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''Scarsick'' is the sixth studio album by Swedish
progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...
band
Pain of Salvation Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the band's main songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and vocalist. Pain of Salvation's sound is characterised by riff-oriented guitar work, a broad vocal range, o ...
, released on 22 January 2007. It is a
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. So ...
focusing on contemporary issues including
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
,
materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical material ...
, and
consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the ...
. ''Scarsick'' is the last album to feature Johan Langell on drums.


Overview

According to Daniel Gildenlöw, "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

Concept, music and lyrics by Daniel Gildenlöw.


Scarsicker

The band offered an edited version of the album as a download from their official store in 2008. It also featured two new short tracks. Gildenlöw said on the release, :''I had this idea about making edits where all of the songs would clock in under 5 minutes each. My absolute first idea was to make a radio edit version of the album, where every song would simply be cut at precisely 3:50 or something, except for the track America, in which we instead would add like 10 minutes of commercials after the "We'll be back after this short break!" phrase. But once I was sitting down with the tracks it became sort of a challenge. Some of the songs I prefer in the original version, but some (like Idiocracy and Mrs Modern Mother Mary for instance) really turned out more like I initially intended them to be, and I prefer them. Also, I could use my original idea for an intro to the album - it was scrapped for the official release since I felt it gave away the TPE1 link way too soon. The Slipsync track uses recurring themes, a trademark POS conceptual instrumental passage, and was originally thought as a Japanese bonus track, but then it felt more right on this edited album version, called SCARSICKER.''


Personnel

* Daniel Gildenlöw - lead vocals, guitars, bass guitar, banjos and samplers *
Johan Hallgren Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the band's main songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and vocalist. Pain of Salvation's sound is characterised by riff-oriented guitar work, a broad vocal range, o ...
- guitars, vocals *
Fredrik Hermansson Fredrik Hermansson (born 18 July 1976) is a Swedish musician. He was a keyboardist and backing vocalist in the Swedish progressive rock band Pain of Salvation from 1996 to 2011. He also works as a freelance piano player and composer. Fredrik stu ...
- keyboards, samplers *
Johan Langell Johan Langell (born 16 May 1975) is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the Swedish progressive rock band Pain of Salvation. Discography Pain of Salvation *'' Hereafter'' (1996) (demo) *'' Entropia'' (1997) *'' One H ...
- drums, backing vocals


References


External links


Official Pain of Salvation WebsiteOfficial Scarsick Website at InsideOutOfficial Pain of Salvation Forum"America" at InsideOut Music
{{Authority control Pain of Salvation albums 2007 albums Concept albums Inside Out Music albums Nu metal albums by Swedish artists