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I am very gald that Paradise Lost changed their musical direction, cuase this, their debut album sounds like shit! Even if death metal was "hot" at that time, they could have done this disaster much better......
Ranking: 1 / 10
PARADISE LOST
Icon
I think that this is one of their better albums, maybe exept "Shades of Gods" which is a killer. This is pretty much in same style, but maybe slower and heavier. Golden songs like "Embers Fire" appears on this album. Buy this album or "Shades..." if you are curious abou this group. Soft goth/death metal perfomed in a great way!
Ranking: 8 / 10
PARADISE LOST
Draconian Times
One of the later Paradise Lost albums, and the style is almost the same as "Icon", but this one isn´t that good.
A quite boring album actually, except the great ballad "Hallowed Land". After this album Paradise Lost changed their musical direction once again, and added some synth influences in thier pop metal......But they did it quite well I think....
Ranking: 6 / 10
PARADISE LOST
Reflections
The best of album from the English group. And this album is probably better to buy if you are curiuos about the group. All the hits are here, even a song from their first album. Not much to be said about this. A great album!
Ranking: 8 / 10
PARADISE LOST
Symbol Of Life
A new album from Paradise Lost is always interesting. I had the feeling that PL was on their knees after some really bad albums. The last thing they did that sounded good was the "One Second" album. So, can they rise from the ashes? Yes, they can. "Symbol of Life" is a good improvement, even if this isn't a great album. But it's impressive how PL can put them self together and make good music after almost ten years of failures (in my point of view). So what did they do? Went back to their roots? No, thats perhaps what everybody thinks when they hear that PL have released a new album that sounds good. But no, they still dare to explore the grounds of goth/rock and electronics. Even if there are less electronics and more goth/rock. Very brave. If I was in their clothes I would for sure go in to the studio and try to repeat the success of some old songs. And we all know how attempts like that use to end.... Credits to Holmes and c/o!
The best way to explain the music is to compare it with the "One Second"
album, but with more guitars and less keyboards. The melodies are still to be
heard and there are no strange songs here. No, verse, chorus, verse. Everything
is simple. The only problem is, first of all, there are no hits! You know like
"Say just words" and "One second". All songs are good, no
bad songs at all, but no one have that peak of a hit, and that feels boring.
So, after listening to the whole album you have no clear and sharp picture of
what you actually have heard... Even if you know that it sounded good. Hmmm....strange.....
....confusing....but give Paradise Lost a chance! They deserve it!
Ranking: 6 / 10
PECCATUM
Strangeling from within
Ihsahn´s, from almighty Emperor, side project.He do it togther with is wife (I think) Ihriel and a guy that calls him self Lord PZ. The music is not like Emperor, even if Ihshan writes most of the songs (except the lyrics). But here and there you can hear some Emperor influences in some songs. The rest of the songs are slow, with a dreamlike feeling. Ihriel handles the vocals mostly, and when she doesn´t Ihshan sings. Ihriel`s voice are a bit weak I think, and actually she is not a great singer.
The album is sometimes boring. I get the feeling that there is something missing in the music. Very flat and weak. Maybe it is the production that make it that way. But the song material aren´t very good I must admit, even if I always respect Ihshan´s music.
Ranking: 5 / 10
Wov....is it possible with more Finnish gothrock? Obviously....This time it's an all-star project with members from Sentenced and Charon and maybe more....The music is as what we expect: Sugarsweet melodies with heavy guitars and a dark voice on the top. Just perfect and just as we all want it. Nothing can go wrong with this. Even if this type of music isn't new or groundbreaking at all, I just can't help like this. But I do know that after a month from now I will forget all about this....
Ranking: 6 / 10
An Irish (!) metal act. And a very nice one when they play the soft and slow songs with a clean voice. The other songs when the singer screams in a black metal style just ruin the great impression the other songs gives me...........Half of the album are in that way, the other half, the slow and painful ones, with acuostic guitars are great. The singer can really sing with a cleam voice and I think that the next album will be great. If they skip the aggressive standrad black metal songs.........
Ranking: 6 / 10
PRIMORDIAL
Storm Before Calm
Primordial are back once again. Somehow I missed their latest release "Spirit the Earth Aflame". Anyway, as I ended the review of "A Journey's End": "...skip the aggressive standard black metal songs". So, have they? No. In fact, there are more songs with a black metal voices than on the previous album. But this time I like it. There are an atmosphere in the songs that are very difficult to describe but it's dark, depressive and you can almost touch the longing of...well, don't know....But the songs are filled with a longing (at least I get that impression). The lyrics are depressive as well, and ofcourse there are some Irish elements here and there.
The songs sometimes drags itself forward, in a fast or slow pace. And simply: This album will make the autumn of the year 2002 a perfect start! Just put this CD on and listen to the dark autumn rain outside.....Autumn now have a soundtrack: Primordial.
Ranking: 9 / 10
THE PROJECT HATE MCMXCIX
Cybersonic Superchrist
This group have nowadays become a name within the metal scene in Sweden. And I understand why: easy-listening, synth-based gothic/death with female vocals and a growl-male singer (Jörgen Sandström, ex-Entombed). A well-known formula for succsess. But quite boring I think. Maybe one or two songs are okay and really nice to listen to, but a whole album? No, just too much. And the fact that they are using a drummachine only makes this more boring...
So whats good about this? Jörgen Sandström's growl-voice are one of the best I've ever heard! And, as I said, one or two songs are nice to listen to. But not more... I guess this is something for all soft-deathmetal kids out there...
Ranking: 3 / 10
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, ex-Nirvana) collected his favorite singers from the metal scene to perform songs that Dave himself wrote. We have Lemmy, Cronos, Lee Dorian, Tom G. Warrior and King Diamond to mention a few. A real dreamteam as you can see. But I had a hard time with this album the first times I listened to it. There are so many different styles, and so many different voices. It's almost like a metal compilation. So there are no red line in it. For example: Max Cavalera's aggressive approach in "Red War" are followed by Lemmy's "Shake your Blood" which is a real Motörhead tune. And then Lee Dorian throw a doom metal piece in your face. As you can see: it's varied. And the songs are not easy either. You have to listen to one song a couple of times before you can understand it. So I was really disappointed at first, but after a couple of times (many times) I started to see the greatness in this. And probably it will grow even more as time pass by, but I can't wait until next year to write this review...
And by the way...Dave Grohl wrote this album mostly for him self. It's his favorite artists. If I did the same thing I guess few out there would like it...
Ranking 6 / 10
THE PROVENANCE
Still At Arms Length
A new band for me at least, but this group have already released one album before this one, which I'm not familiar with. All I know is that this group is from Gothenburg. I read before I bought the album that the music was a mixture between Opeth, Gathering and a couple of more bands, and of course I became curious.... But (always), I don't like this album. The first time I listen to it I thought: "Okay...nice one". After a couple of times I was just tired and bored. The Provenance didn't surprise me at all. Well, I might be too hard now, there are in fact one or two sons that are really okay and that will raise the mark a bit. The rest are sleeping pills for me. I have heard this before: clean male vocals, clean female vocals, growl and screams, nice melodies and so on. I might think that this album are perfect for those who want something "in between", I mean not the extreme metal like death and grind and not the usual In Flames stuff. I think those can find some diamonds in the Provenance. Unfortunately I can't....maybe I'm getting old....?
If it sounds like Opeth and the Gathering? Well, there are many elements similar to the Gathering, specially the female voice. But I can't find any Opeth in this.
Ranking: 4 / 10
