Pain Of Salvation - Be (2004)

Artista: Pain Of Salvation

Álbum: Be
Año: 2004
Género: Heavy progresivo experimental
Duración: 75:58
Nacionalidad: Suecia

Lista de Temas:
1. Animae Partus (I Am)
2. Deus Nova
3. Imago (Homines Partus)
4. Pluvius Aestivus
5. Lilium Cruentus (Deus Nova)
6. Nauticus (Drifting)
7. Dea Pecuniae
8. Vocari Dei
9. Diffidentia (Breaching the Core)
10. Nihil Morari
11. Latericius Valete
12. Omni
13. Iter Impius
14. Martius / Nauticus II
15. Animae Partus II

Alineación:
- Daniel Gildenlöw / lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Frederik Hermannson / Grand piano, harpsichord
- Johan Langell / drums, percussion, vocals
- Kristoffer Gildenlöw / acoustic basses, cello
- Johan Hallgren / guitar, vocals

Otros suecos en el blog cabezón. Y de acá en adelante me referiré a ellos como POS sólo para escribir menos.
Muchas veces hemos nombrado en este blog a esta banda, y la verdad que nunca la habíamos presentado oficialmente, y acá vamos con "Be", quizás su obra más obsesivamente ambiciosa debido al concepto que trata. Pero vamos después con el disco, primero presentemos a la banda, liderada por su alma mater, multitalentoso Daniel Gildenlöw, un músico que ha tocado en Flowers Kings............ preciso violero y con una voz potente y cargada de una profunda carga emotiva....

El grupo ha nacido en el seno del metal progresivo y poco a poco, a lo largo de su carrera, fue incorporando elementos de otros estilos, siempre zambulléndonse en una experimentación que se dá bastante poco en ese estilo (no porque no haya experimentaciones, sino porque el estilo POS es, básicamente una combinanción múltiples géneros musicales de lo más variados), siempre a combinado de manera precisa las partes más melódicas y delicadas con elementos más potentes y experimentales, como pueden escuchar en el siguiente video donde se los puede ver en vivo justamente en la presentación de este disco que fue algo parecido a una puesta en escena teatral, se los dejo para que los vayan escuchando (y viendo) aquellos que no conocen la banda, mientras sigo con la descripción primero de la banda y luego del disco.

Debemos aclarar que, a lo largo del tiempo, la banda ha variado tanto, que hoy ya realizan algo que está muy lejos del metal progresivo conque comenzaran su carrera. Otra característica de la banda es el hecho de que cada álbum es un álbum conceptual con letras bastante emocionales y complejas.

BE es el quinto álbum de estudio de la banda sueca de metal progresivo Pain of Salvation, publicado a través de InsideOut Music en septiembre de 2004. Es un álbum conceptual que trata sobre la existencia de Dios y la humanidad. Además de los miembros de la banda, el álbum presenta a una orquesta de nueve músicos, llamada Orchestra of Eternity, que desempeña un papel importante a lo largo de la grabación. Es el último álbum de la banda en el que interviene Kristoffer Gildenlöw al bajo.

Wikipedia

Y he aquí la historia completa de la primer parte de la existencia de la banda:

Daniel GILDENLÖW es una especie de niño prodigio de la música, pues ya a los 11 años llamaba la atención de los medios de comunicación en Suecia, por la gran capacidad musical que mostraba al frente de su banda REALITY. Era 1984. Siete años después, la banda aún seguía en activo, ahora rebautizada como PAIN OF SALVATION (POS), con el inquieto Danny siempre al frente y con un estilo que cubre un rango amplio de estilos, pero que en general se puede ubicar como un progresivo metálico con tendencias góticas.
Entre 1991 y 1994 POS ganó gran notoriedad al participar en varias competencias musicales, ganando la mayoría de ellas o, de perdido, quedando entre los finalistas. Desde entonces quedó claro que los activos de mayor valor en la banda eran su creatividad, su enorme talento musical, la amplia variedad de géneros que incluyen en sus composiciones y sus interesantes arreglos vocales.
El primer álbum de la banda, "Entropia" (1997) despertó mucho interés entre los aficionados al metal, pero fue en "One Hour by the Concrete Lake" (1999), cuando empiezan a darle forma a un estilo propio, que combina el sonido clásico del rock progresivo con grandes dosis de metal, aderezado con jazz y otras influencias del lado "industrial" (...).

Manticornio

¿Terminó el tema del video?. Aquí les dejo otro tema mientras leen lo que sigue:

Mientras se alejaban de ese sonido de metal progresivo que tanto les caracterizó, y mucho se los ha criticado por ello, pero no debería asombrar que una banda que justamente lo que hace con más definición tiene que ver de lleno con la experimentación y cor recorrer sus propios caminos, no se quede en un solo lugar y explore nuevos estilos, nuevos caminos y nuevas formas de hacer música. Pero por mucho que se diga, a POS nunca se le debería reprochar seguir los designios de ese monstruo llamado comercialidad, pues la metamorfosis parece deberse más a cambios de gustos o necesidad de comenzar nuevos recorridos y perseguir otros intereses personales, que a una fría y calculada estrategia de marketing.
Este álbum fue el primero en dividir la opinión de los fanáticos (que hasta ese momento venían del metal), debido a que es musicalmente experimental y de naturaleza filosófica. Su sonido es caracterizado por poderosas guitarras, grandes rangos vocales, cambios abruptos entre pasajes fuertes y calmados y experimentos con polirítmicas.
Pero vayamos a la crítica del disco en sí, y ya he dicho que se trata de un disco bestialmente complejo y ambicioso, basado en nada más que en la historia del Universo, presentando a un Dios muy humano, buscando su Destino y luchando contra su soledad. Pero mejor les dejo este comentario porque a mí seguramente no me saldrá tan bien como le salió a su autor:

Después de mucho pensar cómo describir este álbum, me decidí a ponerme a escribir sin tener un plan en mente, pues "Be" es un concepto demasiado ambicioso, demasiado amplio, como para poder describirlo en un par de párrafos. Desafortunadamente desconozco otras obras de PAIN OF SALVATION (POS), así que no sé si en aquellos Daniel GILDENLÖW también ocupa un papel tan importante, porque en éste se encargó prácticamente de todo: es el creador del concepto, la investigación y las historias detrás del argumento; escribió casi toda la música y todas las letras, narraciones y textos; realizó todos los arreglos orquestrales; produjo el álbum y grabó casi todos los instrumentos, excepto la orquesta; mezcló las pistas y premasterizó el audio; vaya, ¡hasta diseñó los logotipos y el arte del álbum!. Es decir, "Be" es la creación personal, filosófica y musical, de Daniel GILDENLÖW.
Dediquemos un momento al concepto que justifica al álbum: es la historia de un hombre de negocios, infiero que asombrosamente rico, que invierte su dinero en tecnología criogénica y se hace congelar, con instrucciones precisas para que lo despierten cuando la medicina haya avanzado tanto que pueda hacerse inmortal… sus instrucciones se cumplen al pie de la letra, pero cuando despierta tarda poco en descubrir que es el único humano que eligió la inmortalidad, pues nadie quiso seguir viviendo en un planeta estéril, desolado por la contaminación y los constantes abusos de la raza humana. Por lo que alcanzo a entender de las notas incluidas en el booklet, esta historia de ficción es simplemente el pretexto para presentar dos ideas filosóficas infinitamente más perturbadoras; la primera de ellas se plantea la idea de que si Dios ha existido siempre, seguramente se encuentra tan perdido acerca de su origen como nosotros, y que creó el mundo a su imagen y semejanza como una especie de laboratorio para simular las condiciones que pudieran explicarle Su origen… … … El otro concepto director se deriva de asumir que hay algo de verdad escondida detrás de todos nuestros mitos y leyendas, un mensaje que ha sobrevivido a lo largo de millones de años, almacenado en cada vorma de vida de nuestro planeta, que habla de un origen o estado de conciencia previo. …er, demasiado denso para esta reseña, pero suficiente para darnos cuenta de las inquietudes intelectuales de este joven sueco.
Hablando de lo que más nos interesa, la música, debo decir que lo primero que pensé al desempacar el disco y ponerlo en el reproductor fue: AYREON. "Be" es una ópera rock, y como tal, creo que le debe mucho a los trabajos de Arjen LUCASSEN, en especial "Into the Electric Castle". Por supuesto, no se trata de un clon, pero si presenta muchas familiaridades. Otras influencias notables son PINK FLOYD, JETHRO TULL (en ‘Imago’) y el "Tales from Topographic Oceans" de YES. Hago la comparación con este último no tanto por el sonido sino por la disparatada ambición conceptual de ambas obras. Sin embargo, también creo que "Be" es una obra maestra, y una sorpresa verdaderamente agradable de escuchar. La música es muy variada, y hay una gran cantidad de momentos instrumentales soberbios, varias melodías agradables y un ingenioso uso del contrapunto.
Sin entrar en muchos detalles, comentaré algunos de los cortes que más me gustaron: ‘Pluvius Aeternus’ es una bella pieza para piano y cuerdas, que quedaría muy bien en un álbum de David LANZ, no sé si los fans de POS opinarán igual, pues no es lo que uno esperaría de una banda de metal, por muy progresiva que ésta sea; ‘Lithium Cruentus’ es excelente, con una línea de bajo muy interesante, y muy bien cantada; ‘Vocari Dei’ es impresionante, pues se trata de un collage de emociones reales: meses antes de la grabación del álbum la banda le pidió a sus fans que marcaran cierto número de teléfono e imaginaran que se trataba de la "línea directa con Dios". Los fans se lo tomaron en serio y el resultado fue una muestra de los sentimientos más variados e impactantes que podemos expresar. La banda seleccionó entre todas las llamadas y juntaron un mosaico verdaderamente emotivo. La mejor parte del álbum, en mi opinión, comienza con ‘Nihil Morari’ y dura hasta el final. Esta sección es más poderosa y variada que lo anterior, y construye un clímax que estalla en ‘Marius/Nauticus II’, y nos deja emocionalmente drenados, listos para el desenlace en ‘Animae Partus II’. Nota: a pesar de los títulos en latín, toda la obra está cantada y contada en inglés, correctamente pronunciado y sin mucho acento extranjero.
En suma, si te gustan las épicas tipo AYREON, y quieres disfrutar algo de música que te deje pensando un buen rato después de escucharla, "Be" es perfecto. Si te gusta el progresivo y quieres oír algo refrescante, también te recomiendo este álbum. Los únicos decepcionados, tal vez sean los aficionados al más pesado de los metales, pues aquí hay poco de eso.

Martín Hernández

En "Be" conviven múltiples géneros y marcó el final de una etapa para la banda, casi podría decirse que esto no es metal progresivo y estaría bastante acertado, yo diría que en lo cierto. Las composiciones de POS tienen algo de particular, pueden hacer algo sumamente complejo, utilizar sutilezas de todo tipo, ritmos complejos, mezclas de estilos únicas, etc. etc., pero las canciones siguen teniendo "gancho", siguen una línea melódica, y eso es algo que generalmente no pasa y es un doble acierto: la intrepidez musical junto con la búsqueda de buenas melodías, y las dos cosas de la mano.

No puedo creer que a esta altura todavía no haya subido nada de Pain Of Salvation... pero bue, en definitiva tampoco subí de Dream Theater. Sera porque quizás haya demasiadas criticas sobre estas bandas y uno prefiere hacerse a un lado.
Este disco es una de las grandes obras conceptuales de la musica progresiva…
Es un disco muy extraño, y la impresión que causa verlo en el DVD de "Be" puedo asegurar q es mucho mas impresionante…por eso si queda espacio en el rigido, te recomiendo que consigas ese dvd…o bien, te hagas una escapada hasta el parque Rivadavia y lo compres porque es uno de los mejores que he visto…sobre todo por lo perfecta que es esta obra conceptual.
Pocas veces sucede que al escuchar un album lo encuentres como una sola canción, contado como una verdadera historia y logre te metas tan adentro de la obra que no quieras ir directo a un tema sino seguir mirando minuciosamente todo lo que sucede... para mas, todos estan vestidos de una manera tan tenebrosa y el ambiente de oscuridad creado es tan particular que cada vez que escucho el disco siento que me transporto a esa atmósfera.
El disco pasa por mucha música clásica pero de la buena (tipo el barroco de bach), por musica celta ''Imago''… la parte bien heavy ‘’Diffidentia’’ y ‘'Lilium Cruentus’’ (uno de los mejores del disco)…la parte lenta ‘' Iter Impius’’ ,‘'Vocari Dei ‘’ (hermoso tema en el que intenta hablar con Dios,es perfecto lo que se logra con los armónicos!!), en fin... se distribuye por todas las facetas de esta música que tanto amamos.
OTRA VERDADERA OBRA DE ARTE! una película musical si se quiere... que pueden apreciar en la parte donde dice ''Musica y Videos'', haciendo click en las canciones del disco, y presionando finalmente donde esta la ''tapita'' del disco en el reproductor.
Gildenlow y compañía lograron la perfección en este disco.

Mauroprog

En cualquier caso, al final todo acaba resumiéndose en una cosa: entras o no entras en su nuevo estilo. Esto es POS en un disco peculiar,
multicolor, controvertido en su momento entre los admiradores del prog metal, y seguramente sorprendente para quienes miran al género progresivo desde fuera. En el video final les dejo el recital completo donde presentaron este disco.
Dale, basta de castellano, pego alguna cosita en inglés:

Progressive rock, like all genres, has its dangerous extremes. Black metal has straight-up church burning and satanism at its lunatic fringe, power metal has the specter of gigantic wigs and makeup looming over its more ardent practitioners, and for prog rock and prog metal...well, you could just show bands this album and say "Just don't go THIS far and you should be okay." BE is prog metal with a capital PROG; a textbook example of what happens when you go too far.
I'd be lying if I tried to talk at all about this albums "basic" concept, because it's anything but basic. Looking up PoS's BE website calls up a couple dizzying frames of reference: a list of literature that inspired BE that reads like a who's who of sci-fi and philosophy authors, and a several page long list of the concepts for BE; the kind of list that, as you scroll through it, you'll reflexively respond with a "What the fuck were they smoking!?" Most bands don't even put this much thought and effort (and likely hallucinogens) into their entire career's worth of albums combined.
If I tried my best, BE is about the human condition seen through the eyes of both man and through the eyes of God...an amnesiac God who's trying to figure him/herself out again. Confused yet? Don't worry, you will be in due time. The songs go from self-contemplation, to human history, to human caricatures (Mr. Money? Subtle.), to answering machine messages to god from PoS fans (literally) to defiance against god, to the apocalypse, to 3 minutes of silence after God gets his head straight, ending with a jump scare and some little girl telling a dumb joke. This album could only make sense in Daniel Gildenlow's obviously deranged mind. The lyrics are just as cryptic...well, when it's not Mr. Greed Strawman talking.
As for the music side of things, it's actually pretty good, when it doesn't feel like the music is completely subjugated to the concept/lyrics, like in Imago, Nauticus, and Diffidentia, with Diffidentia being the standout song on the entire album. It's just that the story is so dense and hard to follow, that when its time for exposition or moving the plot along, it comes out feeling meandering and uninteresting. Aside from a few truly inspired or haunting moments (the final human population tally is pretty goddamned disturbing), there's just no pacing and very little consistent atmosphere.
BE is a prog album so completely stuffed to the gills with layered concepts and steeped in deeper meanings and high concepts that any soul it might have had has been completely squeezed out, leaving the listener with an experience that's rich in lyrical subtext but devoid of feeling, bordering on clinical and impenetrable. This isn't an album, it's a trippy, wibbly-wobbly musical dissertation on overpopulation and existentialism, like a brilliant analytic mind writing a grad school sociology paper while high on peyote and shrooms. It might sound brilliant if you read it aloud, but it'll still be a 200-page essay on the purple space octopi in our brains driving the course of evolution.

Satosuke

Upon deciding to write my second review based around albums which neglect their otherwise good music in order to be artsy and conceptual, my mind quickly settled on Pain Of Salvation. Of course, when dealing with Pain of Salvation it's basically a matter of randomly selecting an album, and you'll find an album with some good sections of music, suffocated like an infant face down in its cot by conceptual wankery, but BE stood out to me in this regard. In fact, I've rarely heard a band forget about writing music as blatantly as Pain of Salvation has here.
This album even lacks the good music that makes other unnecessarily lengthy and convoluted albums like The Perfect Element manageable and still enjoyable. So in this case, the concept of the album has completely decayed all remnants of music to the point they're almost impossible to find. Between novelty songs and interlude tracks, there's around 20-25 minutes of actual songs on this release. This is an interlude carpet bomb spraying all over the soundscape of this album. There are a lot of tracks which serve no purpose other than to advance the storyline or concept through spoken sections. Even worse is that these masses of interludes are not even done efficiently, for some reason Gildenlow finds a way to stretch out telling people that the world is horribly over populated to over 2 minutes, while not saying anything interesting, just reading out some history notes, whilst completely smothering an impressive guitar solo at the same time.
Just look at how the album begins, intro track, followed by interlude track, followed by a little upbeat folk-style track which feels like a novelty to my ears. Admittedly, Pluvius Aestivus is a very nice little piano piece, but it still feels like an interlude, despite there not being any music for it to break up yet. Finally, after four tracks, and about 14 minutes, you get your first real song. And note that all tracks, regardless of length or style have about 20-30 seconds of padding on either side of them, just to make the album just that little bit more bloated and pompous.
This release maintains musical wastage at around that level for the whole album. Which makes BE a ball-crushingly excruciating and unbearable experience for its grotesque 75 minute run time. The band tries basically every type of imaginable excuse to not write a regular song, Gospel tracks, Bluesy southern swampy folk rock, 4 minutes of answering machine messages, hell, even random sound clips that seem to be some kind of joke, but are completely unrelated to the music, such as the couple in the car at the end of "Nauticus". Then, once they're out of ideas of filling up the album without writing real songs, they just make second copies of the interludes. That's right, there's a TWO Anemae Partus tracks, both of which are nothing but a female spoken vocal saying pointless crap, there's a second Imago silly upbeat folk song, for some reason it's called Nauticus II, despite not sounding a thing like Nauticus.
As for the songs, they're not anywhere near the best that band is capable of. The heavy riffs are as poor as they've ever been, but really, the bands heavy side has always been their main weakness, as they generally play stuff that's pretty dull chug riffs. Where these songs fail is that the melodies are often pathetic. The 10 minute Dae Pecunae, which is known for having very little happen in those 10 minutes, has one of the stupidest melodies I've laid ears on, and it keeps up that same silly jingle for the majority of it's run time, for the great majority of the 6 songs that actually exist on this album, this is mirrored. Poor to average melodies, played for extended periods of time. Not to say that there are absolutely zero moments on this release where the music is enjoyable, there are a few. And when they happen, particularly when combined with Gildenlow's vocals, it's pretty damn enjoyable. However, there's about 6 minutes tops of this, so it's negligible.
The band is still fond of all of it's little symphonic touches, adding string sections to most songs, I myself have never liked those, and BE doesn't change my views. They still take way too much control of the music, leaving the band being fairly dull, as the samples actually make the song. Such the flute in the heavy section of "Lilium Cruentus", which shows the band doing nothing of interest, as the sample makes the piece of music interesting. It feels like a cop-out, and that the band themselves don't have any ideas. This is a thought I get a lot on this album, due to more than just the symphonic samples. However, there is one element of the band I found myself liking more than I ever have. Daniel Gildenlow's vocals. I for one never really liked his voice much; he's usually far too effeminate and weak. Not to mention his love of rapping, which is really my only complaint with the vocals on this release, there is still rap, and it still sucks. But other than that, his voice is strong, powerful, well pitched and passionate. Yes, actually passionate, rather than whiney as I usually see him. It doesn't go very far in saving this album, but it helps.
BE is by far the bands worst traditional album. The new one is worse, but it's clearly in a different direction than usual. Get this if you like interludes, but hate it when those damn songs get in the way. However, if you're not a moron, I recommend you avoid this.

lord Ghengis

Pain of Salvation's overly ambitious concept album BE is truly an album I've been skeptical to reviewing. When I had first listened to this album I'll admit it was my first exposure to the band itself through a close friend, i was completely blown away at first and loved the album and the concept seemed all right, though honestly not the highlight. The concept itself is what makes it overly ambitious. From the beginning of the album i wasn't sure what to expect.
While tracks like Imago, Iter Impius, Lilium Cruentus, among others were definitely memorable, and amazing tracks, the album found moments where it was lacking. Tracks like Dea Pecuniae are way too long not to mention boring low points, and a lot of the tracks seem to interpret well the meaning they're trying to focus on. The piano instrumental for example, seemed completely unnecessary, and tracks like Vocari Dei while fitting with the actual theme, could have been done with out and instead replaced by quality songs which the band can definitely write.
There's much good, and much more that's unique about the album, i'll give it that, however the remainder is unfulfilling, completely pointless, and the emotion of the album itself doesn't flow well with each track being completely different that eventually the original concept and feeling they're trying to express gets completely lost among the mediocrity found floating between the few pockets of gold that are to be had with this recording.
Not to say as an entirety the album is a flop. It's definitely a successful endeavor however I feel Pain of Salvation might have bitten off more than they could chew with this concept and this album. It seems lacking in some aspects which would have easily given this record a 95-100 rating no problem after multiple listens to the recording since its initial impact. I feel Pain of Salvation given their potential could've accomplished so much more, though given the appalling followup with Scarsick, maybe it's just inevitable that amazing bands will eventually lose their touch and potential completely. Well worth a few listens, but after that this album doesn't stand up to the other timeless classic concept albums by other progressive rock/metal bands alike.

mentalselfmutilation

How can I say this intelligently? BE is the reason that I now read reviews for albums before I get them. To compare BE to anything else would be like missing your favorite TV show, or losing your favorite movie...or having sex but falling asleep before the orgasm. Putting simply, Pain of Salvation missed the point of music due to excessive concentration on a topic that was much too big.
A few years ago I discovered Pain of Salvation from a mix given me by a friend that contained "Ashes." I went to the store and purchased The Perfect Element not long after. Listening to TPE was incredible. The first time, I had an orgasm, metaphorically speaking. The second listen, I had another. The third and fourth were the same. Pain of Salvation, to me, was a band that could do no wrong. Thus, I eagerly awaited BE, as I knew that I would eventually get their other albums when the opportunity arose. Christmas came and I was the proud owner of BE. I immediately went to my computer, popped in the disc and began listening.
When I say "listen to music," I don't mean "throw in a random selection and read a book." I mean, that on a Friday night, you might watch a movie, go out and drink with friends, or go on a date; Friday night I sit in front of my computer and listen to music. Nothing else. I did the same thing to BE. The album ended. I said to myself, "I must have zoned out, let's play it again." I repeated that process another two times before I finally stopped denying the truth: BE is the worst album ever made. Here is why: Daniel Gildenlöw is a pretentious whore and cannot make music without wanking out a ridiculous concept. It worked for him on TPE, and on Remedy Lane. However, on BE the aforementioned concept was too big. Not that it was bad, it's an amazing concept that attempts to answer the questions that all of humanity has been asking since the beginning of time. The lyrics are pretty well written as well. They tell the story in intelligent language and give you assurance that there are still good lyricists out there. However, there is little or no music on this album.
Aside from a little keyboarding, strumming, and percussion-ing to accompany the intelligently written lyrics, there are three (3) times when there is music...and I use the term loosely. Those three times are:
Imago: Good due to its use of a folk theme that seems to describe the root of all humanity
Pluvius Aestuvius: Reminiscent of classical piano pieces. Always a good thing
Iter Impius: This is what Pain of Salvation is really like, and a fine achievement of progressive metal in general. The only complete song on the album in that it doesn't just sing about feeling, it shows you feeling.
What kills these three songs is that one must wade through an ocean of crap to get to them.
Animae Partus: a minute of random voices talking about existence.
Deus Nova: 3 minutes of a decent riff and my history notes for lyrics.
Lilium Cruentes: 5 minutes of boring music and emo lyrics
Nauticus: 5 minutes of low boring vocals. If I wanted that I would go to church
Dea Pecuniae: 10 minutes of boring blues metal. Good vocal performance
Vocari Dei: 4 minutes of people praying on the phone and boring piano.
Diffidentia: 7 minutes of mediocre riffage.
Nihil Morari: 6 minutes of Deus Nova part 2. Same riff, news reports for lyrics
Latericius Valete: 2 minutes of a decent acoustic riff
Omni: 2 minutes of good emotional vocals over a funeral organ
Martius/Nauticus II: 6 minutes of a boring Imago re-hash
Animae Partus II: someone says "I am" then four minutes of silence before you hear a kid say "There's room for all God's creatures. Right next to the mashed potatoes"
Gildenlöw stated that when he had nearly finished the album, he realized that there was no human element for their listeners to relate to, and this is why he came of with Mr. Money and more pretentious wanking. This is the fatal error in Pain of Salvation. The purpose of music is to make people feel what you are telling them. If one is writing good music, then the listener will understand the emotions you are trying to communicate. However, Gildenlöw missed the point of conveying feeling through music and added more to a concept that was already much too big.
What do I mean when I say "too big?" It is simple. One cannot hope to adequately probe the mystery of God, the creation of mankind, what will happen to mankind, how mankind will end, and answer the all important question of "Why?" in one hour and fifteen minutes. It cannot be done. It has taken millions of years for humanity to get understand as much as it does now (which is nothing), what makes this winker think he can do it in an hour and fifteen minutes?
In conclusion, BE has every respectable musician, dead or alive, puking their guts out due to the lack of music and overabundance of pretentious storytelling. Don't buy, don't download, don't even acknowledge its existence.

Reikmuthe

Oh man...this was an interesting one. Starting with TPE, then Remedy Lane, I loved PoS. Everything about them, their emotion, great musicianship, interesting and new songs, great lyrics, it was all good. But people seemed to tell me to stay away from BE. Why? It was way different, got tangled up by the concept, they said. And I believe they were right.
Be has an exceptional concept revolving around population growth, god, the evolution and greed of man, the apocalypse, and a man named Mr. Money who cryogenically freezes himself to awaken in the future where everything is supposed to be perfect. Sound complicated? Good, because it is. It's very hard to swallow the first time you listen to it, which is why I'm reviewing this now when I got the album about a year ago. The concept itself is very good. The lyrics are great, the execution...well, good, but unfortunately, the execution of the concept is so good that the band kinda forgot about music. Yup, they forgot everything about what made their music great except for their concepts. Music takes priority over everything. Skill, concepts, lyrics, it doesn't matter if your music sucks. It's not that this music sucks, it's just that there's so little actual music to speak of that it just ends up feeling like the music sucks.
It seems like when PoS breaks away from their concept even just slightly, the results are fascinating. For example, track 5, Lilium Cruentes, seems to have less relevence to the actual plot than anything else, and yet it is by far the best piece on the album. Excellent orchestration perfectly complementing the guitars and vocal line, with good amounts of emotion. Admittedly, some concept pieces are excellent. Iter Impius revolves around the conclusion of Mr. Money's story, and very rarely has such emotion been displayed in music. Gildenlow's vocals have been progressively worse since their debut (although he's still just about the best singer in music), and he has some very conspicuous flinch-worthy spots in this song. Despite that, emotion oozes from this piece, with a great chorus and a great and logical progression in the song. Great songwriting. Imago, the third track, also shows what PoS can do with an orchestra and a concept, taking on a sort of tribal feel with great vocals and amazing creativity.
Other pieces are utter garbage. Track 2, Deus Nova has a barely ok riff but otherwise is simply boring. Important concept-wise...garbage music-wise. The longest piece on the album, Dea Pecuniae, has the best vocal performance on the album, but is otherwise rather boring, relying on a blues/funk beat throughout the whole song that hardly ever changes. Once again, concept-wise it is exceptional. Music-wise it sucks. Seeing a pattern?
Some are more debatable. Track 6 is a slow gospel-styled piece with some excellent vocals. It's repetitive and not very like PoS at all, but it's honestly not horrible once you listen to it more than once, with some genuinely amazing vocal work. And when fit into the rest of the album, it works quite well. As does track 4, Pluvius Aestivus, a touching piano/strings song with snapshots of melodies taken from the whole album (sorta like the title track from Remedy Lane). It's a very nice piece.
Any piece not covered is pretty much the epitome of mediocre. Tracks usually are touching or disturbing within the scope of the album and very fitting, but musically they just aren't fun to listen to. No redeeming qualities. It's not that I'm not a fan of difficult music. Devin Townsend's Infinity is my favorite album of all time. But this is not only difficult...even after comprehending it, all you get is a bunch of faux pretentious prog metal that can't stand on it's own two legs without the concept. Some people will love it. The concept is fantastic, as PoS's always are. And sometimes the music is great too. But the concept is the main attraction here, with no room to breathe.
54/100 from me. Great when it's on. Pretty bad when it's off. PoS can do better, just like Yes could have with Tales from Topographic Oceans, but

FishyMonkey

Here we have it, the fifth album from Swedish progressive metal gods Pain of Salvation, and by golly it doesn't disappoint. Although a step down from Remedy Lane, it is still an amazingly beautiful, complex, mysterious masterpiece the likes of which we have only come to expect from these guys.
On this album the lyrical concept is more complicated than they have ever had on any of their previous albums. Allegedly it's so complex that Gildenlow can not even begin to explain it all in an interview. Basically, it deals with issues of Creationism, failures of humanity, God, and the like. There is a special theory that God is just as seeking and clueless as we are, fashioning himself in our image, etc. From an interview I read once, it is blatantly obvious that Gildenlow has done extensive theological, biological, philosophical, and other kinds of research in order to blend different theories, historical accounts, etc. into a consummate lyrical odyssey. If you really want to get to the nitty gritty of things you have to visit the different links that he recommends that you visit and go to their website. Otherwise, you'll only be scratching the surface.
Anyway, this album is a step down from Remedy Lane because it lacks the raw, naked power, the emotion, and the general kick-ass quotient, but it is still a force to be reckoned with. Musically, BE runs the gamut from prog rock to metal to gospel to blues and more. Just listen to the interlude track Nauticus(Drifting)...it sounds very akin to an old slave chant of the Civil War days or what have you. Also, there is a great gospel vibe to Dea Pecuniae(which has GREAT lyrics by the way), a vibe that you might equate with Pink Floyd a la The Great Gig in the Sky.
Other standout aspects of the album include the piano track Pluvius Aestuvus, the melancholic, visceral song on track 13(I can't remember the track name), Daniel Gildenlow's vocal performance(as always) and the interlude track which features people from all over the world leaving messages on 'God's Answering Machine'. What these messages are are actually prayers. It was PoS's idea to capture people from everywhere praying to God and record it as some massive prayer session for a track. I think it was a wonderful idea. It's very poignant because the people praying seriously doubt the existence of God(one even just wants to put faith in his friends and his family) because of his supposed absence from their lives and it captures one woman crying and prayers in different languages. I've even found myself crying on several occasions listening to this track. It's just so heartwarming. Thank God for interludes in metal...without them it would just be total complexity, total harshness, total dead-on raw emotion, total technicality, etc. all the time and that's no fun.
So, in closing, this is yet another great album from a great band whom I still feel can do no wrong. When I buy Entropia and One Hour By the Concrete Lake I will see if this still holds true.(I'm sure it will) Please, PoS, maintain your consistency and don't ever give us a Train of Thought in the future. Haha.

Necrobobsledder

This is probably Pain of Salvation's most varied, maybe their deepest concept album so far. I mean, they have an entire orchestra performing on this album, which adds viola, violin, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, and tuba. Not to mention the band members play harpsichord, piano, keyboards, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, mandola, many different kinds of percussion, "Chinese Archo," EGGS, and "floors" (what the?) This album contains some of PoS' best songs and worst songs, not to mention, some of their most innovative and experimental songs.
I loved One Hour by the Concrete Lake and Perfect Element I, but for some reason when Remedy Lane was being released, I never got into it. This album seemed to be getting a lot of hype, so I decided to get it and it has renewed my interest in the band and I will definitely get Remedy Lane soon and probably 12:5 to complete my collection.
You've probably heard all about the concept by now, about the nature of God and man, how we were created, etc. Daniel even writes a little introduction to it in the booklet and how it's been on his mind since 1996 and he had to get it out. I don't mind the concept or anything, I don't know, I like to focus on the music a lot more.
The album starts out with "Animae Partus," a manipulated-voice intro realizing that "I am," nothing musical, but very necessary to get the concept off the ground. Then it goes into "Deus Nova" which starts with some flutes, strings, and piano, then Gildenlow starts reading off various years from 10,000 BC in increments of 500 and how much the world population was at the time. It's kind of scary, since it goes up by about a million each increment at the beginning, slowly increasing, and then suddenly exponentially increasing by 5.6 billion in the last 500 years. I can't imagine what this number is going to be in another 500 years. After this, is one of the most fresh and exciting new Pain of Salvation songs to date, "Imago." It is very folk inspired, with a Celtic feeling with flutes and oboe! Oboe is probably my favorite instrument; it always adds such a memorable feeling and makes it feel good to be alive. This is definitely one of my very top favorite songs by them. "Pluvius Aestivus" is another one of their most memorable songs for me at least, one of the best instrumentals I've ever heard. It starts out with suspenseful buildup, and then consists of delicate, cascading piano melodies with cello plucking, after a while adding more strings and the piano playing just keeps flowing beautifully. This really makes me think of millions and millions of years passing on, maybe sitting in a time machine, starting in prehistoric ages, gradual changes like climate shifts and human beings appearing and beginning civilization taking place within seconds, the landscape rapidly changing before your eyes, suddenly stopping to arrive to the destination, present day. I don't know if this was what they were going for, but it's certainly what I picture.
Next comes "Lilium Cruentus," more of a "normal" Pain of Salvation song, containing flutes in the background but mostly the heavy goodness fans are used to, and of course Gildenlow's hugely diverse vocal talent, very good. Next is "Nauticus," which is one of the worst songs in the universe. It's an extremely slow-paced, monotonous gospel thing, then turns into a vulgar little skit which might seem a bit funny but I'm not really looking for that in the middle of a Pain of Salvation album... this track is terrible, I ALWAYS skip it. Then is "Dea Pecuniae," despite what some others think, I think this song is alright, again the band is trying something different, a very blues-inspired track with some deep "Ba-Woo" vocals in the back at the beginning, although is a bit too long and melodramatic near the end. Next is "Vocari Dei," another track which a lot of people seem to criticize, but I really like it. Yes, people are leaving messages on "God's answering machine," and God doesn't seem to return his calls very well. The music behind this song is very uplifting, with gorgeous flute, piano and acoustic playing, and the calls/prayers suggest a slew of different emotions and different cultures. I'm not a religious person at all, but this is a good, effective part of the concept, if you ask me, and I think it's the perfect length. I guess I tend to like the more experimental/conceptual songs rather than the more traditional ones on this album... And some guy asks God to "help him fly," I don't know what's up with that.
`Diffedentia" is a decent, more traditional song that breaks down into some softer, symphonic parts, "Nihil Morari" similar, containing a layer of strings over most of the song and some news clips and future predictions for the world population. "Latericius Valete" is mostly an instrumental, kind of folksy at the beginning, with acoustics and piano, later adding strings and getting more powerful, very good. "Omni" is a short song with news clips flowing in and out about disasters and such, with ominous organs in the back, later adding harmonized vocals. "Iter Impius" is possibly the best song on the album. It starts with a delicate piano melody, and that gentle, yet mighty voice of Gildenlow that hasn't been heard much here, progressing fantastically by adding strings and some flute, constructing the perfect harmony, later getting heavier, then an incredible guitar solo... this song is highly symphonic and all-around very solid, when hearing this it's hard to believe a few other songs are so disappointing. `Martius/Nauticus II" is also excellent, but the best part is when it goes back to what "Imago" sounded like a little, but a bit different, altered to sound more like an ending than a beginning, for a truly epic feeling. The album closes with some heavily pounded ethnic drums, unless you count the last track which isn't really anything.
All in all, this is one of the best albums I've bought this year, and like I said, rekindled my interest in the band. If you're new to PoS though, I would probably suggest "One Hour..." or "Perfect Element I" first.

IcemanJ256

So after PoS had released 3 near perfect albums and one album I had considered flawless, my expectations were high. Not in my wildest dreams, however, did I imagine that PoS could create an album better than The Perfect Element. Somehow, they did it. What they made, BE, is the greatest album ever recorded.
The story is outlined nicely by the previous poster, but it must be noted how in depth the story actually gets. If you think Scenes From a Memory was complicated you wont want to bother figuring everything out in this story. The fact that the story is so amazing, flows so nicely, and is expressed so well through the music is one of the main reasons BE is so powerful. From the anti-climatic spoken voices of "I Am" to the soaring chorus of "Iter Impius", I've never seen lyrics fit music so absolutely beautifully.
What PoS have done here musically, is mixed a million styles, yet somehow maknig them sound coherant. The very folky and upbeat "Imago" moves almost unnoticably into the absolutely amazing keyboard piece "Pluvius Aestivus" followed by the western sounding "Lilium Cruentas". What isn't so amazing is that they use so many styles, it's how they use so many styles that all sound so natural and in place. This is true progressive. This is what progressive is all about.
One complaint I've heard quite a bit is that there is too much spoken word, which I just dont understand. Just skipping the first and last tracks, which are 100% spoken word leaves maybe 2-3 minutes of spoken word on the rest of the 70 minutes of music. This point is also helpful to point out to everyone that if your out for soaring progressive riffs and crazy keyboard and guitar solos, sorry but this isn't your disc. This is true much moreso of this disc than even the rest of PoS' discography, which is also very minimalistic. And if your looking for a disc full of metal, again, sorry. This CD is mostly rock, with tastes of metal all around (Diffidentia etc.)
If you are wondering "Hmmm this album sounds like I may enjoy it, what songs should I check out to see?" DO NOT get individual songs from this disc. This is easily one of the most necessary-to-listen-all-the-way-through albums I've ever heard. Although the songs all have their own identities, and songs like "Diffidentia", "Iter Impius", and "Dae Pecuniae" could still stand alone as some of the best songs ever written, it's just best that they be listened to together in context (Especially songs with the Deus Nova reprises etc.)
If for some reason you are a fan of PoS, progressive rock, progressive metal, or just music in general and haven't listened to BE, I feel like everyone in the world should give it 2-3 listens. It may not be for everyone, so if you dont like it dont force yourself, but almost everyone I know who gave it a few solid listens was amazed with this album, it's truly the masterpiece of the year, and very possibly the greatest album ever made.

PsyKoCracker

Since discovering this band just over a year ago, I haven't awaited a release as much as this since I was 14 years old. Be is not a "metal" album although it is performed by a progressive metal band. There are maybe 4 tracks that can be considered metal: Lilium Cruentes (5), Diffidentia (9), Nihil Morari (10), and Iter Impius (13). Iter Impius really isn't all that metal. It's just heavier than the other songs on the album.
While most people say concept albums should be listened to in their entirity to capture the "glory," that idea REALLY holds true for this album. Of the 15 tracks, there are only a few stand alone songs with their own themes that aren't repeated in this album. It really is a complete story in itself...an ambitious one at that. For this album, Pain of Salvation have enlisted a small orchestra to compliment the music. They add a lot of depth to the sound without totally overpowering the main instruments.
The story is about our existence...past, present, and future. It's about how the world came to be through the first thoughts of "Animae." In track 2, we are given a population count of the earth leading up to present day where the human population is experiencing exponential growth. Track 3, Imago, is pure folk...not just folk influenced metal, but it doesn't come across as weak.
We are told of how humans have created 3 major things--God, Money, and Machines. In track 7, Dea Pecuniae, we are introduced to Mr. Money, who was created by man to serve us in our barter-oriented societies. However, Mr. Money has become so powerful that he has become our inanimate ruler. We are his slaves. This track is backed up by some pure blues followed by a huge rant monologue by vocalist Daniel Gildenlow as Mr. Money is thanking all of us for making him the most powerful thing in the world.
Track 8, Vocari Dei Sordes Aeta, we have a very soft acoustic, piano-based instrumental with 'samples' of various people leaving a message for God on his answering machine about why he seems to have abandoned us. The irony is...man created God too.
Diffidentia (track 9) is a very slow droning metal track with some very soft piano interludes. The vocals here do the monologue thing again in a couple of places. The ambience of this song is incredible. The small piece orchestra really shines in this track. As for the concept, it represents the point where humans give up on working toward a common goal once we realize there is nothing we can do except glorify ourselves as our own god.
Track 10, Nihil Morari, is the highlight of the album for me. This is the heaviest track complete with a very Meshuggah-esque 5/4 rhythm with some very disjointed sections that really play with your balance. The English translation of the title means "nothing to stay for." We re-visit the population count in this song where the earth's population continues to rise by another 50% in the next 50 years at an alarming rate.
Track 11 and 12 are both short and not as impressive compared to the rest of the album but more likely serve as a bridge to the album's climax in track 13, Iter Impius. During these tracks, we learn the earth's population will eventually dwindle back to what it was 12,000 years ago. Humans launch a probe into space called "Nauticus" as a last ditch effort to learn how to save ourselves.
Iter Impius is the second great moment of the album when Mr. Money, who was one the inanimate king of the world, no longer has anything to rule for. This track (along with Dea Pecuniae) is the most "broadway-like" of the album. In this case, it's a very good thing. It's a fresh concept. Mr. Money is now the ruler of the ruins. Daniel Gildenlow gives arguibly the BEST vocal performance I have ever heard. I can't believe the amount of talent this guy has. It's totally flawless and full of rage, energy, and inevitability.
In all truth, this album is not perfect. I would have preferred more riffs, more metal, and more attitude. It might be easy to write this off as pretentious, but I think in the end that this album deserves a lot praise for being the first to really take metal off in a unique direction. Bands have tried to get theatrical before, but in this case, it does not come off cheesy. This is a very mature release, but if you all you like is technical/brutal death or black metal, this album is definitely not for you.

HeirToRuin

Wow, what an amazing album. As I listen to “BE”, I sit speechless, Gildenlow and co. manage not to disappoint. You have not heard an album with a concept like this before!
While I wish there were more metal elements to the music, I’m more than content to what is there. The musicianship and variety on this album are incredible. It goes from metal to folk to classical to rock to gospel/Broadway type of elements to tribal! This album defines progressive. I will not bother to delve into individual songs since this album should be absorbed as a whole.
On the musicianship aspect, each member shines brightly, and no one outshines one another. If I have any complaints is that I wish there were more guitar solos as they are usually very good.
On the concept, it’s hard to pin down but is has to do Deus(God) and the diversity of human nature. Showcasing an interesting perspective of the darker and weaker sides of humans looking to God for all of the solutions to their pathetic lives, as evidenced in the samples scattered throughout the album. Their actions could lead to the destruction of the environment and mankind itself, just like in the real world. Like I said, it is a very interesting concept that is tough to fully explain.
In conclusion, this album is definitely not for everyone. Those looking for a quick fix, lots of riffs, lots of metal, or those who hate samples should approach with caution, but are encouraged to try it out for they might just fall for “BE”. Of course this album isn’t perfect, nothing really is, but it is damn close. It’s original concept, amazing songwriting, and spot on musicianship are deserving of a 100. All that is left to say is, I hope they make music this good for as long as they can. “The Perfect Element Pt. 2” please!

Spirit_Crusher

Bueno, y si les quedó alguna duda de la calidad de este trabajo, visiten y vean los comentarios en Progarchives, acá está el link.
Y de más está decir que recomendamos este disco a ultranza, y es obligado si nunca lo han escuchado.