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Pain > Cynic Paradise > Reviews
Pain - Cynic Paradise

Well I'll be! - 85%

doomknocker, May 13th, 2010

PAIN
“Cynic Paradise”
By: Captain Rattlehead

So…industrial techno spearheaded by the master of the Abyss, the patron saint of all that is Swedish and metallic. I must say such a direction was indeed double take-inducing, but in my humble opinion I wasn’t TOO shocked; after all, even the most blackened and deathly of us have our strange, quirky little guilty pleasures. You can’t really fault Freaky Pete for wanting to do something musical that’s not HYPOCRITICAL…doing so clears the creative cobwebs from the dusty, gray matter corridors with enough vigor to grease the potentially rusted gears necessary to churn out the riff-based malevolence that is the bread and butter of he of such ilk. But I guess I’m getting ahead of myself here, as attention should be paid to the project at hand. One would have to ask, in this regard…is this little musical U-Turn any good?

Let’s find out, shall we?

At first glance (or rather, listen), for what it’s worth, PAIN isn’t too different from Peter’s many projects (he has a distinctive style, after all), though it IS an entity in its right. The best way to describe it is to take the heaviness factor of HYPOCRISY, add a head-bobbin’ dance beat and up the melody factor five-fold. Far from being any kind of metallic stick in the mud, I found this to be a very entertaining and quite addictive romp, showcasing that certain industrial could be accepted and enjoyed by even the most intensely metal folk. Taking the heavy techno vibe of the more brutal aspects of STATIC-X and BIGDUMBFACE and adding a progressive, spacey effect on par with mid-to-late era AYREON (of all bands!) with that Abyss Studio crunch, PAIN comes cascading from the cosmos in two closed fists of blinding, very Swedish sounding guitar riffs, synthesizer leads, digital percussion usage, and a double header of monstrous screams and powerful choirs that totally mesmerizes. All this comes together to stick into your head and ribs with enough moxie and potential that one would wish THIS kind of shit should be blasted in dance clubs the world over…but then again, the clientele would probably frown at the sight of metal folk moshing on the dance floor. But wouldn’t THAT be a hell of a thing to see? Nevertheless, the songs shine bright with the light of a thousand stars, where tracks like the proggish “Monkey Business”, the dance-heavy “Follow Me” and the jagged melody of “Generation-X” are powerful enough to grab your attention on first listen, begging for your attention from start to finish.

So in the end this really threw me for a loop. Guess there’s still someone inside me who’s a sucker for extreme catchiness, and this disc totally gets those gears in motion. Rest assured, this may end up seeing plenty of play time in the ol’ stereo o’ mine.

Balance of Boredom - 50%

Lord_Lexy, March 6th, 2010

Cynic Paradise is an album with both very good songs, and very boring ones. Before I bought this one, I already owned Rebirth, which was a very decent album. A good mix between fast and slow, hard and … well, less hard. It appealed to me, so I decided I wanted the latest Pain-album as fast as possible. So one day, I walked into the record store, bought the Cynic Paradise special edition digipack (things I hate nowadays: they don’t fit in with the majority of jewelcases in my collection) and went home. Anxious to hear what Tägtgren had composed for us.

The album starts very good. I’m Going In and Monkey Business are two paced up headbangers. Fast drumming, screaming and angry vocals. Of course, we are speaking of industrial metal here, accompanied by the necessary but good and contributing programming. The next one, Follow Me, is a song with Nightwish’ current vocalist Anette Olzon. It works. Personally I think Anette is inferior to Tarja when we are talking about Nightwish, but here she is really good. She hasn’t got that high a voice, so she can make it sound that little bit harsh. Combine her with Peter and it gives a bedazzling effect; male and female harshness, the feeling of lost hope. And then Anette sings solo. Wow, it really fits the music. Her lower tone, the lyrics. Yes, yes a wonderful mix. And better than the Peter Vox version on the bonus disc.

But then, first of the horrors, the nameless abominations. Have A Drink On Me: about relation problems which leads to drinking (and liver problems, I’d say). It sounds like an industrial country/blues/… song with some heavy influences. But it gets boring really fast. It seems this was written while Tägtgren was drunk. Don’t Care is faster, and more aggressive. Which is better. Angry vocals, pounding drums, heavy riffing: as it should be. But after sunshine comes the rain (or how does the saying go?): Reach Out (And Regret), once more a boring song about problems. It’s a continuous song, without a part that really stand out. And except for the title you don’t remember much of it.

Generation X is a good one, I like to play it while playing Unreal Tournament. Heavy programming, not to much bullshit around that. But to keep the Balance of Boredom: No One Knows. Maybe fun and all while in a depressive mood, but this isn’t something you play to listen to metal. Another monotonous song; you can nearly feel the potential the song has but it doesn’t break through. A pity, but I prefer skipping this one.

Live Fast/Die Young is the last good song on this record. Once more fast, hard, angry. The way I want my industrial music. Peter screams once more, the music builds up to the chorus. The drums are up tempo, the guitars follow and we get some fancy programming. Not Your Kind is without climax, with Peter singing in a melancholic voice, but he holds back too much. Alright, the guitars are decent on this one but the entirety of the song just doesn’t click. The last song is another one featuring Olzon. But what she did great on Follow Me is completely turned over on this one. The song begins with some piano tones, and Peter gets angry again. This song goes to a climax, but then Anette sings. It feels like a climb towards the summit, but the summit is just a deep pit. The build-up of the song, it all ends with her singing. Not that she sings bad, but the tone and the sound of her voice. It would have been better without her. Or with other lyrics. “Feed us, we’re desperate” as the climax of a song just doesn’t do the trick. Sorry Anette.

To conclude: as you’ve just read there are some good songs, and really sucky ones. They have potential but it doesn’t come through. And the bonus disc isn’t that special either. My advice, don’t buy this one. Download the good songs (and I’d do it legally: those songs are worth the money), or buy the album if the price is lowered. But you don’t miss something special when you don’t buy this one.

This pain is getting weaker. Use some reinforcemen - 60%

Zorc, May 23rd, 2009

Pain has never released two albums so close in time so far and I think that’s a reason for this quite weak product. Compared to “Psalms of extinction” and “Dancing with the dead”, this “Cynic paradise” isn’t as cynic as one may think. Peter Tägtgren didn’t take the time and analyze deep enough what he was doing when thinking about releasing it. And now I shall enumerate my reasons why.

First of all, it all seems so repetitive and boring. Songs like “Don’t care”, “Reach out and regret”, “No one knows” and “Not your kind” are the weak points of this album, in other words, fillers. “Have a drink on me” has even country influences. WTF, MAN? Since when industrial metal mixes well with country music? Hm, I guess since Peter Tägtgren has left out of ideas.

The other 6 songs are acceptable, give that electronic metal atmosphere that an industrial metal album requires, but still, they don’t reach the level of their predecessor hits, such “Shut your mouth”, “Zombie slam”, “I don’t wanna be nothing” etc. The songs that break the ice are “Follow me” and “ Feed us” and I don’t want to give Anette Olzon the real credits. I wonder if she hadn’t been asked to perform on these 2 songs, would the songs have sounded the same? Of course not. One of the bonus tracks presents us “Follow us” without Anette and I must admit that it misses something and that is the feminine tinge that Anette is able to bring. “I’m going in” is a fast song, but too simple and too short and it is saved by the chorus. “Monkey business” is one of those songs that when you listen to them for the first time, you say that you have heard them before. “Generation X” and “Live fast, die young” are mediocre, but decent. They don’t remain unnoticed.

As far as I’m concerned, “Cynic Paradise” should have been released as an EP with the following songs: “Follow me”, Feed us”, I’m going in”, “Monkey business”, “Generation X” and “ Live fast, die young”…or it should have been released later only after Peter having re-shaped the rest of the songs. I know that Pain and Nightwish went on the same tour sometime and they exchanged experience by letting Peter sing one of Nightwish’s song and vice versa. And I still know that Hypocrisy hasn’t released an album since 2005 and I also know that money is the root of all evil. So, my advice is “Live properly, and die old and satisfied”.

Why Not A Full Album? - 81%

Maxim666, November 2nd, 2008

Basically, there are two kinds of bands: the ones that keep changing their sound and surprising the audience, and the ones that just stick to a formula that works. Pain is one of the latter kind. Although some people say it easily gets boring, I don't think it's a problem if some bands stick to a formula. Pain's formula is defined by (usually) fast rythms, many electronic effects and vocalist and mastermind Peter Tagtgren's typical clean vocals. As you could've guessed, this album has exactly these features.

When I heard in advance that Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon was singing two songs on the new Pain album, it made me very curious. How was this going to sound? In the beginning, I was afraid that Anette wouldn't really fit into Pain's sound, but in the two songs "Follow Me" and "Feed Us" her vocals just make the perfect addition to Peter's.

While the fast opener "I'm Going In" reminds me of "Same Old Song" from "Dancing With The Dead", it has a lot more techno and electronic effects. Immediately after the opener you get a hard punch in the face by the heavy and fast "Monkey Business", a song that really stands out for me in this album. This song also sees the return of Peter's screams, which he improvised on stage, but weren't on the albums so often before.

This album definetely has some of the best tracks that Pain has ever recorded, but unfortunately, all that is good must end once. "Cynic Paradise" also has a lot of weaker tracks, such as "Have A Drink On Me", "No One Knows", "Generation X" and "Reach Out(And Regret)". When the album is slowly getting to its end, some better tracks are thrown at you, such as the (semi) title track "Live Fast/Die Young(It's A Cynic Paradise)", which reminds me of Bye/Die from "Dancing With The Dead", "Not Your Kind", and the beautiful "Feed Us".

So, in my opinion, this should've been a full album. Peter can do better than the somewhat weak songs that I mentioned before, I know that. On the other hand, he has done a great job with some other songs, and by roping Anette Olzon to do a guest appearance on this album.

The bonus CD, by the way, features some older songs in a new remix, as well as the song "Follow Me" without Anette's vocals. That one is allright, but wouldn't have been necessary, and the remixes of older songs really shouldn't have been released. Peter, you'd do better by releasing a bonus DVD than this bonus CD, like Amon Amarth did with the limited edition of their last masterpiece.