Pain

Rebirth (Reissue)

Written by: PP on 22/12/2008 13:56:35

Peter Tägtgren is likely to be a familiar name to anyone whose been following the metal scene in the last two decades or so. He fronts the influential black/death metal band Hypocrisy, he is a big name producer (having produced recent records by Children Of Bodom and Dimmu Borgir among others), and then he has his own 'little' musical project in Pain, where he writes all the music, plays all the instruments, and engineers and produces everything alone. Given that Mr. Tägtgren has just released the newest Pain cd "Cynic Paradise", the record label figured out it's probably best to remind everyone of the band's classic album "Rebirth" by reissuing it in the UK with two bonus tracks and additional sleevenotes from the man himself.

"Supersonic Bitch" opens the album to extremely dark and tight industrial sound slightly reminiscent of bands like Rammstein, only much better and less tongue-in-cheek. There are gothic undertones present but not dominantly so, as this is most of all an industrial metal project, and considering Tägtgren comes from a death/black metal background, I'm sure he didn't mean those to surface on purpose. Fans of his work in Hypocrisy will be surprised to find a sinister clean howl instead of his characteristic growl here, but it works great against the keyboard/effect-laden soundscapes that are perfect for inducing huge raves at rock/metal clubs across Europe. Anyone who's ever been to the Alcatraz club in Milan will know exactly what I mean.

Aside from the pounding, wait let me say that again, POUNDING drum/synth atmosphere, Tägtgren also knows how to write catchy choruses that simultaneously sound as dark and hopeless as the instruments. "Suicide Machine" is an absolute classic by today, and together with a song like "Delusions", it is the reason why Pain enjoys the kind of mainstream appeal and sales success that Hypocrisy can only dream of with their underground death metal sound.

But while this is a genre-classic, up there with Rammstein's "Sehnsucht" and "Mutter", I don't see any reason for anyone already owning this album to purchase it. There's only one brand new track on the record ("Liar") as well as an early demo version of "Suicide Machine", but why include a demo of a song which is better in it's final form anyway? If, however, you're new to Pain or for some reason don't own "Rebirth" yet, now might be a good time to get it. Don't be fooled by a score, score is for the lack of money's worth on a re-issue.

Download: Suicide Machine, Delusions, Supersonic Bitch
For the fans of: Rammstein, Ice Ages, Nine Inch Nails, Static-X
Listen: Myspace

Release date 27.10.2008
Spinefarm/Universal Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.