Rarely has a musical turn been so laborious. After a "Scarsick" that turned a progressive page of the band, all horizons were open for the Swedish band. For those who hadn't understood the message of "Scarsick", a new EP allowed to prepare everyone to this rawer, more compact sound, far from the melodic flights of yesteryear, while making the fans wait. Indeed, following the damage that the record crisis inflicted on their record company, it's with a certain delay that the first part of this "Road Salt", subtitled "Ivory", is finally released.
Why a musical turnaround? Because, quite simply, Pain of Salvation is no longer in prog metal. For confusing reasons, Gildenlöw never wanted to be associated with this style and with "Road Salt" all ambiguity is now eliminated since there are almost no solos, very limited keyboards that never have the role of lead and a raw but never metal sound. The style becomes in fact indefinable, marked by blues ('Tell Me You Don't Know'), hard rock ('Linoleum'), psychedelic touches ('Where it Hurts'), grungy touches ('Curiosity' could have been on the last Pearl Jam, no?) and even quirks, like 'Sleeping Under The Stars', taken directly from Mr. Bungle's 'California'.
So here we are in front of catch-all which passes without any problem thanks to an abrasive and monolithic sound. The road is arid and the album is a way of the cross that can be listened to almost in suffering with a very thick and raw guitar sound. Feelings like helplessness, or the pain of certain choices are born naturally and realistically in Gildenlöw's lyrics . Rarely has the theme of sex shaken me as much in a song as with this moving "Sisters". That's also what "Road Salt" is all about: a story you can listen to.
Unfortunately, if the album is pleasant as an entity, few tracks stand out. Some are very anecdotal ('Of Dust', the pushy 'Innocence', 'She Likes To Hide', etc...) and some others are not fabulous either. Thus 'Road Salt' is intense but too mellow, 'Darkness of Mine' is nice but without rhythm, 'No Way' whose solo seems improvised makes us regret the interventions we were used to, etc... It's also a pity to note that on more compact formats, P.O.S. simply lacks melody ('No Way').
All this gives a mixed result. The new face of the band is very seductive, and above all very credible as it seems to naturally stick to what the musicians want to transmit. However, the songs are not all up to scratch, and a taste of 'too little' remains irremediably. It remains to be seen what will happen next, and to measure to what extent this average double album could have been a fabulous single album.