PARADISE LOST – “TRAGIC IDOL”
CENTURY MEDIA (2012)

Metal Church - The Present Wasteland

Maintaining one’s band in top form is a pretty arduous task, especially when the band in question has enjoyed a career as long and as challenging as that of the Halifax-based Doom/Goth Metallers Paradise Lost. Having established themselves as leading exponents of the early 90s Doom/Death scene and achieved high acclaim through releases such as “Icon” (1993) and “Draconian Times” (1995), these fine noisemakers soon decided to tread different musical paths, losing old and winning new fans in the process. Every single release since 2002’s “Symbol Of Life” has been described by fans and media alike as an attempt to re-visit ‘past glories’ without quite achieving such a goal – well, up until now, that is, as their thirteenth and soon-to-be-released studio effort “Tragic Idol” is what one can describe as the natural successor of 1993’s “Icon”!

Listening to the eleven compositions on offer has been a kind of trip down memory lane for me, reminding me of all the reasons that made me fall in love with this outfit in the first place. First and foremost, the passion and energy that seems to have been slightly ‘undermined’ during the band’s last few releases have made a triumphant return. Most importantly, however, the quintet has employed all the skill and talent accumulated throughout their long career into doing what they know best: using simple heavy riffs and emotionally-charged melodies, creating many instant classics in the process! The use of his mid-90s trademark harsh vocals make Nick Holmes sound more angry and ‘urgent’ than ever and Greg Mackintosh has ensured that there isn’t a single song on this album that is not graced with either a commanding riff or a captivating lead melody.

The opening track “Solitary One” is a classic Paradise Lost tune based on a simple heavy Doom riff and is filled with amazingly melodic lead guitar parts and dark/Gothic keyboard themes while the skull-crushing guitar riff of “Crucify” makes it one of the heaviest head banging (yes, that’s right) songs in the band’s recent history! Having found the eerie lead melodies and melodic refrain of “Fear Of Impending Hell” simply impossible to resist I was soon embraced by yet another catchy Goth Metal classic, namely “Honesty In Death”. In “Theories From Another World” we have another mid-tempo head-banging opus of the utmost quality, whereas the significantly slower “In This We Dwell” proves what an outstanding lead guitarist Greg Mackintosh really is! If you are a sucker for mid tempo galloping riffs and flamboyant groovy solos then “To The Darkness” is definitely a song for you, while fans of moody harmonies should invest in either the same-titled “Tragic Idol” or the simply-riffed “Worth Fighting For”. By deciding to close the album with the five minute “The Glorious End”, Paradise Lost have certainly left the very best for last, as its epic sounding riffs and hair-raising melodies are simply second to none!

I am not sure how to successfully express my feelings towards “Tragic Idol” without sounding too controversial to the average fan of this great band but I truly believe that what we have here is the best damn Paradise Lost record since the release of the mighty “Icon” back in 1993! There is way too much passion, energy and high craftsmanship involved in this release for it to simply be the product of a calculated attempt to milk one’s past! This is more like the product of a band that has finally found its long-lost inspiration – a band that is still capable of endowing a single album with numerous heart-stopping compositions! A classic in the making and, most certainly, the biggest surprise of the year!

John Stefanis

Rating: ***** (5.0/5.0)

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