Pain
"Rebirth"
(Renegade Records)

Pain is the side project of Hypocrisy frontman Peter Tagtren. Although this is Pain's second album, it was my first time hearing them. The music is very similar to Nine Inch Nails, but more metallic, with sharper, more pronounced guitars. It is a well done and sophisticated album, the music is intense and aggressive, and Peter and his bandmates in Pain are quite talented. The album begins with a pulsating tune called "Supersonic Bitch" (love the title!), which is followed by "End Of The Line", a song that contains sprinklings of-I kid you not!-"Axel F!" You know, the song from the first "Beverly Hills Cop" movie! I'm dead serious! Anyway, moving on, next we have "Breathing In, Breathing Out", a slower tune containing some crunchy Pantera riffs. Then we have the very NIN "Delusions", followed by a hard rocking tune called "Suicide Machines". After this comes a speedy little number called "Parallel To Ecstasy". Next up is "On And On", which reminded me, sort of, of Drowning Pool's "Bodies". A short instrumental is next with 12:42 (?), after which we have a hard hitting tune, aptly titled "Crashed". Rounding the album out are two sexually charged tunes, a groovy rocker called "Dark Fields Of Pain", in which Peter sings in a scary monster voice, and "She Whipped", another pulse pounder. Sure like to meet the girl he's singing about! The CD also contains a CD-ROM video for "End Of The Line," which I didn't get to check out so I can't tell you how it is. But this album is good for what it is, albeit a tad derivative of NIN. Peter and his cronies can certainly play, the songs are well crafted, and they churn out some intense tunes here.

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