UMUR
Host is the 7th full-length studio album by UK doom/ goth metal act Paradise Lost. The music style on the band´s last album One Second (1997) was somewhat a departure from their early doom roots as it featured a sound that was closer to goth metal. Still with a pretty heavy doomy approach though. The band had been moving closer and closer to that style with each album release before One Second, so the sound on that album didn´t come as such a big surprise. That can´t be said about the sound on Host though. I think most fans and critics got quite a big surprise the first time they listened to Host.
The music on Host is still unmistakably the sound of Paradise Lost, but there are radical changes to the sound. The doom metal element in the band´s sound is now completely gone and bands like The Mission and The Sisters of Mercy are now the biggest influence. I´ll mention nineties Depeche Mode too though as there is a strong influence from that band´s sound in the music too. While Host is on the border of what you can call metal, there are still enough distorted guitars in the sound to justify calling it just that. This is a soft and polished goth rock/ metal affair with loads of synth/ keyboard backing, a melancholic atmosphere and some decent vocals by Nick Holmes. The songs sound a bit too much the same but over the years I´ve learned to tell them better apart. With 13 tracks and a playing time that says 53:00 minutes the album is a bit too long for its own good though and I wish they would have cut 3 - 4 songs.
Most people I know who have listened to Host, either hate it or find it a great disappointment, so I´m actually the only person I know ( except my cousin who is a great Depeche Mode fan), who somewhat enjoy the album. Considering that this is the odd album in their discography, I think the experiment went pretty well and a 3 star rating is warranted. I´m glad they didn´t stick to this style, but when I´m in the mood, Host is quite an enjoyable listen.