Si hace unas horas Ragnar Zolberg era expulsado de Pain of Salvation de mano de Daniel Gildenlöw, es justo al día siguiente que Daniel hace un comunicado también en la misma red social, anunciando su sustituto que no es otro que Johan Hallgren, quien abandonara la banda en 2011 después de grabar Road Salt 2 para centrarse en su hija.

Comunicado de Daniel Gildenlöw:

After a few years of working together with Ragnar, I feel that we have come to a point where it is necessary to part ways. It feels very sad, because we are losing a great vocalist and stage personality in Ragnar. It felt great writing the new album together with him, and I am very thankful for that time. We all are. But with time it has become clear that his true place is not in this band. Musically, it has worked very well, but there are so many other variables that need to click in order to make a band strong and stable.

We are not going into a period of uncertainty, but one of deliberate change and strength. We have a great record label and a great management/booking company that have both told us that they understand our decision, and that they back us up and support us fully through this. All scheduled shows will happen as planned. How? Well, we are happy to announce that, starting today, Johan Hallgren will be returning to the band as a full member again, and we will go full throttle ahead through this. We are very happy about seeing him back onboard, and we are sure you will accept him back with open arms, as will we.

One thing that we are looking forward to a lot is the regained possibility to meet up and rehearse more often, which is one of the main reasons why I started playing music in the first place: to have that small and devoted tribe, standing in a sweaty rehearsing room, sharing a stupid dream. And then making it come true.

So, a new chapter in the life of Pain of Salvation, and yet not. We hurt, we heal, we rise. And we keep delivering, that is a promise. We hope for your love and support through this. We want to thank Ragnar for the good years together with us, and wish him all the luck with his future endeavours. And again, we warmly welcome Johan Hallgren back to our family!

Peace,
Daniel & Pain of Salvation

What the band members and Johan himself has to say about his return to the band:

Johan Hallgren:
“Already when I quit the band, I felt that I really wanted to come back. This feels fun as hell, and I will go into this with full force – hook, line and sinker. I have promised myself to supersede everyone’s expectations of my return. This is something I know well, and I am damn good at it. And more than that, I have really missed them all – it’s a wonderful gang!”

Gustaf Hielm:
«Although I have never truly played together with Johan Hallgren before, I know that he is a great guy, and I am really looking forward to getting to know him better and playing with him.»

Léo Margarit:
“It’s great that Johan is back – a good friend. I am certain the fans will be very happy, he was a beloved band member, and many were sad to see him go. It will be very fun to play with him again!”

Daniel D2 Karlsson:
“I am very happy to see Johan back – I actually feel quite exalted. Johan is a wonderful human being with a warm heart, and he’s got a fantastic charisma as a musician. I am convinced our fans will welcome him with a warm embrace.”

Ayer Domingo, el guitarrista y compositor Ragnar Zolberg fue despedido de Pain of Salvation tal y como explica en el duro comunicado que colgó ayer en su cuenta personal de Facebook y que os dejamos más abajo.

Entre otros muchos motivos, el guitarrista islandés explica que tal y como ha hecho Tobias Forge con Ghost, Daniel Gildenlöw se ha apoderado de la banda.

En dicho comunicado vierte duras acusaciones contra Gildenlöw, relacionadas con ridículos pagos por los servicios prestados durante todo el tiempo de grabación y posterior gira mundial, dónde llegaron a colgar el cartel de SOLD OUT.

Era obvio que la relación entre Daniel y Ragnar se había deteriorado rápidamente en los últimos meses, algo que no sorprende viendo la actitud entre ellos sobre los escenarios y fuera de ellos, donde apenas había complicidad. Cosa que ya intuimos en su última visita a Barcelona cuando durante la sesión de fotos que les hicimos, el islandés no hizo acto de presencia. Un choque de egos tan previsible que a muchos no os sorprenderá.

Comunicado Ragnar Zolberg:

I quit Pain of Salvation in 2013 after having been in the band for 1 year only. It was nothing like what I had expected and I had come to understand why some members before me had also left. At that time Roger stepped in and did the acoustic tour in which he did a very good job!
About one year later I was asked to do one more gig, prognation at sea, I agreed. When I showed up for rehearsals Daniel had been hospitalised and asked me to fill in his shoes for the show, after he got better he asked me to join the band again and write the next album with him. I love to make albums so I decided to stick around a little longer.
Recently, with our album In the Passing Light of Day the band has been doing considerably better. An album which Daniel and I wrote together during a 2 year time period and I also lent some of my previous compositions to it. With a lot of dedication, sacrifices and help from various people we managed to go from almost being dropped from the record label to selling a descent amount of albums and playing to sold out shows. Something that I am very proud of and obviously very grateful for the love shown to us by the kind people attending our shows.
I have had a great time with my friends Gustaf Hielm, Daniel Karlsson and Léo Margarit. I am going to miss hanging out with them as much, they are the biggest reason I managed to stay all this time.
As it turned out, everybody worked on the album as a team, but as soon as our album was finished last year, the band leader started acting in a very similar manner as what we have been seeing of the band Ghost recently. It was clear that this was not “our» album anymore, but his. I got payed a small amount of 1000 euros for my work for those 2 years, that did not even cover my travel expenses.
Although PoS have now been doing quite good business wise, being in this band has been bad business from the beginning and has cost way more than what I’ve had in return, both mentally and economically. Minimum wage is not to be expected when you play to sold out shows and full venues at our standards. Neither is pessimism and criticism after almost every gig.
I have spoken my mind about all of this while still doing what I could to keep a professional relation towards everything, after all it is also my music that we have been playing and I have wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible despite the unjust treatment I have faced.
Instead of making amends, offering better salary or even giving credit where it’s due I was instead asked by Daniel to leave the band yesterday.