The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: Believe in Nothing

Old Rating: 3/5

Verdict: Same deal as Host, this only made it's way into my collection after this project started, but again, I'm going all the Paradise Lost albums in order. They brought back the metal on this one, but existing somewhere between gothic and alternative now, with some industrial. Not a bad album per se, but it is perhaps Paradise Lost's dullest release, with no real standout tracks for me. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: A Twist in the Myth

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Following on from what I said about this on the A Night at the Opera entry, I've actually listened to this more than that album, yet I do think that overall that album is the stronger of the two. This one does though have quite a lot of great songs that I feel inclined to play outside of the context of the whole record, but I've never shock the feeling that A Twist in the Myth is lesser than the sum of its parts. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Terra Incognita

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: The second of my two Coronatus CDs. I haven't played this as much as Porta Obscura, but it's actually a damn fine gothic metal album as well, more restrained than some of their work yet still with other elements in there like folk and symphonic metal and even a thrashy song. I sort of lost some interest in the band after this one and the most I know of them today is that they change line-up so much it's hard to know who's coming, going or coming back again. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: In Requiem

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Paradise Lost get back to doomy gothic metal and the result is their strongest and heaviest album since Draconian Times. Along with One Second In Requiem was one of the first Paradise Lost albums I got and it was my favourite of the two, but I didn't become a major fan until getting Draconian Times. Since then however In Requiem has become an album that has seen regular playtime, and I see it as the starting point of an incredible run of strong albums that hasn't yet abated with the release of 2020's Obsidian. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: So here we are, album #200 of The Great Collection Rediscovery and it probably isn't much of a surprise what I picked for this milestone given how I've been mostly focussed on Paradise Lost lately - such a great band that it's very easy to go through the whole discography of and never have time to get bored due to how often they're changing things up. On this one they brought the doom metal back a whole lot more into the gothic metal sound. Some here tend to point to The Plague Within as the true point that they brought the doom back, but it's actually here, though the much more gothic Tragic Idol is stuck in between the two albums. This one is really great; heavy like In Requiem and then some because of the increased doom presence, and with perhaps less commercial sounding song-writing compared to their best known records. Not one to be skipped. 

New Rating: No Change.

Album: Tragic Idol

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: I usually consider this to be Paradise Lost's most underrated record. The seemingly oft ignored Tragic Idol (including by the band when I saw them on the Medusa tour with no songs from it played despite it only being two albums back). Only I'm honestly not sure it is, looking at RYM's averages and the amount of people who have rated it, but it sure seems that way to me (I'm surprised to find Medusa the unsung one there actually, but what can you do with RYM'ers? Most of them strike me as the type to look a gift horse in the mouth). Tragic Idol does kind of occupy a strange position of being more gothic than its predecessor's return to doom and it's follow-up's reintroduction of growling vocals though, and it's my impression that Tragic Idol sometimes gets written off as the last Paradise Lost album before they brought the growls back, which really does it a disservice. This is easily my favourite of the growlless albums in the current run of high quality records that started with In Requiem; every song is memorable and full of top notch gothic atmospheres. 

New Rating: No Change.

Album: The Plague Within

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Probably my favourite Paradise Lost album with growls, as well as overall. I like how diverse this album is. It's not quite the death-doom return that Medusa is, but after some years listening to these two albums I find The Plague Within all the stronger for it. I wasn't following the band when this came out so I missed the reaction on the return of the growls and how the band handled revealing that, so maybe someone could clue me in? Did they state beforehand that this was happening or just suddenly reveal a new song with the growls featured for instance, and what was your reaction to what I'm sure must have been an unexpected switch after all this time?

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Medusa

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Paradise Lost's return to death-doom seems to be going down for many as a blip in their discography's currently run of quality albums, although I fail to understand exactly why. Nevertheless the evidence for this general opinion speaks for itself when you look at RYM's data: for a such a well known band, less than 1000 users have rated Medusa in three years since it's release (put that in contrast with 2020's Obsidian, which has already surpassed 1000 ratings) and while it's actual average rating is a respectable 3.40, that still puts it alongside the likes of Paradise Lost (2005) and Symbol of Life (2002) rather than everything else they've released since In Requiem (2007). Paradise Lost are a rare band on RYM where even their lowest ranked album has an average of 3+, which is testament to their overall quality (easily in my top 5 bands of all time these days), but it is surprising to see this one ranked on the lower end and perhaps more than that, how generally ignored this feels being their only album with less than 1000 ratings (The Plague Within has over 700 more ratings). I used to think Tragic Idol the overlooked one from modern Paradise Lost, but obviously isn't actually Medusa. Not for me though. Although this is not my favourite Paradise Lost album overall, it is my favourite death-doom Paradise Lost album (yes, even over Gothic), as well as my most played on Last.fm from them. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Black Emotions

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Getting back onto the random things I got in that job lot purchase of mine from a few years ago, this is one, like many, that got listened to once and then shelved. I wasn't that into gothic metal when I got that collection, as my love for Paradise Lost hadn't yet fully emerged. But now thanks to them I'm much more open to gothic metal and I liked this record a lot lot more this time around. The lead vocals are not up to Nick Holmes level, but there's some nice gothic metal atmospheres here. 

New Rating: 4/5

48 for me.