Goosebumps!
Dick Justice | Heaven | 03/22/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Goosebumps! That is what I got after listening to the new album of Pain. The project of mastermind Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy) unleashes an album upon the world, which is just of supreme quality. The disc is baptized 'Dancing With The Dead' and works on me like a stroll through a painting of Jeroen Bosch. Each step is another surprise.
As you probably know Peter had a stroke a little while ago and was even a couple of moments not with us anymore. This must have had a major impact on him, because on 'Dancing With The Dead' he sounds more inspired than ever. The album opens with a direct hit in the crown jewels with 'Don't Count Me Out'. You can hear Tägtgren tell off everybody who wrote him off after the above-mentioned incident. After that the first single 'Same Old Song' is up. Although this song was not written for this album but as theme for a Swedish TV show (but rejected), this is the first highlight of the album. A catchy guitar riff and a bombastic orchestral sound form the fundament. By adding the unique vocals of Tägtgren and some folk elements the whole becomes very compelling. This could well become a mega hit in the alternative club scene. Through outstanding tracks like 'Nothing', the NIN-like 'The Tables Have Turned' and 'Not Afraid To Die' the title track 'Dancing With The Dead' takes the stage. The very autobiographical track is filled to the brim with emotion. "Too much is never enough!" Tägtgren screams and due to the rugged riffs and the light-footed chamber orchestra the whole atmosphere becomes pretty doomy/ goth rock like. Thus becoming another track that stays with you for days. With 'My Misery' Pain goes of in a different direction rhythm wise and when 'Bye/ Die' sets in, it almost seems to be space rock in the vanes of Monster Magnet that is flung into the room. But with 'A Good Day To Die' Tägtgren makes clear that he is the same guy who is in Hypocrisy. All systems are go and a rock/ death metal hybrid steamrolls out of my stereo system. The job is finished in style by the band with the Prong-esque 'Stay Away' and the (also rejected) soundtrack song 'The Third Wave'. All that is left are goose bumps and hitting the play button again.
'Dancing With The Dead' is everything but a mediocre album. All kinds of styles are blended into a harmonic whole, which makes it more than the sum of all different parts. Although the true metal extremists probably will dislike this disc, those amongst you who love Pain and some off road crossover to other genres must run to the record store and check this thing out.
Posted by a very loving fan of pain [...]"
I want to like it, but it's just not that good.
Ben Stubbs | Australia | 05/21/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"OK, I'm a fan of Hypocrisy and have a lot of respect for Mr Tagtgren, but I must admit I haven't managed to get into Pain, his industrial side project. There are always 1 or 2 great tracks that I like, but in general the albums just don't do it for me. I consider myself to be fairly open-minded when it comes to metal and am perfectly happy with attempts at cross-genre entities, but I do consider Pain to be a blatant attempt at commercialisation. Mixing the metal riffs, industrial dance-like beats with sing along choruses just stinks of someone trying to make a buck. But then Pain are releasing some fairly convincing material that one can't help feel will actually be successful amongst many crowds.
The confusing thing about "Dancing With the Dead" is the variety and incoherent style that could possibly turn off potential non-metal fans. One minute, there's a track like "Same Old Song" that oozes night club potential and makes me think Mr Tagtgren has nailed it. But then there are tracks such as "Bye/Die" which will be far too in-your-face for the type of listener that may have got into the former. I can't help feeling that he's not quite sure what he wants to achieve out of this release. It's kind of a catch 22 situation I guess, since he has so many different categories of fans to please. Hypocrisy fans will always check his work out and enjoy the heavier side (such as "Good Day to Die" my personal favourite), but then other fans are looking for the more poppy output. So he's kind of damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
The production is perfect, as if we'd expect anything less. Peter's vocals have improved and the guitar sound is fine (just too much chugging for my liking). The beats are not overpowering but have enough crunch to get the point across.
Looking at this particular Pain album, I think it is his best release so far. Once again, I don't enjoy all of it, and in fact some of it really doesn't agree with me at all. But there are many more convincing tracks present than on previous outings, so I'm willing to accept it as a decent album and recommend it to industrial metal fans.
He's getting closer to releasing something groundbreaking that no-one can ignore, but I don't think he's quite there yet."
Pain - dancing with the dead
mike | illinois usa | 04/25/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"personally i loved this album but it lacked the ferocity of "Rebirth" and "Nothing remains the same". Peter seems to be writing the same songs over and over(bye/die, shut your mouth). personally i love his style but some of his lyrics are a bit old and worn out, but if a fast kick-ass rock/metal album is what you're looking for in the same category of rammstein or atrocity than look no further than "dancing with dead" but if you seek balls-to-wall lyrically taut death metal than i suggest you keep looking or try
Pain - Rebirth"
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1