Paradise Lost: Shades of God (1992)

Paradise Lost holds a special place in my history of becoming a metal fan, and this time of year is appropriate to be talking about it.  They were one of the earliest non-mainstream metal bands I ever heard.  I remember seeing a review of their album Draconian Times in a music magazine and had heard "Once Solemn" on an underground metal radio show.  I was interested enough that their album was on a list that I gave my family when they asked for Christmas ideas.  Someone got it for me, and I fell in love with it immediately.  Unfortunately, in those pre-internet days, their albums were really hard to find.  It has taken several years, but I have gradually been checking out most of their older releases, as well as their newer stuff.

Shades of God was Paradise Lost's third album and it features the kind of rumbling mixture of doom metal and death metal that most of their earlier material was known for, as well as touches of the gothic sound that they had a hand in creating.  This album though is a little heavier on the doom metal than the other albums by the band around the same time.  But it is doom metal in the vein of groups like Candlemass and Trouble, rolling riffs and infectious hooks.  There are a few faster tracks to really get the blood pumping like "Pity the Sadness", one of my favorite Paradise Lost tracks.

One change the band made on this album was to lengthen the songs somewhat and use more progressive song structures.  The change showed a band that was maturing and becoming more confident in their abilities, but sometimes the tracks tended to meander a bit longer than necessary.  The band deserved credit though for attempting to expand their horizons, and they never went way too far out there.

This album is a great combination of the melodic and aggressive sides of the band coming together.  It should be held up as a classic by the band, but seems to be one of the more overlooked albums.  Paradise Lost remains a favorite band of mine, and discovering some of these lost albums has certainly helped keep them there.

Paradise Lost: Medusa (2017)

Paradise Lost is very similar to Amorphis in that it is a band that has experimented with a variety of disparate styles over the years and, despite that, I absolutely love everything I have heard from them.  Paradise Lost started out as one of the progenitors of the doom/death metal sound in the U.K. along with My Dying Bride.  Over the years, they added more and more gothic metal elements and began to lose the death metal elements.  Then suddenly, they were just a gothic rock/metal band.  But then, they began returning to their roots more and more.

That brings us to this album, which is basically a doom/death metal album with only occasional gothic metal moments.  So they are back where they started.  From the opening strains of "Fearless Sky", it is clear that Paradise Lost have brought back the slow, lumbering doom.  And that continues throughout the album, with only occasional moments when the band locks into a rollicking groove.  But they never get close to anything like "Once Solemn" from Draconian Times.  It is an extremely dark and slow release that recaptures what made Paradise Lost so great from the very beginning.

The best moments from the album are those in which the vocals alternate between the dry, spine-tingling clean vocals and the gruff, death vocals.  The clean vocals call to mind the time when Paradise Lost experimented with more gothic rock, which they did a lot better than other bands who attempted the switch (looking at you Tiamat).  This comes together perfectly on the gloomily beautiful "The Longest Winter".

Paradise Lost was a band I fell for fairly early on in my metal collecting days, getting Draconian Times for Christmas when I was 15.  That album still ranks as my favorite from the band and one of my favorite albums of all time.  Medusa is a terrific album (Decibel made it their Album of the Year in 2017) that does not come quite close to matching that one, but may very well be my second favorite album by the band.  And beating Gothic is not easy, so that shows the high quality of Medusa.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 90

ARTIST:  Paradise Lost
ORIGIN:  Halifax, England
TITLE:  One Second
LABEL:  Music for Nations
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Gothic Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Say Just Words"
NOTES:  I had really gotten into Paradise Lost's brand of gothic metal with the preceding release.  So I was very excited when a new album was due to be released.  Unfortunately, Paradise Lost took things a little bit too far in the gothic rock direction on this album.  It was catchy and sounded pretty decent but most of the metal was gone.  It would get even worse after this and it would be years before I picked up another new Paradise Lost album.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 63

ARTIST:  Paradise Lost
ORIGIN:  Halifax, England
TITLE:  Draconian Times
LABEL:  Music for Nations
YEAR:  1995
GENRE:  Gothic Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Hallowed Land"
NOTES:  I love this album.  I got it for Christmas one year and fell in love with it right away.  And I still listen to it frequently.  It is absolutely haunting.  The songs are all incredible and infectious, the vocals sound amazing, and the music sounds terrific.  I first heard the band when the local rock radio station started playing "Enchantment" and "Once Solemn".  I liked the tracks and began looking for it myself.

Top 40 Metal Albums of 2012: 20-11

20.  KREATOR: PHANTOM ANTICHRIST
There were a number of venerable thrash metal giants that released new albums this year.  A surprising number of them were very impressive.  Kreator is one of my favorite German thrash metal bands with a remarkably consistent output.  This release is not quite as powerful as their last couple of albums but still possesses that anger and razor-sharp riffing style that the band has perfected over the course of their long career.

19.  3 INCHES OF BLOOD: LONG LIVE HEAVY METAL
I have enjoyed a couple of 3 Inches of Blood's albums in the past, but after their second vocalist left the band, they seemed less exciting.  They kind of phoned in their previous album.  But on this one, the band sounds rejuvenated and possibly better than they ever have.  That is saying something in my eyes.  This album is a hell of a lot of fun, exactly what 3 Inches of Blood set out to do.

18.  OVERKILL: THE ELECTRIC AGE
Like Kreator, Overkill is another long-running thrash metal titan that released an incredible new album in 2012.  Overkill is quite possibly the most consistent thrash metal band going which is saying quite a bit.  Their recent albums have actually proven to be better than the Big 4 of thrash metal, not bad for a band that existed in their shadow for years.  Overkill never disappoints me.

17.  WEAPON: EMBERS AND REVELATIONS
Weapon is a band that I have heard great things about for years but never really checked out until this year.  Now I am kicking myself because I really enjoyed this one.  Weapon has a surprisingly original take on blackened death metal and can not easily be compared to other bands in their genre.  The music is ominous and powerful.  It is an album I come back to time and time again.

16.  ASPHYX: DEATHHAMMER
Martin Van Drunen has long been one of my favorite death metal vocalists.  I try to pick up every project that he is attached to.  Asphyx is one of the bands that is most associated with Van Drunen and their sound matches his psychotic roaring better than most.  This album is yet another reason why Van Drunen is one of the most influential death metal vocalists of all time.

15.  TESTAMENT: DARK ROOTS OF EARTH
The third longtime thrash metal band to release a strong album in 2012, Testament's newest is the best of the three and is also one of the best albums the band has released since Low.  It is one of the best thrash metal albums of the year and featured the terrific "Native Blood", a tribute to singer Chuck Billy's Native American ancestry.

14.  HIGH ON FIRE: DE VERMIS MYSTERIIS
High on Fire is one of the leaders of the stoner doom metal genre and they have once again shown why on this album.  Their last album had somewhat weak production but was otherwise a very strong release.  This album fixes the mistakes of the last album's production with a much meatier and heavier sound.  The strong production lead to an even stronger overall feel with this release.

13.  PARADISE LOST: TRAGIC IDOL
I have been a big fan of Paradise Lost for years, ever since I got Draconian Times for Christmas back in around 1996.  Unfortunately the band has not put out an album quite as impressive since that one including a long foray into gothic rock.  But unlike some bands that went that direction (ahem Tiamat), Paradise Lost has found their way back out of it.  This is easily Paradise Lost's best album since that one.

12.  WITCHCRAFT: LEGEND
Like Weapon, I have heard a lot of great things about Witchcraft over the years but simply never got around to checking them out.  I read great things about this release before deciding to pick it up as well, but I am definitely glad that I did.  This is another very strong album influenced mainly by the old school heavy metal masters.  It rocks, quite simply.

11.  CATTLE DECAPITATION: MONOLITH OF INHUMANITY
Wow.  I was not expecting to be blown away by a Cattle Decapitation album.  There were a ton of great death metal albums in 2012 and Cattle Decapitation was one of the strongest.  This was the first Cattle Decapitation album I ever checked out due to their politics and being a run-of-the-mill deathgrind band, but this album elevated Cattle Decapitation to the top of the pack.

Initial Impressions: Paradise Lost: Tragic Idol

Paradise Lost was a band I discovered fairly early on in my exploration of metal.  I think it was Christmas time when I was about 15 years old that I got the amazing Draconian Times.  That album was a favorite of mine for a very long time and I still love it to this day.  That being said, I have never really liked the rest of the band's material nearly as much.  Paradise Lost has gone through a lot of changes over the years and not all of them have been very good.

This album is probably the closest to Draconian Times of any of the albums that I have heard.  I have not heard really close to all of the band's albums, I will be honest about that.  This is not as fast-paced as some of the tracks from that album, in particular the hard-driving "Once Solemn".  This is melancholic gothic metal with a lot of melody.  Nick Holmes's voice still sounds as great and emotional as ever.

Paradise Lost once again has put out a terrific album of gothic metal.  This is probably now my second favorite album from the pioneering band.

My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 79: Paradise Lost

I discovered Paradise Lost early in my formative metal years. I think I was a sophomore in high school when I heard them on the radio for songs "Once Solemn" and "Enchantment" and got the album for Christmas. One of the songs even inspired my email name. The gothic/doom metal band was part of the English wave of similar groups in the late 1980's to early 1990's, arriving on the scene with My Dying Bride and Anathema among others. Their music is often hauntingly beautiful and powerful with effective usage of keyboards and guitar leads. They have gone a little too far with the gothic influences at times, but have still managed to continue to release quality material.

FAVORITE ALBUM: DRACONIAN TIMES

Year in Metal: 1995

As I mentioned earlier, for the next few weeks, posts will be less frequent. Please bear with me. I have a major trial coming up soon that I am spending the majority of my time preparing for.

AT THE GATES: SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL
Who's honestly surprised to see this one here? This was a massively imfluential album for the melodeath genre and is the album most people think of when they think of that style. Oddly At the Gates streamlined their sound quite a bit. Their earlier material sounds little like this one. The album is hard-hitting, aggressive, and fast. For good reason, it is an absolute classic. Unfortunately, At the Gates broke up afterwards.

BLIND GUARDIAN: IMAGINATIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE
This is probably my favorite Blind Guardian album. It is still reasonably aggressive, for Blind Guardian anyway, with an excellent sense of melody. The German power metal has never sounded as good as they do on this release. It is a darker sound than some of their earlier albums, which adds to the mystique of this release. Blind Guardian would become overly complicated on later releases, this was the last album where they were wholly concentrated on putting out quality songs.

DARK TRANQUILLITY: THE GALLERY
I am a huge Dark Tranquillity fan, and this is their finest album. This was before the band became too reliant on electronic elements and their last that was pure Swedish melodic death metal, plain and simple. Along with the above At the Gates album, this is one of the hallmarks of the Gothenburg style of melodic death, with dual leads and gruff vocals driving the music. The reissue is a must as it has the band covering tracks from Metallica, Iron Maiden, Kreator, Mercyful Fate, and Sacred Reich.

DEATH: SYMBOLIC
This is probably my favorite album by Death, as it combines the band's earlier death metal sound with the more progressive sound exhibited by the band's final album. Chuck Schuldiner's vocals are different, higher and more melodic, than they were on the band's earlier material. The razor-sharp riffs remain and Schuldiner's keen sense of songwriting is definitely still present. Some of these songs, such as "Crystal Mountain" are absolute classics.

PARADISE LOST: DRACONIAN TIMES
I had a hard time between this album and My Dying Bride's 1995 release, but I ultimately chose Paradise Lost because it was an early favorite album. This was one of my formative albums. Paradise Lost's sound was in a state of flux at this point, they were not really playing doom metal or gothic metal, but more of a traditional metal with gothic and doom influences. I have loved this album ever since I first heard it. The dynamics are incredible and the riffs are amazing. The vocals are incredibly powerful as well. This is just a great album, and an overlooked classic.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Alice in Chains: Alice in Chains, Cathedral: The Carnival Bizarre, Faith No More: King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime, Fear Factory: Demanufacture, Immortal: Battles in the North, King Diamond: The Spider's Lullabye, Moonspell: Wolfheart, My Dying Bride: The Angel and the Dark River, Opeth: Orchid, Trouble: Plastic Green Head, White Zombie: Astro Creep: 2000.

BANDS THAT FORMED IN 1995: Borknagar, Ensiferum, Shadows Fall, Xasthur.

Year in Metal: 1993

CARCASS: HEARTWORK
Carcass is revered for being a pioneer in the grindcore genre. However, in their later years the band put out one of the all-time great death metal albums, Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious. Still later though, Carcass had a major hand in the formation of melodeath with this amazing album. Featuring cover art from H.R. Giger and some absolutely sick riffs and melodies, this is a great album without which we would not have had melodeath. At least the good stuff anyway.

CYNIC: FOCUS
Along with Atheist, Cynic is responsible for bringing jazz and fusion influences into death metal. Sounds like something doomed to failure, but it surprisingly works quite well. The songs often run the gamut between death metal and more ethereal, serene soundscapes. The vocoder vocals can be a little irritating at times, but it's nothing to stop listening for. Cynic did not release much after this, going on hiatus until just recently releasing their second full-length album.

IMMORTAL: PURE HOLOCAUST
One of the more well-known bands in the Norwegian black metal scene, Immortal is also probably my favorite of the groups. Immortal knows their sound and largely sticks to it, and their sound is chaotic and unholy thrash riffs played with ungodly speed and shrieking vocals. Immortal has created their own world on this album. They may be a little cheesy-looking in pictures and videos, but there is nothing cheesy about this music. Excellent black metal.

MORBID ANGEL: COVENANT
The first time I have ever heard of Morbid Angel was when the video for "God of Emptiness" was on Beavis and Butthead. I thought to myself that I had to get that album. The music was so evil and unlike anything I had ever heard to that point. Well, I was not able to find the album until I really started looking within the last few years. Now, this is one of my favorite death metal albums ever. Terrific death metal that other bands have been trying to copy for years.

PARADISE LOST: ICON
You won't see a lot of gothic metal in these lists, but there will be some. Paradise Lost is probably my favorite such group next to Type O Negative. The English band helped usher in the death/doom genre with Cathedral, My Dying Bride, and Anathema, but they became more of a gothic metal band over time. This album represents the crossroads between the two sounds and the doom elements and gothic elements blend perfectly into a beautiful, but still aggressive album.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Anthrax: Sound of White Noise, Atheist: Elements, Crowbar: Crowbar, Darkthrone: Under a Funeral Moon, Death: Individual Thought Patterns, Entombed: Wolverine Blues, Fight: War of Words, My Dying Bride: Turn Loose the Swans, Overkill: I Hear Black, Satyricon: Dark Medieval Times, Sepultura: Chaos A.D., Type O Negative: Bloody Kisses.

BANDS THAT FORMED IN 1993: Children of Bodom, Dark Funeral, Diabolical Masquerade, Dimmu Borgir, Electric Wizard, Hammerfall, Melechesh, Nile, Symphony X.