PARADISE LOST — Obsidian (review)

Album · 2020 · Gothic Metal

4/5 · 2020-10-06
UMUR

"Obsidian" is the 16th full-length studio album by UK doom/gothic metal act Paradise Lost. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in May 2020. It´s the successor to "Medusa" from 2017. Paradise Lost formed way back in the late 80s and initially played death/doom metal with some pretty brutal growling vocals by Nick Holmes. They soon incorporated gothic rock influences and later electronic music influences and pretty early on started performing clean vocals instead of growls. The growling vocals returned with their 14th full-length studio album "The Plague Within" from 2015, although they didn´t dominate the vocal part of the band´s sound, as Holmes still performed many clean vocal parts on that album. "Medusa (2017)" had a few more growling vocal parts, but stil maintained a good balance with clean vocal sections...

...and that trend is continued on "Obsidian", which is an album featuring a good balance between growling vocal parts and clean vocal sections. Often to great effect while switching between the two vocal styles during songs. Stylistically "Obsidian" can be described as drawing influences from a lot of the most successful releases in the band´s catalogue and as a result, it´s one of the most varied albums Paradise Lost have released. There´s crushingly heavy death/doom, doom metal with soaring lead guitar melodies, goth rock/metal, and a generally dark and heavy atmosphere. But most important of all the songwriting is spot on. There are several well written and memorable tracks on the album and the variation between the tracks on the album is also a contributing factor to a great tracklist flow. It´s a feature which is often underrated, but a good tracklist flow is always one of the key elements of a good album.

"Obsidian" features a dark, heavy, and detailed sounding production, which suits the material perfectly, and it´s yet another contributing high quality feature, which make "Obsidian" the great album it is. Strong and memorable songwriting, high level musical performances from all involved, and a well sounding production job, and upon conclusion there really isn´t much to complain about here. Paradise Lost seem to have found an almost perfect balance between their different styles and sounds on "Obsidian" and the end result is one of their strongest releases to date. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

There are a couple of their albums after "Host" that I haven´t been able to get into, but I enjoy most of their output, including "Host" :-). I became a fan when Gothic was the latest release, and I have followed Paradise Lost since. Beginning with fanatic fanboy enthusiasm, than more casual interest, and on the last couple of releases with a little more intense interest again...

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I've never stopped being awed by Paradise Lost ever since I got into them. I'm even finding an appreciation for Host which is very much outside of my usual interests in music.