Pain of Soul
Morpheus (Demo) 2002 None
After the short opening intro ends, and the first track, 'Souls Land' begins, I am reminded very quickly of Avrigus, and Chalice due to the wonderful, ethereal female voice present. Pain of Soul incorporate this very well into their music, and it certainly gives it that extra atmospheric touch. Once the male grunts kick in, another comparison immediately springs to mind... namely, the 'beauty and the beast' style of vocal, which was popularized by Theatre of Tragedy, though the male voice is just used occasionally to back the female lead. Of course, Pain of Soul is clearly a doom metal band, and this is made evident by the plodding, chugging rythm guitar, and weeping lead guitar. The brooding, gloomy atmosphere which the band manage to create is all the more impressive when one realizes that they do it without relying on keyboards (In fact, there are no keyboards present at all on this demo!). It is all done skillfully with guitars (including some sparse acoustics), and the female/male vocals. The final two tracks, 'Devil Infance' and 'Dementiae' are both live tracks, which also appear on the 'Live in Pain' demo, and seem to be added as just an afterthought to pad the playing time of the album a bit. Of course, extras are always nice, so I probably shouldn't complain... in fact, I won't. Great demo, overall. Highly recommended to fans of atmospheric death/doom.	1. Intro 2. Souls Land 3. Solitude Deep Inside of Me 4. Morpheus 5. Tear of the Fear 6. Devil Infance 7. Dementiae Approx. 32 minutes
Reviewed by: Matt Zuchowski
Live in Pain (Demo) 2004 None
This is nice. There certainly seems to be a lack of live albums released by doom metal bands... and those which are usually released, tend to suffer from band production, and sound quality. Well, although the sound quality and production on this live demo could certainly be better, it is still plesant to listen to... and seeing how Pain of Soul are an unsigned band, the slight hit in quality can certainly be excused. One thing, however, I can't excuse is the flute (is it even a flute? ...it sounds more like a cheap recorder) playing on the opening intro, 'Devil Infance'. The player does hit the wrong note, a few times, and it hurts the ears. Mercifully, this is the only time this instrument is heard... and the intro is short, which means the disc gets to the good stuff quicker. Right from the first 'real' track, 'Pain of Soul' (...fascination for having songs that are the same as the band name aside) it's clear that the male vocal plays a much bigger role this time around. Indeed, for the first half of this song, it is almost as if the vocal roles have switched, as the female vocals are used more for backup now, than actual leads (of which though, there still are many, but much, much less than on the 'Morpheus' demo). This is a nice change, though personally, I would've preferred the male vocal to stay as backup... then again, this could just be the band acting more 'metal' for the live act, to get the adrenaline going, as the other tracks go back to having the female vocal more in front. Overall, for those who enjoyed the band's demo, this would be a nice 'extra' to pick up, as it gives one a chance to hear the band in a live setting. However, if you have yet to hear Pain of Soul, pass this up, and get a hold of the demo first.	1. Devil Infance 2. Pain of Soul 3. The Cold Lament 4. Dementiae 5. Desert's Flowers Approx. 30 minutes
Reviewed by: Matt Zuchowski