Paradise Lost @ Colchester Arts Centre, 2018

Paradise Lost at Colchester Arts Centre, February 15^th, 2018

With support from Outshine and Goat Monsoon

Metal music and the church don't always have the best relationship, but on February 15^th, 2018 the two came together when Paradise Lost played the Colchester Arts Centre, a venue housed within the St Mary at the Walls church. It's not a large venue and surprisingly the show is not a sell out considering it's rare for Essex to get gigs from metal artists (we usually have the make the trip down to London to see anyone), especially fairly high profile ones like Paradise Lost. This place has a pretty good reputation for it's variety of acts, hosting everything from farmers markets and beer festivals to stand-up comedians and extreme metal bands. A few other names I know have played here, but not personally seen, include Lacuna Coil, Fen and Cradle of Filth. Perhaps most notably for the venue in the metal seen though is that it's where Japan's Gallhammer recorded their Ruin of a Church live release.

Despite what Gallhammer named their live release recorded here, this place is not a ruin by any means. It's small but nice, with room for a merch stand along one wall and two bars diagonally across from each other. I much prefer a small venue concert like this to an arena or stadium show where you'll struggle to see the bands, but there's no trouble with that here. In fact this is the best view of the stage I've ever had at a concert.

Local band Goat Monsoon were first up and were on stage getting ready as the doors opened. The five piece was previously unknown to me and released an EP in 2014 and recently have been demoing new material on Bandcamp. I would describe their music as stoner metal. They played about six songs, a few of which were Shake Me Down, Alpha Kings and Lord of the Hive. The band certainly know the art of playing loud. Their bass in particular is really heavy and prominent. The ears haven't had the time to adjust to concert volume yet and it goes right through you. The floor itself seems to be vibrating. Their music seemed quite interesting, with some notably doomy parts but from where I was it did seem to be as if they could have done with their vocalist being louder in the live mix. I struggled to really hear what he was singing over the instruments. The band joins the crowd after their set, and we end up standing only a couple of people away from the lead guitarist.

Swedish act Outshine is up next. They're another band I wasn't previously familiar with, but it quickly becomes obvious why they've been selected to be with Paradise Lost. They have a sound that's quite similar to the headline band circa their One Second album, playing gothic metal with still quite strong gothic rock vibes, though they are also some minimal use of harsh vocals. They're fairly obscure despite having a few full-length albums under their belt, the most recent one being Prelude to Descent from 2013. They were mainly promoting their upcoming album 1313 this night though, which is to be released on February 23^rd. One song they definitely played that I've since been able to identify was Liar, a single they released in 2017 that will open the new album. They put on a good show. I'm definitely interested in checking out their new album when it drops next week.

Finally it's time for the act we're all here to see, Paradise Lost. They've done many dtaes in 2017 but this is their first of 2018, with a just over a week long leg across the UK and Ireland. They're touring their latest album Medusa, a release that saw them return to their death-doom metal roots after bringing back Nick Holmes' growls on previous release The Plague Within, but despite that it's a very well varied set we get from them. The show opens with growly number From the Gallows, a song from Medusa, but quickly turns to more classic gothic metal material such as Hallowed Land from Draconian Times, the group's most famous album, followed by The Enemy, a single from In Requiem. Next we get the title track from One Second, and then it's back to the latest album for it's own title track, which is actually one of it's least growled tracks.

This means that despite touring a death-doom album, it takes until the eight track of the night before another full growled song makes an appearance. Until then we get Erased from Symbol of Life, the only song played on the night I couldn't immediately identify since that's one of a few Paradise Lost albums I don't have yet, along with Host and Believe in Nothing. Then it's Forever Failure, also from Draconian Times, which is definitely a treat to have included. The crowd really loses it for the next number though when Nick Holmes asks if we want to hear some old school death metal. 'I'll introduce it the way I did when I was a child,' he comments, referring to how young the band, who apart from their drummer position hasn't ever changed line-up, was back when they started. It's Eternal from the Gothic album.

The song As I Die is apparently quite the staple of a Paradise Lost show, but tonight they sub it for another number from Shades of God, Pity the Sadness. Which is definitely fine by me as I'm quite fond of this one. It's marked tonight for a cleaner sounded vocal from Holmes than on the original studio version, since Shades of God is the album that saw Paradise Lost transitioning from the death-doom of Lost Paradise and Gothic to the gothic metal of Icon and Draconian Times. After this it's time for single Blood and Chaos from Medusa, which the crowd really goes nuts for. It's obvious why, as this is arguably the closest Paradise Lost has ever coming to releasing a melodic death metal track.

We're nearing the end of the main set now (with the three track encore still to come). The title track of Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us provides opportunity for Nick to get the crowd to join in and then we get surprisingly late showings in the set for material from The Plague Within, their previous album, as well as the classic Icon. This is in the form of Return to the Sun and Embers Fire respectively.

The band leaves the stage but as always, we know they're coming back just as soon as the crowd is loud enough about it. From the three track encore they begin with No Hope in Sight, the opener of The Plague Within, and then the other Medusa single, The Longest Winter. To end the evening it's Say Just Words from One Second. Overall it's a very good set that covers most of their albums with one or two tracks, but some absences are felt. From Medusa itself I think it would have been nice if opener Fearless Sky had got an airing but from what I've seen online of other setlists they haven't been playing this one too much on the tour, which is a shame. Absent as well was anything from Tragic Idol, which was only a couple of albums back, though I know they've played it's title track at other dates. But with such an impressive, fifteen album long discography you can't have everything in one set, and this was a definitely a good one both in terms of songs played, which did include a few surprises like less played ones such as Eternal and Pity the Sadness, as well as the quality of the sound and performance of the band. Thanks Paradise Lost and company for a very entertaining evening.

Paradise Lost setlist:

1. From the Gallows (from Medusa)

2. Hallowed Land (from Draconian Times)

3. The Enemy (from In Requiem)

4. One Second (from One Second)

5. Medusa (from Medusa)

6. Erased (from Symbol of Life)

7. Forever Failure (from Draconian Times)

8. Eternal (from Gothic)

9. Pity the Sadness (from Shades of God)

10. Blood and Chaos (from Medusa)

11. Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us (from Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us)

12. Return to the Sun (from The Plague Within)

13. Embers Fire (from Icon)

14. No Hope in Sight (from The Plague Within)

15. The Longest Winter (from Medusa)

16. Say Just Words (from One Second)

I have no pictures of my own, but Paradise Lost has uploaded several from the night themselves: https://www.facebook.com/pg/paradiselostofficial/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10155378738973806

Here I have made a Spotify playlist containing the studio versions of the Paradise Lost setlist.

https://open.spotify.com/user/adg211288/playlist/5j7GFRJepQ1FpBKeiH7P9q