Paradise Lost needs no introduction. And unless you have lived under a rock for 30 years, you are bound to be aware of their vast history and legacy, transforming from a pure death doom band, being part of the UK 90s Doom trinity along with My Dying Bride and Anathema, to a Gothic metal act, to a darkwave goth rock band, and now in their third act blending thier entire past into thier current sound, much like the trajectory of sister act My Dying Bride.

So here is album number 17, and much like the last few albums, Medusa, Obsidian, and The Plague Within, and as mentioned above, the band has locked into a sound that blends their doom/death sound and their more gothic rock sound into a perfectly balanced sound that fans of the band’s entire discography will love.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, when they came out, I was never a fan of the band’s gothic, mopey sound of albums like Draconian Times, One Second, Symbol of Life, or Paradise Lost.  However, as I have matured, I’ve come to appreciate them a little more ( I still contend the band peaked with Gothic). And especially, as the band blends those elements into the heavier sound of earlier releases, including the lauded return of death growls on The Plague Within, which are still, thankfully, in place.

What stands out, though, is that the band, with a largely original lineup, is still utter masters of their craft, and somehow, 30-plus years later, they have crafted arguably one of the best album of their career.

Starting with “Serpent on the Cross”, there’s a death howl right out of the gate and a crunchy, sturdy but somber riff that reminds you these guys can still do heavy. But then standout “Tyrant’s Serenade” mopes out of the gate with a crumbling, grooving, morose riff that only Greg Mackintosh can write/play, but has a hefty back end and Nick Holmes perfectly rendered somber croons and growls (why doesn’t he sound this good on Bloodbath albums? Side note: Hey, Bloodbath– just use Jorgen Sandstrom already).

“Salvation” had a plooding, brooding majesty that reminded me of the excellent “Beneath Broken Earth” from The Plague Within, or even My Dying Bride‘s The Angel and the Dark River album. But then the album gets a little more into the band’s goth rock phase with “Silence Like the Grave”, where Holmes channels his inner James Hetfield, and even the riffs could have come from an early Metallica album. And to be honest, I never recall Paradise Lost having a Metallica influence, but it is very strong in this track, as well as later on in the choppy “Diluvium” and “Sirens”, ironically, the album’s 2 weakest tracks

The album then leans harder into the band’s more commercial era with “Lay Your Wreath Upon The World”, a masterclass in moody, brooding Goth rock, with exclusively clean vocals from Holmes and even some subtle female background vocals before the aforementioned “Diluvium” and “Sirens”. Sandwiched between them is “Savage Days”, which drips with 28 Days Later/John Murphy taughtness.

The album’s last duo of “Deceivers” and “The Precipice” swing back into more of a mix of dreary goth rock and sterner doom metal, with “The Precipice” being one of the album’s strongest cuts, if not one of the band’s best, most depressive cuts of the last few years. It puts an end note on a killer album that shows these guys, along with bands like Amorphis and My Dying Bride, after multiple style shifts, are just killing it in their third acts, 30+ years into their careers.

 

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