Metal Reviews

The new Paradise Lost will definitely be a contender for album of the year for the doom/goth/dark category. They return with a more metal approach than with their previous release and Holmes vocals are more varied and a little rough around the edges at times, which fits perfectly with their music. I have a felling this will be spinning quite a bit in my CD player(or iPod).

what did you guys think of "In Requiem" ?

I liked the couple of songs I heard from the previous album (had always ignored them before in favour of MDB), but had a listen when this was up at their MySpace and it's pretty darn good.

Just bought this album from the Virgin Megastore underneath the Louvre and after listening to it several times on the plane ride back home I am really liking it. Tracks 3, 4 and 11 are all pretty good and stood out to me. I'm not sure yet how it compares to Draconian or Icon but it definitely should be a contender for best of the year.

Oh, and the case I got it in has kind of the jewelry box fuzziness to it with gold text and it looks pretty classy.

They are pretty much all good tracks, right now the tracks that I like the most are "Never for the damned" and " Prelude to descent" which has catchy harmonics.

When is it out in the US?

already out in Canada and I'm pretty sure it's also released in the states. The End records had it in stock last time I checked.

I got it this weekend. excellant.

It's a great album. There was another topic about it, in the heavy section I think.

Actually I haven't seen any other topic about it.
Not many people seem to keen about Paradise Lost, even Metal reviews ignored it by not reviewing it and thats pretty sad.

That's true, as far as these boards are concerned. I was almost shocked to see there's people here who listened to one or none PL albums. I actually have the impression that not only PL, but most of their collegues that helped found the early doom/death and gothic metal movements (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Tiamat, Amorphis, Cemetary etc) are very much ignored on these boards. Since most posters here are in their early 20's and weren't into metal back in the early 90's, it may be a generation gap sort of thing.

PL are quite big in my country and among the metalheads I know here. Here's the other topic: http://www.metalreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9104

I think that's it in a nutshell. Personally, I only got into MDB having heard them mentioned a lot and in magazines etc. They simply don't have the broad appeal or the reverence that the likes of Emperor, Opeth etc do. Although PL had a bit of mainstream success back in the day, they're nowhere near successful enough nowadays here.

I can see why PL would be largely ignored in favour of MDB etc - only their earlier albums had any heavy value. MDB consistently put out dark albums, Anathema and Katatonia remained melancholic after their shift away from metal, Tiamat resemble Sisters of Mercy so much that they become a listening supplement to the goth rock fan, etcetera etcetera. Paradise Lost changed way too much at times to maintain a strong place in the metal market.

Those unfortunate souls who like me bought one of their poppier albums the first time (Believe In Nothing for me) could have been turned off Paradise Lost for that reason. I like Gothic and other material from that era, but their rockier/poppier material doesn't sit well with me. The track from their newey on MySpace doesn't excite me either.

That's an interesting point, although In Requiem is much more metal than any of the latest Anathema, Katatonia, Tiamat, Theatre Of Tragedy etc, you should give it a listen. PL went Depeche Mode on us and now came back.

I still support my theory that all these bands are somewhat ignored, mainly due to generation differences. I see Zad, who is in this group age I think, agrees. Many youth nowadays get into metal through death or black (be it real, like Nile or Emperor, or false, like Opeth and Dimmu) and they continue to explore the more extreme subgenres. Others may get in through Maiden or Metallica and then go back and try to explore the heavy/power/traditional/thrash genres. In both cases, the early doom/death hybrids, as well as their subsequent evolutions, get ignored.

I'm not even mentioning the kids that get in through nu-metal or metalcore, the last thing they wanna do is listen to an album like Eternity or Draconian Times.

Their previous release was also pretty heavy although not as rough around the edges as In Requiem. I really appreciated it as it had many great tracks such as Sun fading and redshift, Although I do have to admit that being the first paradise lost album I ever heard raises it's status by a bit.

Overall I only own Icon,Draconian, Paradise Lost and In Requiem
and they are all really great albums. I guess I kind of skipped out on the Depeche mode period. In Requiem seems to have taken some elements (such as the keyboards) from "Paradise Lost" , and injected their old sound from the Icon, Draconian periode.

I don't know about the generational gap. I'm one of the young, brand-spankin'-new, under-twenty metalheads and right now I'm listening to Cathedral's In Memoriam. I know of and like a lot of the founding bands - I just don't necessarily like their new stuff as well. I like Tiamat because I'm a goth rock fan on the side and I like new and old Katatonia alike because of the melancholic quality of the music. I know metalheads who also like spacey, athmospheric rock and as such listen to new Anathema. I like some synth-pop/goth pop, and as such ToT didn't turn me away when I heard their new material. I like a lot of various music, as most metalheads do. One of the many things I don't like is the direction that PL went in.

Certain markets tend to overlap, and it may be the case that there is very little overlap between the "young new metalheads" market and "listeners who would like new PL" market, or just "metalheads in general" and "newer era PL listeners". Sure new PL is rough around the edges, but being rough does not a metal album make (just look at Darkthrone LAWLLAWL I made a funny).

Sorry but In Requiem is as metal as Icon and Draconian are, whoever says the contrary hasn't been paying attention when listening to it or have no clue what goth metal is. This isn't extreme metal but it certainly is metal.

no offense intended.