The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 1994 by guitarist and singer-songwriter Roine Stolt. The group began as Stolt's touring band to support his third solo album The Flower King. They continued performing after the tour and have gone on to become one of the most prolific studio recording units in progressive rock, having released over twenty hours of music spread across fourteen studio albums. Their music is similar to early symphonic progressive rock groups such as Yes, marked by sharp dynamic changes, polyrhythms, heavy bass, vocal harmonies, abstract and occasionally nonsensical lyrics, and extended song lengths.
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, oscillation between heavy and calm passages, complex vocal harmonies and the structures of their albums, syncopation, and polyrhythms. Thus far, every album released by the band has been a concept album. Lyrically, the band tends to address contemporary issues, such as sexuality, war, the environment, and the nature of God, humanity, and existence.
BE is the fifth studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released via InsideOutMusic in September 2004. It is a concept album focusing on the existence of God and humankind. Along with the band it features a nine-part orchestra, The Orchestra of Eternity, which features prominently throughout the album. It is the last album to feature Kristoffer Gildenlöw on bass and is the first Pain of Salvation album to be divided into more than three chapters.
Remedy Lane is the fourth album by Swedish progressive rock band Pain of Salvation, released in January 2002. It is a concept album focusing on a character's search for self-discovery. It was described by Allmusic as Pain of Salvation's breakthrough album.
12:5 is the first live album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation. It was released in 2004 and was recorded from a concert in the band's home town of Eskilstuna, Sweden, on 12 May (12.5) 2003. It was an "unplugged" show, meaning that there were only acoustic instruments, i.e. no electric guitars; grand piano and harpsichord instead of synthesizers. It features songs from all the band's albums to that date except One Hour by the Concrete Lake.
Daniel Gildenlöw is a Swedish musician and songwriter. He is best known as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for the progressive rock band Pain of Salvation. In the band, he is the main songwriter, lead singer, lead guitar player, and the mastermind behind each album's concept. He was also an official member of the band the Flower Kings but was forced to leave before their 2005 US tour because he was opposed to US-VISIT which requires submitting one's own biometric data first before entering the country.
"BE" is the second live album by Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation, documenting one of the performances of their 2004 album BE in its entirety in Eskilstuna, Sweden, on 12 September 2003. In contrast to the studio album, The Orchestra of Eternity are given credit on the front cover of the album.
Alf Peter Tägtgren is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain in which he is the only member. He is also the owner of The Abyss recording studio and the co-founder of Lindemann, a music project between Tägtgren and Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann. Tägtgren left Lindemann in 2020.
The Tangent is a progressive rock group formed in 2002.
Scarsick is the sixth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation, released on 22 January 2007. It is a concept album focusing on contemporary issues including capitalism, materialism, and consumerism. Scarsick is the last album to feature Johan Langell on drums.
Sign is an Icelandic rock band that was formed in 2000, as Halim, to compete in the Icelandic version of the Battle of the bands called Musiktilraunir. The band 's frontman and founding member Ragnar Zolberg is also a solo artist and was a guitar player in the Swedish band Pain of Salvation. Sign has toured with bands such as Wednesday 13, The Wildhearts, Aiden, The Answer, Skid Row and played a show with Alice Cooper in Iceland. In August 2007 Sign played their first headline tour of the UK.
Kristoffer Gildenlöw is a Swedish musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist of progressive rock band Pain of Salvation.
Johan Hallgren is a Swedish musician. He is the guitarist and backing vocalist in the Swedish progressive rock band Pain of Salvation.
Fredrik Hermansson 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 free-lance piano player and composer. Fredrik studied both classical and jazz piano at Birka Folkhögskola in Östersund, Sweden, and chamber music in Västerås, Sweden, where he received a master's degree. On 8 November 2011, a message to fans by Daniel Gildenlöw noted that Fredrik Hermansson would also be leaving the band at the conclusion of the current tour.
Jan Simon Andersson is a Swedish bass player, guitarist, vocalist, music programmer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work as a bass player in progressive metal band Pain of Salvation.
Léo Margarit is a French drummer, currently living in Sweden as a member of Pain of Salvation.
Ending Themes is a live album and documentary by Swedish progressive metal band Pain of Salvation. It was released on January 26, 2009, with a DVD version released on March 3, 2009. The DVD release has a double disc feature. The first disc has an 80-minute documentary of the band's 2005 world tour directed by Per Hillblom and the second disc has the full concert video from the Paradiso show recorded on March 2, 2007. A limited edition version will also be released that will include a double audio CD version of the Amsterdam concert. The CD version was released independently of the DVDs as well.
"The DVD is starting to come together, and will consist of two separate discs — one will be the live show from our last tour, and the other one will be a documentary following the band on the 2005 tour, which marked the end of that line-up. The fact that the band has seen such major changes the last two years made it very difficult emotionally to invest time and energy in this product, and it wasn't until the documentary draft was proposed by Per Hillblom that I started to see what this DVD was trying to communicate. We still have a few commentary tracks to record but we are starting to see the end of it."
Road Salt One is the seventh studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released 17 May 2010 on InsideOut. While a concept album in keeping with all previous Pain of Salvation albums, the album was more song-oriented and streamlined in its production values.
In the Passing Light of Day is the tenth studio album by Swedish band Pain of Salvation, released on 13 January 2017 via InsideOut Music. A concept album like every other by the band, the lyrics focus on mortality, death and the joys and angers of life. The album is dedicated to "my lover, my best friend", in reference to Daniel Gildenlöw's wife Johanna Iggsten.
