Paradise Lost

I find myself being increasingly won over by Draconian Times. I figured one of the doom albums had a better chance of ending up my favourite but its this one currently in the frame for it. Still have a few to check out though. As expected I never did get the copy of Tragic Idol that I ordered. 

adg211288 wrote: Currently on Believe in Nothing. Anyone else feel this one belongs more in Alternative Metal than Gothic?

I think it has elements of both but overall I think I'd agree with this. I recently finished going through their studio albums and actually there's a few instances where I'd change the tag on their main albums. I guess there's bound to be disagreements when a band has changed their sound a few times but for me this would be accurate:

Lost Paradise - Death-Doom Metal
Gothic - Death-Doom Metal
Shades of God - Doom Metal
Icon - Gothic Metal
Draconian Times - Gothic Metal
One Second - Gothic Metal
Host - Non-Metal
Believe in Nothing - Alternative Metal
Symbol of Life - Gothic Metal
Paradise Lost - Gothic Metal
In Requiem - Gothic Metal
Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us - Gothic Metal
Tragic Idol - Gothic Metal
The Plague Within - Gothic Metal or Death-Doom Metal
Medusa - Death-Doom Metal

This is mostly what we have expect for Shades of God, Believe in Nothing and The Plague Within. Let me explain my reasoning:

Shades of God: This album is markedly different from either Gothic or Icon either side of it, especially vocally. I don't get too much of a death metal impression from this album.

Believe in Nothing: I do think this one musically sounds a bit different overall than their other gothic material, especially in riff style.

The Plague Within: This partly comes from the fact that Shades of God is widely seen as death-doom when the vocals are much more death here than they are on that one. But also because Paradise Lost really brought the actual doom music back on a joint footing with the gothic metal before this album, at least on Tragic Idol and arguably also on Faith Divides Us. The only thing that changed between Tragic Idol and this one was the growling making a comeback, so I think if anything this one should still be considered Gothic first and foremost if those are. Gothic metal as a genre does use harsh vocals even if Paradise Lost themselves never applied them to their gothic work before. But more than anything it makes no sense for Shades of God to count as death-doom if this one doesn't. :P


Edited by TheHeavyMetalCat - 13 Oct 2017 at 11:09am

I agree about Shades of God, Ashley. The vocals are kind of harsh but not really death metal harsh.

^I´d be interested to hear what you think of them live. It´s been many years since I saw them last, and I always felt a bit underwhelmed by their live performances, which meant I haven´t gone the last many times they´ve visited Copenhagen.

I'm not that keen on gothic metal in general but I have always thought Paradise Lost were one of the better bands. I prefer them playing doom though. Historically Gothic has been my favourite but recently I've really been won over by their most recent two. I've voted Medusa though. 

Surprised that Draconian Times has no votes.

I've only listened to the first five as well as Medusa, and I think I voted Lost Paradise. I might have voted Shades of God though.