Source: Album Artwork
Industrial metal band Pain continue to combine electronic music elements with powerful gritty guitar riffs in their 8th studio album Coming Home. The main draw to the album cover itself is seeing the lead vocalist dressed in the attire of a spacesuit all because they wanted to rent a space suit. How randomly brilliant this is with no particular theme apart from the desire to be different which is an element that is strongly portrayed in this album.
The band have the ability to create the illusion of symphonic metal influences through the use of electronic samples, however they blend seamlessly with the other instruments completing the varied texture. The electronic aspect is not the only draw to this album but the technicality of the players themselves and for me the bluntness of the lyrics which at some stages comes across humorous.
The opening track ‘Designed To Piss You Off’ is an instant example of cut throat lyrics. Not directly aggressive just incredibly blunt and straight to the point within the high octane western vibe the song transmits across. The concept that we can be designed to annoy the hell out of people is a perfect excuse and very relatable, how this idea lends itself to a western style riff I’m not quite sure but they fuse together well.
Overall the band have a grounding of metal, however, this takes many forms track to track taking you from old school to something that is more alternative 2000’s. ‘Natural Born Idiot’ sounds more techno hardcore with a more obvious electronic influence in comparison to other tracks with a greater orchestral influence like ‘Black Knight Satellite’. Pain don’t remain inside one niche but explore many others with great flair but still maintain a signature sound which is very effective.
There is definitely a greater amount of experimentation and focus on more than just the technological elements. Not only are there various orchestral arrangements but the texture of the material changes with the use of an acoustic guitar for example in ‘A Wannabee’. The tone is very condescending as the acoustic riff builds up to conjoin with a sample track and then rests in the background for the majority of the track but the variation still remains.
Pain manage to maintain a good balance between techno and raw metal without making the electro aspects over the top and obnoxious but rather delicate and well blended into the varying texture. A blend of symphonic with industrial metal with power metal tendencies, a great example of too many genres to name.
