PARADISE LOST — Medusa (review)

Album · 2017 · Death-Doom Metal

5/5 · 2017-09-16
adg211288

Although the UK's Paradise Lost may have started as a death-doom metal band and arguably were the originators of that particular fusion, after a few albums they ventured deeper into the territory of gothic metal and it's for this genre that they are no doubt most famous for now, with Draconian Times (1995) and Icon (1993) usually counted as their best releases and pillars of the entire gothic metal genre. They turned away from metal briefly on the album Host (1999) but were quick to return to it on Believe in Nothing (2001). Mostly sticking to the gothic metal genre ever since, they've gradually been reintroducing doom metal elements to their music and on The Plague Within (2015) took things a step further back towards their roots with the reintroduction of death growling vocals. This has paved the way for Medusa (2017), the band's fifteenth studio album and their first album to fully embraced death-doom metal since Shades of God (1992).

I say fully, but what I really mean is that Paradise Lost have made death-doom metal the main focus of their music on Medusa. They also retain some more regular doom metal parts with clean vocals and an influence of the gothic metal style they've played throughout most of their career, but it's now taken a back seat in terms of their playing style, particularly in the guitars. Lead single The Longest Winter would suggest that not much has changed in camp Paradise Lost, being one of the more gothic songs with primarily clean vocals from Nick Holmes, but this is an illusion that is quickly dispelled when you start the album from the very beginning when the band serve up the album's longest track Fearless Sky. This one is quite the opposite affair, with growling vocals taking centre stage, which is the same case with the following Gods of Ancient and is subsequently shown to be the theme of the album.

While Holmes still uses plenty of clean singing - in fact after a back to back listen my impression is that there may even be a little more on Medusa than The Plague Within had - there are certainly more growls and an overall focus on extreme metal. The key difference to its predecessor that sets the two albums apart is the instrumental shift back to a doom metal dominant sound and an increase in general heaviness, though the music isn't as menacing or outright malevolent as some death-doom metal can be. If I was to choose any word to describe it I'd have to say modern. It's definitely more accessible than a lot of groups of this style are. That's what ultimately helps to make it a memorable release though, with tracks such as Fearless Sky, From the Gallows, Blood and Chaos and Until the Grave staying with me long after the album's conclusion.

If you're mainly a fan of the band's early days, this album can only be good news and perhaps even something you'd never have imagined possible, even after the growl heavy The Plague Within which was still musically more of a gothic metal album. If you prefer their fully clean sung gothic metal work though then Medusa may spell disappointment for you. That's the inherent trouble with a band that has changed their sound more than once. Hopefully most fans can appreciate both of Paradise Lost's core styles of metal and will embrace Medusa as an excellent throwback album that still has enough of their gothic metal style to retain at least some interest from gothic metal fans, though I would say gothic fans have more for them on the special editions of the album that include two bonus tracks that lean more this way; Shrines and Symbolic Virtue, which add almost a further ten minutes to Medusa's total playing time and go a long way towards evening out the doom and gothic metal elements on offer.

For my money though the base eight track album alone is an exceptional release from Paradise Lost. 2017 is certainly shaping up to be a great year for the doom metal genre, with many great and inventive albums released already, but Paradise Lost striking back to reclaim the death-doom throne they vacated twenty-five years ago may just be the doom metal event of the year.

more than 2 years ago
Permalink
Report #355068

Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

MorniumGoatahl wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Not the biggest fan of goth metal. Always seen these as one of the better bands though. A move back to death-doom is surely for the better though.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Draconian Times is a very good gothic metal release. Very different to their early or current stuff of course. I also highly recommend In Requiem.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I have Gothic and Shades of God on my iPhone now. I like one and the other more and I've been thinking if I should get one of the two classics you mentioned or one of the newer ones. I'll be keeping this one in mind when the time comes to decide. Thanks for the great review!

Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's certainly growing on me.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Just had a half listen yesterday, and it certainly sounds promising.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Pretty sure I'll be picking up a CD copy soon enough (just been using Spotify so far). This one's actually made me want to pick up more of their albums. The biggest debate with this one is to whether pay the little extra to get the digibook with the two bonus tracks.

Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Good review. Haven't made my mind up whether to buy this or not.