PARADOX — Tales of the Weird (review)

PARADOX — Tales of the Weird album cover Album · 2012 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
adg211288
Tales of the Weird is the sixth full-length album by German thrash metal act Paradox. The album was released in 2012. Tales of the Weird features a re-worked line-up compared to the group’s last album Riot Squad (2009), with Christian Muenzner (Obscura) and Daniel Buld (Hatred) joining the fold. With the new line-up the band has produced an album which is much better described as power-thrash rather than straight up thrash metal.

Or maybe that should be thrash-power. It’s still quite clear where Paradox’s allegiance lies when listening to the album despite the generally high sense of melody and use of power metal riffs as well as thrash ones. I guess power-thrash has a better ring to it than thrash-power though. This is definitely still a thrash metal album first and foremost. I’m not actually familiar with the previous work of Paradox but I must say that the sound the current incarnation of the band has come up with is a real winner. The flitting back and forth between thrashing away and the much tighter percussive riffs of power metal provides a good variation that albums that are a more pure example of each genre can struggling with achieving, and the sound has the aggression of thrash metal regardless of what side of their sound they’re doing at any particular time. There may well be a lot of power metal elements but there’s certainly no cheese here.

The band prove equally competent at the longer more complex songs like the opening title track and the more in your face style songs like Brutalized. While a couple of tracks on the album don’t strike me as being as good as the rest, Tales of the Weird maintains a very high quality level with several highlights including the aforementioned Brutalized, as well as Escalation, Brainwashed, and The Downward Spiral. Frontman Charly Steinhauer has a voice that is perfect for the music. Rough but not without a sense of melody, the lack of which has put me off even some of the most successful thrash metal bands going. As a bonus track the band also does a cool cover version of Rainbow’s A Light in the Black, which despite a different overall vibe fits into the album well and is definitely worth having.

Paradox have produce a real kick arse kind of album in Tales of the Weird. It’s heavy, fast and aggressive but melodic and definitely has a real sense of class about it. An exceptional grade rating is easily deserved.

92/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/paradox-tales-of-the-weird-t2881.html))
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed