Pain of Salvation – Road Salt / Pt II (2011) – Review by Logan Lee

After a short waiting period, Pain of Salvation released the second part of Road Salt. The first part, released on May 2010, was a masterpiece in my opinion. This Road Salt 2 at first might seem a step behind and it took me several listening sessions before I could have a full opinion about this album.

As said, at first Road Salt 2 is quite hard to listen and almost impossible to hear it completely without losing concentration. But since I really love Daniel Gildenlow and the others I decided to listen to it carefully, maximum 2 tracks at a time and miraculously I’ve changed my mind: Road Salt 2 is a great album (but still not as part one).

I guess the reason of the first sensation might be hidden on a fundamental process that PoS is passing through (as in Opeth’s last album case) in order to grow their abilities and as prog musicians: experimenting new frontiers. I agree to all who say that Road Salt albums were not as good as some others in their past (like Remedy Lane or Scarsick that remain the two best albums for me), but I rather see PoS trying new things and improving their technique arsenal than seeing them doing the same music only to content fans (or media for what it counts).

Specifically about the tracks: The best track for me is Eleven (not track #11 but named “eleven”) but only because “mortar grind” was previously released on “linoleum EP” otherwise the dispute for best track would be harder. Also worth to mention other two tracks: The deeper cut, Softly she cries and The Physics of Gridlock

I strongly suggest to hear to both Road Salt parts with that perspective in mind, but if this is your first approach to Pain of Salvation you might want to hear their past albums first. The general vote for both Road Salt is 7,5, but for this part II is 7/10.

Tracklist:

01. Road Salt Theme
02. Softly She Cries
03. Conditioned
04. Healing Now
05. To The Shoreline
06. Eleven
07. 1979
08. The Deeper Cut
09. Mortar Grind
10. Through The Distance
11. The Physics Of Gridlock
12. End Credits