Description

The industrial metal act Pain is the hobby project of the multi talent Peter Tägtgren from Hypocrisy. Their self titled debut album from 1997 is their least well known, having not even one single released among the album’s songs. Unfortunately there is a valid reason why this album is so unknown. Peter needed some time for his side-band to mature and this is evident here. The music resembles Hypocrisy a bit too much, and while I love Hypocrisy this is a bad thing here because the music isn’t supposed to resemble what Hypocrisy is. The number one thing that makes newer Pain so awesome is the presence of catchy choruses and hooks throughout the songs while still retaining enough metal elements to prevent them from becoming pop. This feature is almost completely absent here and the overall album suffers as a result. The album isn’t really bad by any means but it’s definitely far from the quality of later albums, for the most part. Musically Pain is a mix of heavy metal with prominent industrial, techno and electronic elements. The metal part is more present on this album than on later efforts, especially on the opener On Your Knees (Again), which is undoubtedly one of the album’s highlights. The riffs are pretty good, standard metal riffs throughout the whole album, some being obviously written by the same man who’s behind Hypocrisy although a few, like the one opening the Rope Around My Neck song, are pitiful. The vocals are almost nothing but clean singing, Peter Tägtgren style (not as powerful as on Hypocrisy’s S/T thought). There are some rare growls here and there and they’re on par with the vocals done in Hypocrisy, which means they’re very good. Peter also proves he’s an able drummer, the patterns being flawless and interesting although occasionally repetitive to some extent. The electronic elements which would become the band’s staple sound are for the most part either absent or low in the mix. This rarity doesn’t help the album overall but it does make a very good song stand out: Learn How To Die. Oddly enough the two highlights are the most metal song and the most electronics-drenched song on the album. Since this is Peter Tägtgren we’re talking about, owner of Abyss studios and producer extraordinaire, the production is top notch. Every instrument can be heard to perfection but the whole thing doesn’t sound synthetic or artificial at all. The production is one of the best things on this album. The lyrics mostly deal with inner problems, depression, insanity and that sort of thing and the music itself goes well with it, the whole thing is rather depressing (mostly because from the clean vocals you can actually understand the lyrics themselves very well). Pain’s debut is a good album, no doubt about it, but it doesn’t have the spark that makes later Pain so good. It’s well worth hearing since it’s a good metal album but don’t expect the catchiness of later Pain albums, this is mostly a derivation of a Hypocrisy album with some industrial and electronic parts.

Track list:
1. On Your Knees (Again)
2. Rope Around My Neck
3. Learn How To Die
4. Don’t Let Me Down
5. Breathe
6. Greed
7. Choke On Your Lies
8. The Last Drops Of My Life