Scarsick is the sixth studio album by Swedish progressive metal

Progressive metal

Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...

 band Pain of Salvation

Pain of Salvation

Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive rock band featuring Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the lyricist, chief composer, guitarist, and lead vocalist. Their sound is characterised by powerful, accentuated guitar work, broad vocal range, abrupt switching between heavy and calm passages, intense...

, released on January 22, 2007. It is a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 focusing on issues dealing with capitalism, materialism, consumerism, and contemporary society as a whole. The album leaked on to the internet in its entirety on December 6, 2006 before being officially released. This is the last album to feature Johan Langell on drums.

Overview

According to Daniel Gildenlöw

Daniel Gildenlöw

Daniel Gildenlöw is a Swedish musician and songwriter. He is best known as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for Pain of Salvation, a Swedish progressive metal band. In the band, he is the main songwriter, lead guitar player, and the mastermind behind each album's concept...

, "Scarsick is much more band oriented and down to the core. Threatening and disturbing".

The liner notes reveal that Scarsick is actually The Perfect Element, part II - "he". The album is divided into two chapters: side A and side B.

Concept

Scarsick is the second part of a planned, three-piece concept and the follow-up to The Perfect Element, part I. It continues the story of the male character from the latter album. Unlike its predecessor, Scarsick is a politically charged social commentary, and deals with a number of topics, including:

• Frustration (with society in general, and most of the things listed below)
• Consumer culture
• Materialism
• Industrialization
• Capitalism
• Commercialization
• American imperialism
• Conformity
• Idolization of celebrities
• Collectivist nature of religion
• Decline of civilization

Daniel Gildenlow has revealed in interviews that the life of "He" is an allegory for all of mankind; that in him we see the problems of society on an intimate, personal level. Thus as The Perfect Element, part I deals with the subject of dysfunction in a psychological context that deals with the individual, Scarsick deals with them in a sociological sense and explores the relationship between the two. Just as the final song on the first part of the concept ("The Perfect Element") witnesses the falling of "He" on a mental level, the final song on Scarsick ("Enter Rain") sees him fall on a physical level.

Track listing

Side A: His skin against this dirty floor

1. "Scarsick" – 7:08
2. "Spitfall" – 7:17
   1. "Introducing Star"
   2. "Thus Quote The Craving"
   3. "Redefining Vomatorium"
   4. "Man Of The Masses"
   5. "YO"
3. "Cribcaged" – 5:56
4. "America" – 5:05
5. "Disco Queen" – 8:22
   1. "Tonight I'll Fall"
   2. "A Cheap Sellout Drug"
   3. "A Tighter Groove"
   4. "My Disco Queen"

Side B: Why can't I close my eyes?

1. "Kingdom of Loss" – 6:41
2. "Mrs. Modern Mother Mary" – 4:14
3. "Idiocracy" – 7:04
4. "Flame to the Moth" – 5:58
5. "Enter Rain" – 10:03
   1. "Running"
   2. "Standing"
   3. "Falling"

Concept, music and lyrics by Daniel Gildenlöw.

Band Members

• Daniel Gildenlöw
  Daniel Gildenlöw
  Daniel Gildenlöw is a Swedish musician and songwriter. He is best known as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for Pain of Salvation, a Swedish progressive metal band. In the band, he is the main songwriter, lead guitar player, and the mastermind behind each album's concept...
  
   - lead vocals, guitars, bass guitar, banjos and samplers
• Fredrik Hermansson
  Fredrik Hermansson
  Fredrik Hermansson is a Swedish musician. He is currently a keyboardist and backing vocalist in the Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation. He also works as a free-lance piano player and composer...
  
   - keyboards, samplers
• Johan Hallgren
  Johan Hallgren
  Johan Hallgren is a Swedish musician. He is a guitarist and backing vocalist in the Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation....
  
   - guitars, vocals
• Johan Langell
  Johan Langell
  Johan Langell is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation.-Pain of Salvation:*Hereafter *Entropia...
  
  - drums, backing vocals

External links

• Official Pain of Salvation Website
• Official Scarsick Website at InsideOut
• Official Pain of Salvation Forum
• "America" at InsideOut Music