Pain - Psalms Of Extinction

Published April 27 2007

*=Staff's pick	Save Your Prayers* Nailed To The Ground Zombie Slam* Psalms Of Extinction Clouds Of Ecstasy Play Dead Does It Really Matter Computer God Just Think Again* Walking On Glass Bottle's Nest* Bitch

Genre	Disco Metal	Peter Tägtgren	Vocals
Tracks	12	Peter Tägtgren	Guitar
Runningtime	48 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Roadrunner Records	Peter Tägtgren	Bass
Release	18 April 2007	Peter Tägtgren	Drums
Country	Sweden	Peter Tägtgren	Keyboard
Similar artists	Rammstein

Peter "Pain" Tägtgren hasn't dressed up like the devil himself on the album cover of Psalms Of Extinction for nothing - press "play" and listen to the shockwave of an opener Save Your Prayers to find out why. The song contains so many elements (industrial chugging, grindcore-bits, soothing piano melodies and bombastic parts with church bells) that you'll be amazed by how Peter has managed to merge them into such a great piece. Think of an angrier and more violent Nine Inch Nails and you're halfway there.

While Save Your Prayers is nothing short of outstanding, it's not the best song on Psalms Of Extinction. That would be Zombie Slam, the first single and the track that's meant to present Pain to the American market, since he recently signed with Roadrunner Records. Pain has a talent of creating a buzz around his single-tracks, as no doubt Same Old Song (from Dancing With The Dead) and Shut Your Mouth (from Nothing Remains The Same) proved. The former took a stab at commercial pop music, while the latter was one of the first songs that really embraced the possibilities of mobile phone-signals - my brother kept that annoying melody line on his cell phone for three years, for example. Zombie Slam is no different with its captivating mixture of pop, gothic rock and metal, as well as Peter singing in a lower voice than usual. Add to that the theme of the song - zombies! - something you can never get enough of.

While there are plenty of catchy melodies on Psalms Of Extinction, the focus have been aimed to show a harder side of Pain, the side we saw during his Rebirth-period. Which means that Dancing With The Dead was an easier (and arguably, more satisfying) listen. The major problem with Psalms Of Extinction is that we have heard most of it before. Computer God feels like a missed opportunity, for example. It starts out with an awesome keyboard-riff that continues in the verses, but the whole thing is unfortunately bogged down by a sub-standard chorus that sounded better on the Rebirth-song Supersonic Bitch eight years ago. Another example is Walking On Glass, which admittedly is one of Pain's grooviest pieces to see the light of day, but why do I get the feeling that the chorus is just a revamped version of Dancing With The Dead's Tear It Up?

On a brighter side, there are also new sides of Pain that comes to light. One of the most impressive Pain-songs of later years is arguably Just Think Again, a six minutes long, epic ballad where Peter tells exactly what he thinks about people who doesn't care about the poor and starving. Alexi Laiho's (of Children Of Bodom) contribution on electric guitar is the icing on the cake and establishes that Just Think Again together with Save Your Prayers are the most innovative tracks on Psalms Of Extinction. Worth mentioning is that Peter also resumes the tradition of making covers, this time turning Björk's excellent Play Dead to a song of his own. Although it bothers me that there is no sign of his cover of Depeche Mode's Behind The Wheel, which was rumored to appear on the album.

While Peter obviously struggles with keeping the Pain-formula fresh and exciting, there is little else to bitch about. The production is exquisite (it's made in The Abyss - what did you expect?) and every song has a high quality-stamp on it. Psalms Of Extinction might be flawed, but is never the less yet another indispensable release from the dark fields of Pain.