Sweden's Pain of Salvation gear up for their 11th offering, Road Salt One, in US stores on June 8, 2010. In a world governed by increasingly rigid rules and conformist conceptions of art, Sweden's progressive superstars, Pain of Salvation, have created their own niche in the international music scene. Their upcoming album, Road Salt One is the first installment of a double album project which showcases the band's outstanding emotion and intensity while leaning a little more towards modern rock with a colourful '70s flare. Since the band's inception in 1984 (originally called "Reality" then renamed "Pain of Salvation" in 1991), frontman Daniel Gildenl๖w has followed his own musical path mixing elements of metal, pop, funk, disco, blues, goth, folk, Arabian and Asian influences and of course, Prog.
"Skills and complexity should be part of the machinery, not the functionality or design," says the band's frontman Daniel Gildenl๖w, "so I try to hide it away where the engine is supposed to be under the hood of a machine built mainly to process ideas and emotions."
Pain of Salvation's 2009 EP release, Linoleum was a preview of the new double album concept. The band supported its release with a string of headlining shows throughout Europe and Russia as well as supporting Dream Theater in Australia.
Pain of Salvation also was featured on Sweden's "Melodifestivalen" which is a national European song competition. The TV show put the band in the living rooms of millions of European viewers. Although they didn't win the competition, the exposure helped catapult the digital version of their song "Road Salt" to #12 on the Swedish charts.
Road Salt One not only includes the aforementioned title track, it also includes the previous EP single/title track, "Linoleum," (which was accompanied by a great energetic video). Other highlights include the captivating opening track, "No Way," the awe-inspiring, "Sisters" (which will be the second single) and the acute "Where It Hurts" (which will also be put in video form).
"'Road Salt One' is twelve tracks of sweaty gravel, asphalt butterflies, untrodden paths and brave decisions," says Pain of Salvation mastermind Daniel Gildenl๖w. "It will not beg for your liking, it will not make excuses, it will not carry you safely across the dangerous waters. If you don't pick up its pace it will leave you stranded at the curb of the road. Yes, 'Road Salt One' might indeed be a harsh lover, but if you have the guts to follow it whole-heartedly and dare to surrender to its voice, it will take you places you need to visit."
Frontman Daniel Gildenl๖w will be in the US and Canada touring with the Prog supergroup, *Transatlantic*, in April. If you'd like to speak to him face to face or by phone, please get in touch with Eric Corbin at Screaming Crow PR as soon as possible. Here are the dates
Transatlantic US dates:
4/17 The Downey Theater in Downey, CA
4/18 The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA
4/20 Park West in Chicago, IL
4/21 Metropolis in Montreal, Quebec
4/23 The Blender Theater at Gramercy in New York, NY
4/24 The Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA
