I have been a fan of Kristoffer Gildenlöw since the very early days of Pain of Salvation, since when he has undertaken an interesting musical career, working as a session musician as well as releasing solo albums, with this being his sixth. One of the joys of his albums is that one never knows quite what area he is going to explore and I was surprised to find him going back to his prog metal roots, throwing in elements of djent, mathcore, doom and more while always maintaining the progressive and commercial overtones which make him stand out. It is certainly a very different beast indeed to his last two releases, ‘Let Me Be A Ghost’ (2021) and ‘Empty’ (2024), and a welcome diversion.
He of course provides most of the instruments himself but has wisely brought in a real drummer in Leo Margarit (Pain of Salvation, For All We Know) while two guests get a guitar solo each, Daniel Magdič (Prehistorical Animals, ex-Pain of Salvation), and Dutch guitarist Thijmen van der Meer. Somehow, Gildenlöw has managed to retain the huge soundscapes and emotions we expect from him, but has focussed much more strongly on the guitar, using different techniques and time signatures to ensure we never have too much time to rest and instead are always looking to hear what comes next and what is around the corner. Just when we think we have it all worked out he changes gear and switches to a different direction, going quiet when it seems we are heading to a climax, and then riffing hard when it appears to be heading to calm.
The result is a thoroughly enjoyable and modern progressive rock album which touches on many different subgenres and is all the better for it.
