PARADISE LOST
“MEDUSA”
Album Review By Mike Hackenschmidt
8.5/10
Paradise Lost have been on a musical journey for the last 27 years starting by merging death and doom before moving on to define Gothic metal as well. Their expedition continued to electronic, even bordering on pop. Note here that the early 90’s saw the inception of several bands, all whom I like, with very similar early albums with each soon undergoing amazing metamorphoses; Paradise Lost, Tiamat, Therion and Samael. In fact, all their debut albums came out in a 15 month span starting with Lost Paradise in Feb of 1990 thru to Samael’s Worship Him in April of 1991. To date PL are the only ones to have triumphantly returned to their roots and they’ve done it with Medusa. Their 15th album, Medusa, is their heaviest project in a very, very long time. Think Gothic and Lost Paradise.
I usually start with the cover but I guess I’ve already given away part of the music. Regardless, Medusa’s artwork is a basic purple backdrop with what I assume to be Medusa herself in the centre. I say I assume because she appears to have normal hair and is simply surrounded by snakes. In the myths, where Medusa should have hair instead there is snakes so I don’t see what they’re going for here. As it is, this cover doesn’t particularly appeal to me. The only thing about it that says “BUY ME!” is in the top left corner. The appeal of that top left corner, however, is quite commanding. Sometimes when I think about a band I like to guess at who influenced them. With Paradise Lost, it’s instead more fun to speculate who they have influenced. I can’t be sure without doing a bunch of research but from my personal favourites I’m going to guess Moonspell, Cradle of Filth & Sentenced to name a few.
On to the music, Medusa’s first track, Fearless Sky, has a keyboard intro reminiscent of the gothic style for which Paradise Lost is best known. It soon turns to a slow and doomy rhythm set by Steve Edmondson on bass with the newest and only non-original member, Waltteri Väyrynen, on the drums. Nick Holmes’ death growls dominate Fearless Sky though he does break out the clean vox sparingly throughout the track. Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy’s guitars play into the rhythm but high notes ring out here and there, accenting the doom when appropriate similar to their work on Gothic, though it’s evolved slightly over the years. I notice today the high end guitars are strikingly similar to the sound produced by John Edlund of Tiamat leaving me wondering who influenced who. All in all, Fearless Sky has a very similar flavor to The Plague Within, their previous album. Everything is fluid, fitting together nicely and making it hard to believe when you realize it clocks in at just over 8 and a half minutes. Where does the time go?
The second song, Gods of Ancient, starts out much the same but then around the 3 and a half minute mark it picks up significantly. We get more of a taste of Paradise Lost’s roots which continues into the 3rd and then into 4th track which is discussed in the following paragraph.
They chose The Longest Winter for the official lyric video. It’s the perfect blend of death, Goth and doom. Holmes layers gothic then death vocals over doomy guitar and a death-styled rhythm that gives the track a powerful feel. Have a listen.
I’m glad they decided to do a lyric video because for the most part, I can’t decipher what Holmes is singing. Thankfully the band’s Nihilistic views are conveyed clearly in The Longest Winter. From the chorus, “Feeling so alive, in this hopeless dream”. There are two kinds of nihilists. The first is the kind who believes nothing matters so why bother?. Paradise Lost are the second kind. They’re the kind who believe nothing matters, so let’s live life to the fullest because no matter what we do, one day we’ll die and there’s no second chance. Let’s make the most of it. So if I have this correct, the “hopeless dream” is life. It’s a life that which will surely end in death. It’s a life in a universe that will one day cease to exist. And why would they be “feeling so alive” when we know nothing we do can change our ultimate fate? Why would they not?
After the Longest Winter, the album drops back to almost straight doom for the title track, Medusa. I suppose in a sense it’s fitting being as Medusa is best known for bringing doom to all who look into her eyes. Personally, I prefer the heavier, faster pace of the remaining tracks.
If Blood and Chaos wasn’t my favourite song on this album, it is now that I’ve seen the video. There appears to be a few people in the comment section who didn’t get the symbolism but to me it’s quite clear. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did, especially the last few seconds. To be honest, it actually was my favourite before I saw the video. In fact, this is one of the rare occasions where I completely agree with both tracks chosen for videos as they are a fitting representation of the remainder of Medusa.
In closing, Medusa finally sees Paradise Lost’s return to their original form. The album is hard and heavy, with doom and goth layered in to make one of their best collections to date. With 27 years and 15 albums behind them, it’s hard to imagine what they’ll come up with next.
TRACKLIST
Fearless Sky
Gods of Ancient
From the Gallows
The Longest Winter
Medusa
No Passage for the Dead
Blood and Chaos
Until the Grave
Released: 1st September 2017 via Nuclear Blast.
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