Songs like "Our Saviour", "Shattered" and "As I Die" are real
diamonds in my humble opinion and I can mention a lot more, all from their first
albums. The albums "Icon" and "Draconian Times" were quite good also, but after
that I lost interest. Nick Holmes' his grunts disappeared and the songs got less
heavy with every next album.
After releasing a
CD
called 'Drown In Darkness - the Early Demos' in 2009, they found the way back up
again with 'Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us'. On 'Tragic Idol', the songs were
a tad heavier again also, but I did not expect the step they took with this new
album 'The Plague Within'.
"No
Hope In Sight" is a rather slow opener with the typical Paradise Lost
guitar sound and has a tragic melancholic atmosphere. After his 'normal' singing
style the song gets heavier near the end and Nick's mighty grunts
return. On this album Nick's grunting is back for a big part and that, in
combination with the heavier songs, makes this album a return to their roots.
After that, "Terminal" with aggressive grunting
and the doomy track "An Eternity
Of Lies" make me think of their 'Gothic' and 'Shades of God' albums. "Punishment
Through Time" has a same kind of groovy rhythmn and riff as "Pity the Sadness" of
the 'Shades' albums and is one of my favorite tracks.
For
the fifth song, I have to warn you! When you are already
a little sad and desperate, you better skip this one. With a slow riff Black
Sabbath would be jealous of, this song can drag you into an eternal valley of
tears. The next one is more mellow, has some violins and Nick varies his singing style. "Victim
Of the Past" you might know already from YouTube. They played that song live in
Bulgaria in a theatre with an orchestra a while ago.
Then the most heavy track "Flesh From The Bone" tortures my living room. After a
slow start, it carries on in black metal style and Nick growls and grunts of old.
I remember reading a review in which the writer compared this song with bands
like Triptykon and even old Mayhem and I have to admit he is right. "Cry Out" is
a nice grooving track with a kind of stoner riff and bands like Crowbar and
Orange Goblin aren't far away, yet it still sounds like Paradise Lost. The final
track opens with a choir and orchestration and has the perfect gloomy atmosphere
we know from Paradise Lost. Greg Mackintosh's typical
howling guitar leads, solos and riffs see to it that this album ends in the
same spooky ambience as
it started.
With this new album, Paradise Lost is back with new songs that create the same
gloomy and desperate atmosphere as their early nineties stuff.
