Mastermind musician Peter Tägtgren is always on a creative rampage and this time the result is Pain’s brand new album “Coming Home” which delivers a wild music mixture in industrial metal fashion.
“Call Me”, featuring Sabaton’s Joakim Brodén as guest vocalist, is a groovy industrial oriented track with blasting guitar riffs and an easy chorus but the true highlight can be found in the charming orchestration courtesy of Carach Angren’s Clemens “Ardek” Wijers.
“A Wannabe” features a similar detailed orchestration style that adds bright elegance to the groovy metallic core. There is also a magnificent melancholic mood embodied by minimalist acoustic guitar melodies and poetic inspiring keyboard’s layers.
“Black Knight Satellite” builds a cool catchy guitar driven rhythm but also delivers a mellow elegant symphonic atmosphere. Although the heavy side of Pain’s music style is present, the thick epic orchestration takes a seminal role by adding a melancholic depth.
The title track has a softer melodic nature that doesn’t feel like a proper representation of the album’s general music direction. Any pompous special effects and heavily distorted guitars simply disappear as the emotional value is quite dominant and matches the somber introspective mood.
“Final Crusade” channels some familiar thrash metal roots in the upbeat rhythm. While the chorus has a spontaneous industrial simplistic groove, the breakdown temporarily erases the easy melody and evokes some guttural darkness.
“Coming Home” might still lack a cohesive revolutionary strength since some individual songs seem to be strangely misplaced or just fail to create a magical musical experience but remains an enjoyable album.