Following a first headlining run of 2.5 weeks of European dates as well as five highly successful weeks of support shows with OPETH, Sweden’s PAIN OF SALVATION have announced their next headlining tour of Central Europe, for February and March 2012.

Daniel Gildenlöw has checked in during the soon concluding Opeth tour (final dates are today, December 8th in Stockholm, Sweden at the Arena and then tomorrow, December 9th in Oslo, Norway at the sold out Sentrum Scene) to comment as follows: “It's been a bit strange for us to play first slot, but we've had a lot of fun and the feedback from the crowds has been great every night. We seem to have struck a chord with a lot of Opeth's fans, so we are glad that we accepted their invitation.

Now, when we have obviously left a lot of fans hungry for more, it feels great to announce the upcoming European tour in February and March. This trip has been odd since we all know that Johan and Fredrik are leaving the band. We are enjoying ourselves on stage in the same way a typical Swede enjoys those late fall days of bonus summer, haha. That said, we have a very interesting line-up for February.

Daniel "D2" Karlsson who played the bass for this tour will take over Fredrik's place behind the keyboards (he is a keyboard player from the start and played keyboards on our trip to India in 2010 - being in Pain of Salvation practically indicates that you are a multi-instrumentalist). For the bass we will have Gustaf Hielm joining, who some people might recognize as the bass player on the Road Salt tracks Innocence and Deeper Cut. Others might recognize him as the Pain Of Salvation bass player before the first album, or the bass player of CHARTA 77 and MESHUGGA. I simply recognize him as arguably the best bass player I have ever heard.

Now, the only thing left is to decide on a new guitar player. We have had tons of applications coming in from around the world (10-15 from Brazil alone!) but we still have our doors open for a few days, before we start the final auditions in mid-December.

We still have three more shows together, and we will make the most of it - enjoy the ride. After that, again, we go into the wild. Calmed by the fact that our daring fans will follow, as usual. Pain Of Salvation has been called the bravest band alive. Well, if so, we must indeed have the bravest fans :) “

The Road Salt Two Tour Europe 2012 dates include:

February

10 - Glasgow, UK - Captain's Rest
11 - Leeds, UK - The Well
12 - Bilston, UK - The Robin
13 - London, UK - The Garage
15 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit of 66
17 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Kulturfabrik
18 - Paris, France - Divan du Monde
19 - Toulouse, France - Le Bikini
20 - Madrid, Spain - Caracol
21 - Barcelona, Spain - Apolo 2
23 - Milan, Italy - Live Club
24 - Treviso, Italy - New Age
25 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7

March

7 - Ebersbach / Sachsen, Germany – OKV
8 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos-Saal
9 - Gera, Germany - Comma
10 - Weert, The Netherlands - De Bosuil
12 - Zoetermeer, The Netherlands - De Borderij
13 - Bochum, Germany - Zeche
14 - Braunschweig, Germany - Meier-Music-Hall
15 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle

Pain Of Salvation frontman Daniel Gildenlöw is featured in a new interview with Austria's Stormbringer.at, conducted on November 29th in Vienna on the band's current tour with Opeth. Check it out below:

Pain Of Salvation released their Road Salt Two album on September 26th in Europe. The album was released October 11th in North America via InsideOutMusic. The tracklisting is as follows:

'Road Salt Theme'

'Softly She Cries'

'Conditioned'

'Healing Now'

'To The Shoreline'

'Eleven'

'1979'

'The Deeper Cut'

'Mortar Grind'

'Through The Distance'

'The Physics Of Gridlock'

'End Credits'