Trademarks include concept albums focusing on social, environmental, philosophical, and emotional issues as well as songs that incorporate complex rhythms and time changes but retain flowing melodies.
The band was formed by Gildenlöw in 1984 under the name Reality. The band used to participate in many music contests in their homeland of Sweden. The first EP, Hereafter, was recorded in 1996 under the monicker Pain of Salvation, which has been the name of the band since 1991. The Lineup of the band was the same for their first official full length album, Entropia(1997).
After the departure of Daniel Magdic for continuing disagreements with the others over committing to the increasing demands of the band, the band recorded One Hour By The Concrete Lake(1999), a concept album about the issues of nuclear power/waste, disposition of indigenous peoples,industry and human discovery. The band began to receive more attention from critics and magazines all around the world. In 1999 they also played at the famous ProgPower festival in The Netherlands.
Their third and most famous album, The Perfect Element I was released in 2000 and received a great response from the crowd and critics, making them the second most famous Progressive Metal band over the world: a success confirmed by their fourth album, Remedy Lane (2002), a semi-autobiographical album written by Daniel Gildenlöw about loss, love, and life.
2004 saw the release of two different albums, an acoustic live show recorded at Eskilstuna called 12:5 where the band played most of their old famous songs rearranged, and the epic concept album about the origin of humanity and God called BE: It was the first album to divide the fan base in opinion, due to its musically experimental and philosophical nature; and perhaps also its lack of cohesive progressive metal pieces.
BE album was also released in a special DVD edition called BE: The Original Stage Production (2005). With a live CD recorded during the 2003 presentation of the album and a DVD rappresentation from the same dates.
On 21 February 2006, Kristoffer Gildenlöw was asked to leave the band due to him not being able to attend rehearsals, since he lived in Holland and the band lived in Sweden. Kristoffer has a solo album planned for the future, as well as a side project called Dial.
The new album, Scarsick, was released on January 22, 2007. It is more band oriented than BE, with Daniel Gildenlöw playing bass in the studio. Recent interviews with Daniel have revealed that Scarsick is, in fact, the second part of The Perfect Element, confirming the speculation of many fans.
A European tour to support the new album has been announced (it started February 17, 2007). The band will be playing with Simon Andersson, a new replacement bassist on this tour. On the 10th of March, after the Copenhagen show, Simon Andersson was welcomed into Pain of Salvation as a full member. The band issued this message on their website:
He (Simon Andersson) did an outstanding job on the tour and we are looking forward to the coming years with great anticipation. Since his girlfriend is a huge Pain of Salvation fan, we happily expect to see this decision put a little silver lining on their sex life as well, since she can now all of a sudden go to bed with a member of the band :-) Congratulations Simon, and welcome to the family!
In May 2007 it was announced that drummer Johan Langell had decided to leave the band to spend more time with his family.
For Progressive Nation 2009 Tour the band took a new bass guitar player - Per Schelander.
According to their website, there is a new EP "Linoleum" due in November 2009, while a double album "Road Salt", consisting of two parts (Ivory and Ebony) is recorded and to be released in 2010, 2011.
Current lineup:
Daniel Gildenlöw – vocals, guitar
Johan Hallgren – lead guitar, backing vocals
Léo Margarit - drums
Gustaf Hielm - bass guitar, double bass, vocals (1992–1994, 2011–present)
Daniel "D2" Karlsson – keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
Former members:
Daniel Magdic – guitar, backing vocals
Kristoffer Gildenlöw – bass guitar, double bass, backing vocals
Johan Langell – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Magnus Johansson - bass guitar (1990)
Joakim Strandberg - bass guitar (1984–1990)
Mikael Pettersson - drums (1984–1990)
Fredrik Hermansson – keyboards
Simon Andersson - bass guitar, backing vocals (2007-2008)
Per Schelander - bass guitar, backing vocals
Ragnar Zolberg - guitar, vocals, mandolin
What She Means to Me
Pain of Salvation Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I don't know where she needs to be, but it's not beside me.
I don't know what she means to me, I don't know why she moves me.
I don't know why she's not with me, I just know that it kills me.
I don't know what she means to me, I don't know why she moves me -
and I don't know where I need to be, but it is not here inside her!
In Pain of Salvation's song What She Means to Me, the singer is grappling with intense feelings of confusion and heartache in regards to a woman. He doesn't know what she means to him or why she has such an effect on him, but he knows that he can't have her and it's tearing him apart. The repetition of the phrase "I don't know" emphasizes the singer's sense of uncertainty and desperation.
The line "it's not beside me" suggests that the woman has moved on or is not interested in being with the singer. The line "but it is not here inside her" hints at a possible physical relationship between them that the singer is struggling to let go of. Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of longing and confusion that many people can relate to when dealing with unrequited love.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't know what she means to me.
I am confused and uncertain about the significance of her presence in my life.
I don't know where she needs to be, but it's not beside me.
I am aware that she has a purpose in her life beyond being with me.
I don't know what she means to me, I don't know why she moves me.
Despite my confusion, I am deeply affected by her and cannot explain why.
I don't know why she's not with me, I just know that it kills me.
Her absence causes me emotional pain, even if I don't understand the reason.
I don't know what she means to me, I don't know why she moves me -
My bewilderment and strong emotions persist, and I cannot make sense of them.
and I don't know where I need to be, but it is not here inside her!
While I am unsure of many things, I know that being consumed by her is not where I am meant to be.
Contributed by Harper H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
StoneyWagner
OH MAN THIS IS A GET! I loved this song the first 51 seconds I heard it.
Marton Kozma
Love it
JEA21B
It's so funny :) it's so small and simple, but yet beautiful, meaningful, and fully describing how I'm feeling right now...
czarnewrony
it starts and...omg this is Queen ; O i like it. !
Whereda Workat
holy shit. brilliant. I felt genuine embarrassment with that last line. It was like I was inside someones bedroom...while someone was inside someone.
Thanos_Lcf
thank the queen for this one and the great mind of Mr. gildenlow! Also PoS are by no means prog metal...they were for some song other than that they are prog in general with the open minded definition of the word!
tooneken
lol i'll put this as my ringing tone on my cell phone
Danny Mulligan
@Lezmon Actually, Johan, Leo, and Daniel are all singing at least two tracks each. Leo and Daniel have the melody. I checked the liner notes
Powerponds95
Is it just me or is this Queen? :O
Gergely Kocznár
Epic