PARADOX — Collision Course (review)

PARADOX — Collision Course album cover Album · 2000 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Collision Course" is the 3rd full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Paradox. The album was released through AFM Records in 2000. It´s the successor to "Heresy" from 1989. Paradox went on a 10 year hiatus from 1990 to 2000 and "Collision Course" ended up being their only release in this incarnation as they would soon cease activities again and have another longer break as a result of lead vocalist/guitarist Charly Steinhauer having serious health issues. Paradox would reunite again in 2005 with a new lineup. On "Collision Course" there have also been quite a few lineup changes since "Heresy (1989)" as only Steinhauer remains from the lineup who recorded the predecessor. New in the lineup are guitarist Kai Pasemann and the Holzwarth brothers Oliver and Alex on bass and drums respectively (Sieges Even).

Bringing in the Holzwarth brothers always ensure a high level of musicianship, and that´s certainly also the case on "Collision Course". The instrumental part of the music on the album is delivered with great technical skill and power. The vocals are unfortunately the weak link here. They are semi-shouted and often overlayered with harmonies, but Steinhauer has a voice, which is not that powerful and not particularly distinct sounding. The result is a rather tedious vocal performance, and it´s a real shame because the instrumental part of the music is not only well played, it´s also incredibly well composed. Epic scale thrash metal which is both powerful, melodic, and very often features multi-harmony lead guitar parts, which I haven´t heard like this since "...and Justice for All (1988)" by Metallica.

The sound production is grand, and fully details the many layers of instruments and vocals on the album. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, but the band understand how to balance epic multi-layered parts with a little more stripped (not necessarily simple though) parts. So upon conclusion everything on this album but the vocals are high quality and I almost dare not think what a beast of an album "Collision Course" could have been with a more interesting vocalist in board. Oh well...as it is the vocals drag my rating down a bit but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved, which speaks volumes about the high quality of the instrumental part of the music.
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