Review by Kestrel published
"BE is perhaps the best album to come out in years. Daniel Gildenlow brings forth a very intriguing concept of God and why things are the way they are. The album is full of insightful lyrics, further showing that Gildelow is one of the best lyricists today. Also, shifting from albums such as Entropia and Remedy Lane, Pain of Salvation has help from a small orchestra, which makes the album far more interesting than previous efforts. The album also contains dramatic shifts from tracks consisting solely of speech to tracks with acoustic guitars to tracks with heavy metal riffs. This album isn't the same as many other greats in that it isn't full of great, independent songs. Many of the tracks which could be considered weaker, are indeed weaker when listened to by themselves. However, once each track is put into its place, it contributes to the work as a whole. Take for example, "Vocari Dei". Even though it has some nice music, it is comprised entirely of messages left on an answering machine. Who wants to listen to that as an individual track? It wouldn't work on its own but when included in BE, it adds to the concept. BE definitely isn't a collection of tracks, but truly, an album and what every album should aspire to be."
