Formed more than two decades ago, Pain was conceptualized as a hobby-project of Peter Tagtgren. Within time, it became his main band, pushing even Hypocrisy behind (which made this Swedish multi-cultural musician famous). Both bands set golden standards that many death metal lovers still hold onto.
The influence of Abyss’ owner (the cult studio in Parlby, a small city north of Stockholm) on metal culture is bigger than anyone else’s. One of the important segments of that influence is Pain, an enigmatic and innovative intersection of heavy metal, industrial, electronic and rock music. The peak of the combination came with Nothing Remains The Same, an album from 2002, but 2005’s Dancing With The Dead does not fall behind. Following releases circled around the same shit without any specific changes. Still, a substantial dose of originality and identity was woven in every material. Pain is one of those bands that are difficult to describe. The range of topics they cover spreads from social structure, aliens, death to depression and addiction.
Coming Home maintains the essence of the band while flashing it with a bit of experimentation. In other words, the genre and ambient have gone to another dimension when compared with its predecessors.
Content is split to fractions. Rock and thrash metal feeling are palpable, guitar schemes are developed, and drums are more intense. Acoustic is more spiritual, and the vocals became profoundly clear. Orchestrations bring theatrical flavor to the complexity of the album. Ambient is in elastic form, constantly moving from one mood to another. Fun, gravity, depression and evil dominate the scale of affective tone.
Almost every song stands for itself, with a strong character and multitude of layers, making the whole record a mastodon piece of music. The diversity is instantly verified in opening track Designed To Piss You Off, as the number starts in country style and then moves to rockabilly. Did I mention that the whole melody is in industrial heavy rock matrix? Call Me is a more typical song we are used to hear from Pain.
My favorite is A Wannabe, due to its switch from acoustic intro to determined combination of heavy riffs and rich orchestrations. The worst track on the album is Absinthe-Phoenix Rising, as it brings Good Charlotte to mind. It is the only one that is not on the same level as the rest of the brilliant album. We can forgive them one mistake.
This is the return of Pain!
