The triad of British doom-metal, led by
My Dying Bride and Cathedral,
was completed by
Paradise Lost, perhaps the least inspired of the three.
Nick Holmes' vocals is the noble element on
Lost Paradise (Peaceville, 1990), an album that otherwise is too close
to the model of
Black Sabbath (via Trouble and Candlemass) even if with relatively innovative
songs sch as
Rotting Misery, which, reminiscent of Celtic Frost,
search for a route to horror less trivial than death-metal.
The orchestral sound that took over on
Gothic (1991) links back to
progressive and neoclassic experiments of two decades earlier
(Gothic,
Desolate,
Eternal).
Having thus established a new reference standard for the genre of doom-metal,
Paradise Lost searched for new artistic avenues on
Shades Of God (Music For Nations, 1992), a work of sophisticated hard rock with more melodic and elegant songs
(Mortals Watch The Day and As I Die).
Icon (1993), with
Embers Fire and Shallow Seasons, was the commercial sellout,
a direction confirmed on
Draconian Times (Music For Nations, 1995) by songs such as
Enchantment and Last Time, flooded with keyboards and samples.
The favorite format is now the three-minute song.
One Second (Music For Nations, 1997) found Paradise Lost mutated into
a commercial group that plays gloomy synth-pop, like a cross between
Depeche Mode and
Sisters Of Mercy
(Sane, Say Just Words).
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.
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.
