Album Review: Pain Of Salvation - Falling Home

As the resident prog guy here, there are certain things I am remiss to admit. One of them, germane to this review, is that I have never given much attention to Pain Of Salvation, despite their status as one of the bigger names in modern progressive metal. I can't say why that is, because I don't have a good answer. I have known about them for quite some time, but the most connection I have had with them is the fact that band leader Daniel Gildenlow is the (sometimes) uncredited fifth member of my favorite prog band, Transatlantic. His guest appearance on their album last year rekindled my interest, which coincides with the release of “Falling Home”, which is both a bit of a career retrospective and an acoustic outing.

The first thing you will notice is the inclusion of a cover of Dio's seminal “Holy Diver”, which is certainly an odd choice for this kind of project. Dio covers are always difficult, and retaining the original's power in an acoustic setting almost feels like a fool's errand. Rearranged as a jazz standard, the song is almost unrecognizable, which is actually the best tactic that could be taken. Gildenlow is well-served to the smoky atmosphere, and I have to say that despite the absurdity of the premise, the end result works far better than Killswitch Engage's far more well-known attempt.

My issue with the album has nothing to do with the song selection (since I don't know enough about the band's back catalog to say if they missed better choices), but rather with the concept. There is little I love more than the sound of a sumptuous acoustic guitar, but Pain Of Salvation doesn't commit to that sound enough for my liking. “Falling Home” is only marginally an acoustic record. So much of the material here is built from single picked notes, which don't allow the wood to resonate as fully as a ringing chord can, ultimately making the acoustic guitars more of a stylistic choice than an actual auditory one. The difference between acoustics and clean electrics on the majority of these songs is negligible, which makes the whole exercise a bit superfluous.

When “Chain Sling” bursts open, it doesn't sound any different than a normal rock band, which defies the entire purpose of this record. It's an interesting song, but I fail to see what is being accomplished if the entire nature of the band's sound is not being challenged. The opening “Stress”, along with “Flame To The Moth”, work because they defy convention. They dive into slinky blues without the fiery tone of a cutting electric, giving us something we don't normally hear. These sorts of songs either work when they upend our expectations, or when they give us exactly what we would assume. The title track does that, a song that was obviously written for this environment. That explains why it is the single most fitting song on the album.

Ultimately, what I would say about “Falling Home” is that it's a record that couldn't hit the mark, because it doesn't know where it's aiming. As a retrospective, I don't think the inclusion of two covers and a new song does the idea any favors, and as an acoustic record it isn't focused enough on being acoustic. What the record winds up as is a collection of ideas the band had that don't necessarily belong together. A stripped down version of their own work would be interesting, as would a collection of songs written for the style, but we get neither here. “Falling Home” is an odd grab-bag of tracks that is at some points brilliant, and at some points maddening. I'm just not sure which outweighs the other.