Lost Paradise

by

Paradise Lost

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Some credit Paradise Lost as the pioneers of doom metal. While I can not confirm this, it does appear to be an accurate statement with regards to the state of metal in 1990. A few years later, however, Paradise Lost drastically evolved from this somewhat confining genre. These days, Lost Paradise seems to have faded into obscurity in the Paradise Lost catalog, which is deeply puzzling seeing as how debut releases from somewhat similar bands like Anathema and Katatonia have now attained a state of immortality in their respective catalogs. In any case, here's my track by track review of Paradise Lost's debut album, Lost Paradise.

Intro (4/5): This is a fascinating ambient track that, if paid proper attention, pulls the listener into this album's world immediately. While it doesn't really go anywhere as far as progression is concerned, the intent of this track seems to be more along the lines of building up the listener's mood for the pure doom metal assault to come. Since the next track's lyrics seem to be concerned with the genocide of mankind, it's only fitting that this first track would have taunting laughter in the background; it sets the stage for the prompt catharsis that is "Deadly Inner Sense".

Deadly Inner Sense (5/5): This track starts off with a sludgy guitar opening, followed by what I believe to be Nick Holmes' most emotive scream of the band's doom metal era. With lyrics such as "...bodies pile in hundreds, free from the gift of life." the album's lyrical mood is set.

Paradise Lost (4/5): Don't you love it when bands name songs after themselves? The background vocals during the chorus are impeccable at setting the somber mood of this track and tempt the listener's imagination to envision a pagan ritual of some sort. This track also showcases some amazing guitar work.

Our Saviour (4/5): As the title implies, this song gouges Christianity with poignant rhymes like "As you sit in the church and the madman speaks, listen with awe at the lies he'll preach." This track does plenty of good to keep the album's overall pace.

Rotting Misery (3/5): This song is good in its purpose of keeping the album's mood moving along, but not much stands out about it. However, we do of course get more of the slow tempo and Gregor Mackintosh's top form guitar playing.

Frozen Illusion (2/5): Ironically, this song possesses the greatest lyrics on the album, but an overall bland presentation of them. There's not much else I can say about this track except that, unfortunately, it's the album's low point.

Breeding Fear (5/5): This track features Kay Field performing truly ethereal background vocals at a couple of areas in the song, which do wonders to uplift this song from the others on the album. Due to the addition of female vocals, this song leads my thought along the lines of an early morning before sunrise, ending a night devoid of sleep.

Lost Paradise (2/5): This track is more or less a segue into the final song of the album. While it does feature slow and foreboding guitar work without percussion, a little progression would've been a good thing here.

Internal Torment II (5/5): This track rivals "Breeding Fear" and "Deadly Inner Sense" as my favorite song on the album. The tempo changes before and after the chorus are perfectly executed and this song is a more than worthy end to such a menacing body of work.

While this album is not entirely essential to one's understanding of doom metal as a whole, it's certainly worth a careful listen if you'd like to hear Paradise Lost in its primitive genesis. Also, if you're an album collector and are looking for an earlier issue of this album, I'd recommend the 2000 reissue, which is what I own. It may not be the original 1990 edition, but it has the same track listing WITHOUT the extras that were added onto the end of the 2003 version listed here on this page.