Paradise Lost

La voce di Nick Holmes e` l'elemento che nobilita Lost Paradise (Peaceville, 1990), un album che per il resto si ispira troppo esplicitamente ai Black Sabbath (via Trouble e Candlemass) anche se con brani relativamente sperimentali come Rotting Misery, che, riallacciandosi ai Celtic Frost, cercano una via all'horror meno scontata del death metal. Il sound di fattura orchestrale che prende il sopravvento sul successivo Gothic (1991) si riallaccia al rock progressivo e a quello classicheggiante di vent'anni prima, dall'ouverture sinfonica della title-track alla mini-coda strumentale di Desolate passando per Eternal.

Stabilito in tal modo un nuovo standard di doom metal, i Paradise Lost tornano a cercare nuove strade espressive con l'hardrock raffinato di Shades Of God (Music For Nations, 1992), con canzoni piu` melodiche e curate (Mortals Watch The Day e As I Die).

Il successivo Icon (1993), con Embers Fire e Shallow Seasons, sancisce la svolta commerciale; una direzione confermata su Draconian Times (Music For Nations, 1995) da brani come Enchantment e Last Time, con dovizia di tastiere e campionamenti. Il formato si e` ridotto alle canzoni di tre minuti, la rabbia si e` attenuata in strutture piu` composite e il posto delle maledizioni infernali e` stato preso dal sogno di diventare i nuovi Metallica.

So Much Is Lost is the leading single of Host (EMI, 1999), and album that doesn't even have a face to save. The commercial sell-out that started with Draconian Times is only a belated proof that the Paradise Lost had no musical talent.

Influenced by British synth-pop, Paradise Lost ended up recording albums that had almost nothing metal nor gothic such as Believe in Nothing (2001), produced by John Fryer, with the poppy Fader, and Symbol of Life (2002).

They tried to regain their gothic-metal roots on Paradise Lost (2005), but the album is a perverse and monotonous repeat of their worst cliches to the point of self-parody. It is almost ironic that the only decent doom number, Over the Madness, is relegated to the end.

One second (Music For Nations 1997) vede compiuta la metamorfosi dei Paradise Lost in complesso commerciale che suona un synth-pop malinconico, una sorta di incrocio fra Depeche Mode e Sisters of Mercy (Say just words).

So Much Is Lost e' il singolo trainante di Host (Emi 1999), un disco di cui non c'e' proprio nulla da salvare. La svolta commerciale iniziata con Draconian times e' solo la dimostrazione tardiva della mancanza di talento nei Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost returned decisively to their doom-metal roots on In Requiem (2007), with the bombastic Never for the Damned and sumptuous gothic elegance, Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us (2009), with new drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At the Gates) and more varied riffs by Greg Mackintosh but weak material, Tragic Idol (2012), with Solitary One and little else, The Plague Within (2015), with Holmes shifting between clean and growling vocals and with a broader range of styles, from the massive Beneath Broken Earth to the sentimental Return to the Sun, from classic hard-rock to death-metal, and Medusa (2017), that featured new drummer Waltteri Vayrynen and mostly growling vocals, with catchy songs like The Longest Winter and Blood & Chaos, as well as their longest song yet, Fearless Sky (8:30), the doom-y peak. Obsidian (2020) opens with a song worthy of their early albums, Darker Thoughts, but the meanders between cliches and dance temptations (Ghosts, a` la Sisters of Mercy). These were all albums that stuck mostly to the doom-metal format that Paradise Lost had contributed to invent.

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