselves.
Except for a handful of songs, I would never recommend any of the previous Pain albums to anyone unless they were looking for a chuckle. Psalms Of Extinction isn't as much of a waste of time and can even surprisingly be a fairly enjoyable release, provided you're listening to it at a party or something, where you cant pay attention to the lyrics.
 | Written on 19.10.2007 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool. |
Comments
Comments: 16
Visited by: 171 users
| brclmu Posts: 7 |
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| dancingdecember Posts: 264  |
well "nothing remains the same" had some enjoyable songs and i listened to this album too but cant remember any of it.who seriously cares about pain,i wouldnt know.so peter can do all the things with it to ease his mind i think 
---- i'm super, thanks for asking
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| =maD.Doc:. Melodeath Master Posts: 386  |
I can't possibly agree with what you say. I love all Peter's work, not everything with Hypocrisy though. But he is just a mastermind, even Pain is great. So thumbs down for this review 
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| DavePigHunter Posts: 4 |
I agree with Reconciler! Some of Hypocrisy's work isn't really good, although most of it is. Pain, to me, is just as good! Its just a different kind of music that u need to open up to. Yeah the lyrics are a lil weird but i guess that adds to the flavour of the whole concept. I do not agree with this review. 
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| Promonex Cathemeral Elite Posts: 9720  |
Written by =maD.Doc:. on 19.10.2007 at 22:39 Just in case you never noticed: a review in just an opinion by the reviewer. Whether a review is good or not depends NOT on whether you agree with it, but whether it gives you an accurate impression of how the release sounds like and whether the reviewer can back up his opinion with solid arguments. That's just what this review does, so simply bashing a review just coz you don't like the reviewer's opinion displays nothing but ignorance and close-mindedness.
---- All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now. - The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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| albatros Posts: 261  |
Written by Promonex on 19.10.2007 at 23:51 I think, it is a misconception, that a few polished words can give an "accurate" impression of how a release sounds. What music does inside the nervous system of a human being is dependent on so many variables, that the word "accurate" in my humble view is completely out of place. So the lyrics are bollocks ? The phrase "You have to feel real bad/Before you can feel good again" is senseless, just on the reviewers say-so ? You are calling that "solid arguments" ? Anybody who ever gave up drinking could tell you a long story around that particular phrase. So I don't think it's senseless at all. And what may be "kitschy" to one man may be "atmospheric" to the other .. just ask all the Rhapsody fans out there ... So, no, I don't agree with that reasoning of yours, Promonex. This review is just an opinion, yes, but it contains so many general and derogatory remarks about Pain, that it should be no surprise, if a few opposite opinions show up. The reviewer has enough self confidence to bash a world class project, then he will also survive a little flak from ten thousands of  I'll go instead and see the band in question play tonight ... how about that ?
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| Danny Thomas Posts: 552  |
Written by albatros on 20.10.2007 at 00:53 i guess i'm one of those "misguided" fans. i have rebirth(my favorite), nothing remains the same, and dancing with the dead, and i must say i enjoy them. pain is different, and the lyrics can be ridiculous at times, but i don't think ti was worthy of such negative criticism either
---- Our children are dead. Burnt in the ruins that were left by war.
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| Promonex Cathemeral Elite Posts: 9720 |
Written by albatros on 20.10.2007 at 00:53 And that's exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say. No, the lyrics are NOT bollocks just because the reviewer thinks they are. No, the keyboards are NOT kitschy just because the reviewer says so. And no, the review is NOT crap just because you don't agree with the reviewer. That's his opinion, that's what the music does to his nervous system, it might do something else to yours, BUT he does back up his opinion with reasons and examples. Of course a review doesn't relieve you from making up your own mind, but it does tell you what you can expect. If you try to see where the reviewer is coming from and compare his standards to yours you can imagine whether you'd see things as terrible as he does or whether you would disagree based on the reviewer's elaborations. I for my part don't find those lyrics mentioned all that bad, there are far worse out there (Aeon anyone?), but I can somewhat relate to his judgment of Pain's older works. Now what this review tells me is that "Psalms of Extinction" is Pain's best album and a lot more worthwhile than their other material due to better songwriting, more versatility in the vocal department and less emphasis on keyboards. So for you this review might simply be negative and derogatory, while for me it is an incentive to give Pain another try rather than just passing them on like I did with their other material.
---- All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now. - The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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| =maD.Doc:. Melodeath Master Posts: 386 |
Written by Promonex on 19.10.2007 at 23:51 I know it's just an opinion, I'm a reviewer myself. And I'm sorry for not giving a more accurate argument because I was really tired at the moment I wrote the comment. So, I like the review how it's written, but I just said I don't agree with the reviewers opinion about it  It was not ment to be taken like you've taken it >__< Sorry for the missunderstanding.
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| albatros Posts: 261 |
Fair enough, everybody I rest my case. For me Pain means fun and also a therapy against the adversities of life. I like the older material a bit more than the new songs, though.I just saw Pain play in Munich and loved the concert. It took a while, before they had gathered their full strength, but after a few songs they had the little hall synchronized. Their support Zonaria was also remarkably strong.
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| Asat0r Posts: 961  |
Can't say I agree with this review, though it's good to get opinions on albums from people other than die hard fans. You at least get a little different views from both sides.
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| Jigoku Shoujo Account deleted |
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
I don't think you heard the same album as I did. For some reason you liked Pslams Of Extinction when before you had never liked Pain, but to announce stylistic changes to justify that is misleading. This album is just as "electro-friendly" and "poppy" as all other Pain albums. Quite honestly, I thought Dancing With The Dead was even catchier.
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| AnGina-- Dark Phoenix Posts: 3555  |
Pain yes, Pain no... Gosh  everybody are entitled to their own opinion!I for example, love Psalms of Extinction! It's a great album, but I do have to admit I needed some time before it really grew on me and TBH I could never be objective, cause I am a huge Pain and Peter fan! But nonetheless, I like some of his work less, some more, and POE is IMO a great album. I actually ENJOY his lyrics for being somehow a bit oridnary and not ''old english romantic deep'', he expresses his everyday's life like he was talking to a freind, so what. After all the ''deep lyrics vauuu bullshit'' sometimes it's good to hear a song like Bottle's Nest - cause I get br00tally drunk myself too and not remember a thing  Kitchy keys... Well, if I thought keys or electronics would suck, I would just stick to Peter's work with Hypocrisy. Electronics are the main reason Peter started with Pain. And I love it how some songs are almost club-like-let's-dance, some have this really harsh sounds and it shows that the electronics was added to the song and was not the basics; and I especially enjoy his cover of Björk's Play Dead - Peter has this amazing ballad voice... But hey, tastes vary from one to other and I think review isn't bad - just because I don't agree with it - it's well written. I don't take sentences as ''lyrics are laughable'' as an insult, the writer just has a firm opinion, he manifested with sarcasm. Hell, if I were to write a Power/Heavy/Prog review, I would probably be banned from all metal sites on the Internet  Go Peter 
---- You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was a man. But it was nothing to me but blinding.
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| Feirund Posts: 5  |
I keep wondering - why do you keep reviewing PAIN, if you obviously know NOTHING about what it's all about? Damn it, reading what you spit out is even more PAINful, than listening to Tagtgren's music - have to hand it to you - you've got talent.
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| Kuroboshi Posts: 1202  |
The worst thing about Pain, is that he is so goddamn inconsistent in track quality. He really has talent for writing fillers, I'll give him that. I mean, Play Dead, Just Think Again and Does It Really Matter might have some fine message behind them, I didn't really care, because those three songs just totally blow. But on the whole, it's a pretty nice album with some nice touches here and there. Best tracks: Nailed To The Ground, Zombie Slam, Psalms Of Extinction, Bitch
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