| 4.0 excellent |
| 65daysofstatic One Time for All Time |
| A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders |
| Against Me! Reinventing Axl Rose |
| Against Me! As the Eternal Cowboy |
| Against Me! Searching for a Former Clarity |
| Against Me! Against Me! |
| AJJ People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People |
| AJJ Knife Man |
| Amanda Palmer Who Killed Amanda Palmer? |
| Amanda Palmer Theatre Is Evil |
| Arcade Fire Funeral |
| Arcade Fire Reflektor |
| Astronautalis This Is Our Science |
| Atmosphere God Loves Ugly |
| Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons... |
| Ben Howard These Waters |
| Ben Howard Old Pine |
| Ben Howard Every Kingdom |
| Ben Howard Burgh Island |
| Biffy Clyro The Vertigo of Bliss |
| Bjork Post |
| Bjork Homogenic |
| Bjork Debut |
| Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde |
| Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited |
| Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin' |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver |
| Brand New Daisy |
| Bright Eyes Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground |
| Bright Eyes Fevers & Mirrors |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It in People |
| Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene |
| Captain, We're Sinking The Future Is Cancelled |
| clipping. CLPPNG |
| clipping. There Existed an Addiction to Blood |
| clipping. Visions of Bodies Being Burned |
| Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness |
| Converge Axe to Fall |
| CunninLynguists Oneirology |
| CunninLynguists Strange Journey Vol. 3 |
| Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights |
| Devin Townsend Terria |
| Devin Townsend Project Addicted |
| Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction |
| Devin Townsend Project Ghost |
| Dir En Grey Vulgar |
| Dir En Grey Dum Spiro Spero |
| Emilie Autumn Opheliac |
| Emilie Autumn Laced/Unlaced |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes |
| Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues |
| Flogging Molly Drunken Lullabies |
| Flogging Molly Swagger |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs |
| Frank Turner Sleep Is For The Week |
| Frank Turner Poetry of the Deed |
| Frank Turner Tape Deck Heart |
| Frank Turner Positive Songs for Negative People |
| Fucked Up David Comes to Life |
| Hurt Vol. 1 |
| Immortal Technique Revolutionary Volume 2 |
| James Vincent McMorrow Early In The Morning |
| Janelle Monae Metropolis: The Chase Suite |
| Janelle Monae The Electric Lady |
| Jeff Buckley Live in Chicago |
| Jeff Buckley Grace Around the World |
| Jeff Buckley Live at Sin-é |
| Johnny Flynn A Larum |
| Kanye West Late Registration |
| Kanye West The College Dropout |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy |
| Katzenjammer Le Pop |
| Katzenjammer A Kiss Before You Go |
| Kendrick Lamar DAMN. |
| La Dispute Wildlife |
| Laura Stevenson Sit Resist |
| Laura Stevenson Wheel |
| Million Dead Harmony No Harmony |
| Modern Life Is War Witness |
| Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon |
| Nick Drake Five Leaves Left |
| Nick Drake Bryter Layter |
| Nine Inch Nails The Fragile |
| Oceansize Effloresce |
| Oceansize Frames |
| Off With Their Heads Home |
| Opeth Blackwater Park |
| Opeth Deliverance |
| Opeth My Arms, Your Hearse |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries |
| P.O.S Audition |
| Pain of Salvation Remedy Lane |
| Pain of Salvation Entropia |
| Pain of Salvation 12:5 |
| Pain of Salvation Ending Themes |
| Pain of Salvation In the Passing Light of Day |
I'm thinking this is better than anything since Be, and I was actually a fan of Scarsick and
the Road Salts. The lyrics, as ever, straddle a dangerous line between "genuinely moving and
meaningful" and "obnoxiously pretentious" - and somehow feel more ESL-ridden than previous
records - but there are a few emotional gut-punches that the band hasn't really managed to pull
off since Remedy Lane. Like Remedy Lane, it's a semi-autobiographical, non-chronological
concept album, and frequent lyrical reprises help tie together an otherwise somewhat disjointed
album.
While starting off strong with the emotional epic "On A Tuesday" and the haunting "Meaningless"
(a cover of a song from guitarist Ragnar Zolberg's band Sign), the album's first half is
inconsistent, dragged down by the 9-minute meandering and repetitive "Full Throttle Tribe".
Things pick up considerably in the second half though, and I consider everything from "Angels
of Broken Things" onward to be among Pain of Salvation's greatest work.
Special mention goes to "If This Is The End", with its first half being the weary, hopeless
musings of a dying man, which give way to a heavier second half with reprises of "On A Tuesday"
and "Meaningless", before finally spiraling into maddened, wordless screaming which calls to
mind Remedy Lane's underappreciated b-side "Thorn Clown". That's not even mentioning the 15-
minute title track, which you should experience for yourself.
As a fan of every era of the band, I won't call this a "return to form" as many are wont to do,
but this album proves that Pain of Salvation are still worthy of your attention, even after the
departure of half the band and its worrying five-year hiatus.
Recommended tracks: If This Is The End, Meaningless, Angels of Broken Things, In The Passing
Light Of Day
Skip: Full Throttle Tribe |
| Patrick Wolf Wind in the Wires |
| PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love |
| PJ Harvey Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea |
| PJ Harvey Rid of Me |
| PJ Harvey Is This Desire? |
| PJ Harvey Let England Shake |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia |
| Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream |
| Porcupine Tree Deadwing |
| Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet |
| Protest the Hero Fortress (Instrumental) |
| Protest the Hero Pacific Myth |
| Radical Face The Family Tree: The Roots |
| Radical Face The Family Tree: The Branches |
| Radiohead The Bends |
| Radiohead In Rainbows |
| REOL Σ |
| Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness |
| Rob Dougan Furious Angels |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 3 |
| Sigur Ros ( ) |
| Sigur Ros Takk... |
| Sigur Ros Kveikur |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between |
| Streetlight Manifesto The Hands That Thieve |
| Supercell Today is a Beautiful Day |
| Susanne Sundfor The Brothel |
| Susanne Sundfor The Silicone Veil |
| Tenacious D Tenacious D |
| The Avett Brothers Emotionalism |
| The Dear Hunter Act I: The Lake South, the River North |
| The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading |
| The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection) |
| The Dear Hunter Migrant |
| The Devin Townsend Band Accelerated Evolution |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Irony Is a Dead Scene |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan One of Us Is the Killer |
| The Dresden Dolls The Dresden Dolls |
| The Flatliners Cavalcade |
| The Gaslight Anthem Sink or Swim |
| The Gaslight Anthem Señor and the Queen |
| The Jezabels Prisoner |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| The Menzingers Chamberlain Waits |
| The Menzingers Hold on, Dodge |
| The Menzingers On the Impossible Past |
| The Reign of Kindo The Reign Of Kindo |
| The Reign of Kindo Rhythm, Chord & Melody |
| The Reign of Kindo This Is What Happens |
| The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Grave |
| The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt |
| The Venetia Fair Every Sick, Disgusting Thought... |
| There Will Be Fireworks The Dark, Dark Bright |
| Thomas Dybdahl Stray Dogs |
| Thomas Dybdahl One Day You'll Dance for Me, New York City |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV |
| Thrice Beggars |
| Thrice Major/Minor |
| Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones |
| Tom Waits Mule Variations |
| Tom Waits Alice |
| Tom Waits Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards |
| Tom Waits Franks Wild Years |
| Tori Amos Under the Pink |
| Tori Amos Boys for Pele |
| Ulver Perdition City |
| Ulver Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler |
| Ulver Svidd Neger OST |
| Venetian Snares Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett |
| Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever |
| 3.5 great |
| 65daysofstatic The Destruction of Small Ideas |
| 65daysofstatic We Were Exploding Anyway |
| Against Me! New Wave |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs |
| Army Of The Pharaohs Ritual Of Battle |
| Astronautalis Pomegranate |
| Astronautalis The Mighty Ocean and Nine Dark Theaters |
| Astronautalis Cut The Body Loose |
| Atmosphere You Can't Imagine How Much Fun... |
| Avenged Sevenfold Waking the Fallen |
| Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare |
| Bjork Medulla |
| Bob Dylan Desire |
| Bon Iver Blood Bank |
| Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record |
| Caravan Palace Caravan Palace |
| Caravan Palace Panic |
| clipping. Midcity |
| clipping. Wriggle |
| Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Descension |
| CunninLynguists Dirty Acres |
| CunninLynguists Strange Journey Vol. 1 |
| CunninLynguists Southernunderground |
| CunninLynguists Strange Journey Vol. 2 |
| Damien Rice O |
| Damien Rice 9 |
| Devin Townsend Infinity |
| Devin Townsend Ziltoid the Omniscient |
| Devin Townsend Project Ki |
| Devin Townsend Project Epicloud |
| Dir En Grey Withering to Death |
| Dustin Kensrue Please Come Home |
| Eisley The Valley |
| Emilie Autumn Enchant |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant |
| Florence and the Machine Ceremonials |
| Frank Turner The Real Damage EP |
| Frank Turner The First Three Years |
| Frank Turner Rock & Roll |
| Frank Turner The Second Three Years |
| Frank Turner Last Minutes and Lost Evenings |
| Frank Turner FTHC |
| Sure, it's no Love Ire & Song, England Keep My Bones, or even Tape Deck Heart, but I've gotta say it's way better than I expected from a 40 year old, married, post-daddy issues, post-London Frank Turner. "Non Serviam", "Punches", and "A Wave Across the Bay" are legitimately great, and "The Resurrectionists" and "Farewell to my City" feel like half-cynical, half-wistful sequels to "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous" and "The Ballad of Me and My Friends" respectively. There's some skippable stuff here ("The Work" and "Little Life" spring to mind in how little they spring to mind), but there's nothing as embarrassingly bad as "Mittens" or "Make America Great Again" so I'll take it. His glory days are behind him, I think, but if Frank can keep this level of quality up going forward I'll be satisfied. |
| Gogol Bordello Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike |
| Hurt Goodbye To The Machine |
| Immortal Technique Revolutionary Volume 1 |
| Immortal Technique The Martyr |
| Jedi Mind Tricks Legacy of Blood |
| Jedi Mind Tricks Violent by Design |
| Jedi Mind Tricks Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell |
| Jeff Buckley Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk |
| Johnny Flynn Been Listening |
| Kaizers Orchestra Violeta Violeta Volume I |
| Kanye West Graduation |
| La Dispute Rooms of the House |
| Larry and His Flask All That We Know |
| Laura Marling Alas, I Cannot Swim |
| Milla The Divine Comedy |
| Million Dead A Song to Ruin |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank |
| Mumford and Sons Sigh No More |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine |
| Nine Inch Nails With Teeth |
| Oceansize Everyone Into Position |
| Oceansize Home & Minor |
| Oceansize Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up |
| Opeth Morningrise |
| Opeth Watershed |
| Pain of Salvation One Hour by the Concrete Lake |
| Pain of Salvation Linoleum |
| Pain of Salvation Road Salt Two |
| Paramore Riot! |
| Patrick Wolf Lupercalia |
| Patrick Wolf Sundark and Riverlight |
| Porcupine Tree Lightbulb Sun |
| Porcupine Tree We Lost the Skyline |
| Porcupine Tree The Incident |
| Protest the Hero Scurrilous |
| Radiohead Amnesiac |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs |
| Red City Radio The Dangers of Standing Still |
| Rise Against Siren Song of the Counter Culture |
| Sigur Ros Med Sud i Eyrum vid Spilum Endalaust |
| Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights |
| Supercell ZIGAEXPERIENTIA |
| The Bouncing Souls The Gold Record |
| The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum |
| The Dear Hunter The Migrations Annex |
| The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra |
| The Dresden Dolls Yes, Virginia... |
| The Flatliners Destroy To Create |
| The Flatliners Dead Language |
| The Gaslight Anthem American Slang |
| The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath |
| The Menzingers Rented World |
| The Roots How I Got Over |
| The Tallest Man on Earth Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird |
| The Tallest Man on Earth There's No Leaving Now |
| Thomas Dybdahl Science |
| Thrice The Illusion of Safety |
| Tom Waits Heartattack and Vine |
| Tom Waits Closing Time |
| Tom Waits Blood Money |
| Tom Waits Real Gone |
| Tom Waits Bad As Me |
| Tori Amos Scarlet's Walk |
| Tori Amos To Venus and Back |
| Touche Amore Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me |
| Ulver Kveldssanger |
| Ulver A Quick Fix of Melancholy |
| Ulver Shadows of the Sun |
| Ulver Metamorphosis |
| Ulver Wars of the Roses |
| Woodkid Iron |
| Woodkid The Golden Age |
