| Detaching From Satan (EP) | 1984 | Minotauro |
'Detaching from Satan' was Paul Chain's first release as a solo artist. Just like Death SS this album focuses on the mythological and provocative. But the opposition of basic belief can be seen in the title of the album; a title like 'Detaching from Satan' could easily been seen as a thinly veiled allegory of "detaching from Death SS".
Paul Chain here plays what he has always been so famous for: his own brand of doom rock. Church organs, church choirs and other more electric melodies are fitted into the doom rock to make it sound truly unique. Paul's multi functional voice creates a wide variety of vocals, some of which are hard to compare to any other in the same genre. Combining these elements to make an occult atmosphere truly make this guy and his chosen lineup stand aside from the rest.
I guess it could be safely said that although most doom rock fans would clearly recognize the music, they could also find something new and interesting in it. Fans of Paul Chain's other works should be especially interested. This album is the transition from Death SS to a true artistic freedom on Paul's behalf. With that in mind it's a really special experience, not to be missed!
1. Occultism
2. Armageddon
3. Voyage to Hell
4. 17 Day
Approx. 24 minutes
| In The Darkness (LP) | 1986 | Minotauro |
Original doom rock is Mr Chain's specialty. This is no exception. 'In The Darkness' is a horror movie inspired traditional doom album. A remnant of Death SS ideas perhaps?
But not all is in black and white horror movie style. The third track 'War' is a very sad track played mostly on an organ. Relaxed, but sorrowful vocals put off the finishing touch on it. I never actually expected to find such a depressive track on a traditional doom album.
The music is still in the vein of the early doomsters. Mostly because Paul Chain Violet Theatre is itself one of the early doom projects. Despite not being overly Black Sabbath influenced, it is still an album for those who enjoy that style.
In 1986, when this album was produced, it would have been amongst the extreme metal bands. The horror taint in this album doesn't make it extreme with modern day standards, like f.i. Worship and Grief are. But despite this, the fact that there is no other traditional doom band that has this sound, still makes it an interesting album by modern standards.
1. Welcome To My Hell
2. Meat
3. War
4. Crazy
5. Grey Life
6. Woman And Knife
7. Mortuary Hearse
8. In The Darkness
Approx. 46 minutes
| Picture Disc (LP) | 1986 | Minotauro |
However when you surpass the expectations and accept the LP for the rock music that is on it, you would probably find that it's still quite enjoyable. Indeed the music is still somewhat doomy, but primarily it's traditional hard rock in Black Sabbaths style.
Track 3, 'The Evil, The Sorrow', is a ballad true to the roots of rock. Mellow guitar chords and almost whispered vocals would be the trademark of this one, as opposed to the groove presented by the first two.
The fourth track, 'Way To Pain', is an extremely depressive track, which should probably be called ambient rather than rock. The music reminds me of Cold Meat band Arcana with it's distant vocals and mellow guitars. A so cold and so sorrowful a song could never have been produced by another traditional doom band.
My conclusion is that I have heard and will probably be hearing more of Paul Chain's works that I find better than this. But that is probably a matter of taste rather than a question of quality.
1. Highway To Hell
2. Never Cry
3. The Evil, The Sorrow
4. Way To Pain
Approx. 27 minutes
| Opera 4th (LP) | 1987 | Minotauro |
The first track is a mixture of dark ambient, isolationist industrial and a few hints of drone. In other words, nothing that could remind you of the traditional doom that he's famous for playing. It's a cold, haunting, lonely, and honestly quite disturbing piece. Fans of extreme industrial/ambient really should hear this track. It's incredibly creepy. The fact that the track is about life probably makes it even more chilling.
The industrial track fills up half of the LP, lasting a whole 29 minutes, but towards the end the music introduces a guitar that smoothly converts the music a little towards rock. It's widely different from the traditional doom that the last three tracks contain, but this minute change somehow makes the transition between the two kinds of music, surprisingly smooth.
The three traditional doom tracks contain a lot of what you would expect from Paul's music. It's a tad darker than normal, but it's pretty much the "Paul Chain original traditional doom blend" which all who have heard him before can recognize. The horror lyrics on these tracks are probably inspired by both Black Sabbath and by Paul’s time in Death SS.
Those traditional doom fans who don't really enjoy ambient would probably gain more music for less cash by getting one of his other releases, but it should be noted that the three last tracks are amongst my favourite Paul Chain tracks.
1. Our Solitude (Birth, Life, Death)
2. Evil Metal: Obsucrity Of Error
3. Bath-Chair's Mary
4. Resurrection In Christ
Approx. 49 minutes
| Ash (LP) | 1988 | Minotauro |
The music isn't all that different from what Paul created up to the point of the release of 'Ash'. It just holds a much higher tempo and doesn't include most of the Black Sabbath influences that can be heard on the previous releases.
There are however two exceptions; 'I Remember a Black Mass' is a doom track just like the ones that Mr. Chain has produced before. As a spark of originality a choir even features on some sections of the track. The second exception is the fourth track, 'Abyss', an industrial/ambient track with plenty of similarities to Laibach. This track includes some church organ and some pipe instruments amongst other noise-scape components.
For the doom fans out there, I wouldn't particularly recommend that you buy this unless you are a fan/collector of Paul Chain's work. As a personal point of view, I didn't find it to be particularly good.
1. Eternal Flame
2. Image Down
3. Electroshock
4. Abyss
5. I Remember a Black Mass
Approx. 29 minutes
| Violet Art Of Improvisation (2LP) | 1989 | Minotauro |
The strange journey starts with the organ intro on 'Tetri Teschi In Luce Viola', which by the way is italian for "Sad Skulls In Violet Light". Psychedelic name, eh? Well it does fit in with the very psychedelic music. The track uses both a guitar and drums as rhythm instruments. The rhythm is simple and repeats itself every 4-5 seconds throughout the 31 minute long track. But all the wild experimenting with synths, electronic noises and guitar jamming, drowns the rhythm to the point where you lose the focus on it. Not to mention the strange mumbling and echoed vocals. Hence the track doesn't get boring at any one moment.
Just about all the tracks on both LP's contain an unorthodox guitar jamming and lively rock rhythms. But even if the music is lively, it's still quite laid back. This combination is especially prominent in 'Emarginante Viaggio' (translated: "Neglecting Travel") where a jazzy bass jams along with a rock rhythm. In fact most of the album has this jazzy feeling to it.
But that's of course not all. There are so many minor influences from industrial, hard rock, stoner rock, blues rock, neo-folk, and probably a lot more, that it's impossible to put this under any one genre other than experimental rock. There are even some very minor traditional doom metal influences which can very occasionally be heard. Each of the tracks have their own characteristic blend of these things. Still the atmosphere of the music makes it all fit very well together.
Even though this has to be one of the weirdest releases every made, it has been pulled off so well that it's probably one of the best experimental rock releases ever. Needless to say it's also one of the best releases that mr Chain has produced in his experimental mood. It's not an album which will apply more to doom fans than to fans of other genres. In fact I think this is best enjoyed by those who like psychedelic rock with highly experimental twists or experimental jazz. In general though, you really should listen to it before you buy it as it's clearly not everyone's cup of tea.
LP1:
1. Tetri Teschi In Luce Viola
2. Emarginante Viaggio
3. X-Ray
LP2:
1. Old Way
2. Hypnosis
3. Casual Two Your Mister
4. Celtic Rain
5. Dedicated To Jesus
6. End By End
Approx. 101 minutes
| Mirror (7") | 1989 | Flight Nineteen |
This is the kind of music that put Mr. Chain on the bandlist in the first place. His own brand of classic Doom rock features epic vocals with and a Hammond organ, and is mid-paced and groovy. And of course you also have the brilliant solos that he does. This guy definitely knows his way around a guitar.
The second track also has quite a few experimental parts in it. This includes industrial influences and plenty of electronic effects. By electronic effects I mean echoed vocals, a buzz and other minor tweaks, not any ufo sounds or techno stuff. The track has that void feeling attached to it, and that is pretty much thanks to the additional elements aforementioned.
Paul has often been debated as being a musical genius. He certainly has a high degree of creativity when it comes to music. Others simply don't understand his music. But in this case, the music is well balanced in a way that makes this interesting for just about all Doom-rock fans.
1. Obsession
2. Headroom
Approx. 10 minutes
| Life And Death (LP) | 1989 | Minotauro |
I consider this to be one of Mr. Chain's best albums for playing air guitar to. The riffage is often doom rock, but equally often its tracks focus on other genres such as blues rock and folk rock. I know many of you would think "Oh shit! Thats the music that they play at the old house". Well. I have to say that this is nothing like anything ever made by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison or Grateful Dead. Allthough the music can be quite light at times, my own humble opinion states that Paul is a far better songwriter than any of those guys. I should not forget to mention the hard rock influences as they are also quite clearly present.
I know that this is perhaps not what people are looking for when they are buying a Paul Chain record, so you have now been warned. I still do recommend the album to those who don't mind those genres being mixed into the music, however. There are of course other albums that are more vital to a doom rock fan, but if you do get your hands on this one, give it a chance. It just might surprise you.
1. Steel Breath
2. Antichrist
3. Kill Me
4. Ancient Caravan
5. My Hills
6. Alleluia Song
7. Spirits
8. Cemetery
9. Oblivisious
Approx. 45 minutes
| Opera Decima - The World of the End (2CD/3LP Box) | 1990 | Minotauro |
But I have sad news for those who were hoping for a doom metal release. This is more of a release of Mr. Chain's experimental side. The music is a combination of ambient and industrial which can sometimes sound fit for a horror movie. Heartbeats, the chatter of children and ghostly voices swiftly floating around. Other times it's more spaced out, sad or just odd. In either case the music contains very little of the guitar jamming that most people connect with his music. A Hammond organ is present as a little link between his heavy metal/hard rock roots and this.
The music is probably meant to give you images or a feeling of a situation. Being that the title of the album is 'Opera Decima - The World of the End', I'm pretty sure it's all about some sort of post-apocalyptic memories, the world as one drifts through the afterlife, or simply a sonic picture of the declining world around us. I think that the relaxed music doesn't really fit the image of the apocalypse itself so I'm putting my money on that it's one of the other two. It might of course be soemthing completely different from my guesses, but the feeling of the music certainly fits the two last ones.
Some of the tracks on the 3rd LP (or the five last tracks on the 2nd CD, if you wish) are simply electronic sounds that are repeated to the utterly disturbing. 'Sx Nevrosi' is an excellent example of this. Each pulse is two seconds long and is repeated throughout the nine minute long track. The DJ voice is a small relief from the extremely simple music, but it doesn't help much. These tracks are better suited for psychadelic trance junkies on LSD or Extacy. If the afterlife brings me such horrible boredom as these tracks, please let me live forever.
Well, this is not what I consider to be music for doom fans. Exactly the opposite, I think most doom fans will throw it out the window. The ambient/industrial is far from bad for those who like it, but he really shouldn't have made those electronic songs. If you are still interested, listen to 'Opera 4th' before buying this. This is because half that CD is very similar to this.
CD1:
1. Dogma
2. The Face
CD2:
1. Domino
2. Sx Nevrosi
3. Sickness Radio
4. Jungle City
5. Get Down
6. In The Days Of Snow
Approx. 137 minutes
| Whited Sepulchers (CD) | 1991 | Minotauro |
There are several styles of music on this CD. The title track is a rather psychedelic and slightly spaced stoner doom. The whole track is basically one long piece of advanced guitar jamming. It's not showy though. The music is well mixed to prevent this. For those of you who were hoping for a doom track, sorry, this time it's stoner rock that Paul experiments with. The track often sounds like a doom-less Pelican playing.
The second track has more of a jazzy feel to it. It still has stoner influences and plenty of jamming, but this time there are some experimental vocals as well. Track three, 'Traffic', is yet another jazzy jamming track with vocals, but with a more ambient feeling and warm industrial elements. 'Two Minutes' is a guitar which consists of just classic guitarplay.
The fifth track, 'Are You Ready?', could be labelled as the opposite kind of music to any of the previous tracks. This is an ambient/industrial piece of primarily dark spoken words that give me the image of monks in a monastery, and a raw guitar sound that fades in and out. Its dark and obscure aura gives it a whole different feeling to the rest of the album.
For those who enjoy experimental music, this is definitely something to look into. The standard fan of riffing doom would probably be disappointed though. This can hardly be considered music for the masses.
1. Whited Sepulchres
2. The Fox In the Park
3. Traffic
4. Two Minutes
5. Are You Ready?
Approx. 47 minutes
| Dies Irae (CD) | 1994 | Minotauro |
|
"Dies Iræ! Dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla Teste David cum Sibylla!" |
"Day of wrath! That day, will scatter the universe into embers, by the witness of David and the Sibyl" |
The title of this album, 'Dies Irae', is taken from the latin hymn "Dies Iræ" (translated: "Day Of Wrath"). It's first verse is translated above and yields an insight into the thoughts behind this album. It was dedicated to the victims of war and is a musical statement, through this metaphor of the apocalypse, of the horrors which they have experienced.
This is one of Paul Chain's experimental albums. There are sections of familiar guitarplay included as well as the standard hammond organ, but still all metal/rock fans should be warned that this is mostly an electronica/industrial release. The mood of the album varies between lamentation and insane anxiety.
In particular, 'Prescence Of The Soul's Forest' is utterly disturbed and the vocals of Sandra Silver is what makes the most impact. There are no lyrics at all on this album. The vocal utterings are purely in random phonetics which mean nothing, but instead serve the purpose of creating the deranged atmosphere of this track. Paul Chain himself pops in with some vocals on rare occasions. But mostly, this is a female fronted album.
On the other hand, some of the other pieces are actually quite beautiful. For example, the relaxed acoustic guitarplay present on 'The Hope'. In a way you could say that 'Dies Irae' covers all areas of war, including the few good ones.
This is a CD which is perhaps only the philosophers, or musical art lovers, cup of tea. It is very special and never takes any consideration towards being easy on the ears. In other words, if you are thinking about buying this one, listen to this one carefully before you do.
1. Years Of War
2. Presence Of The Soul's Forest
3. Life Down
4. The Hope
5. Dies Irae
6. Organ Well
7. Red Lander
8. Noise In The Brain
Approx. 76 minutes
| Alkahest (CD) | 1995 | Godhead |
So what does this CD have to offer the doom fans? Well, Paul Chain has a most unique epic voice. It is much softer than the vocals of most epic vocalists. This fits the music quite well as it adds a sorrowful sound. He also does set coarser vocals on some of the last tracks. [edit by author: Though it should be noted that Lee Dorian, of Cathedral fame, does most of the vocal duties.]
As you might have guessed, the music here is mainly epic traditional doom. There are some tracks without the epic element in them, but this is not the rule. Some tracks have a classic rocky feeling; others are heavy with a slight ballad feel. Some of the more modern sounding of those tracks have soft keyboards in the background. But absolutely every one of the tracks has guitar solos that peak the music up to several times. Fans of soloing should really not miss out on this one.
Paul Chain has many influences. The fourth track, 'Three Water', for example, reminds me of a doomy version of 'Smoke On The Water' by Deep Purple. Others are heavy, much like Candlemass. And then again there are other sections that are unique to Paul Chain's style of doom. Take for example the intro on track five. I have never heard any other doom band use bagpipes on any of their tracks before.
Obviously Paul enjoys experimenting and exploring the sound of traditional doom. But he never goes too far astray, thus preventing the music from becoming silly. Actually it is this experimentation that makes his genius shine. It is his curiosity and will to step by step, explore unknown territory that renders his music so unique and interesting.
1. Roses Of Winter
2. Living Today
3. Sand Glass
4. Three Water
5. Reality
6. Voyage To Hell
7. Static End
8. Lake Without Water
9. Sepulchral Life
10. (Bonus Track)
Approx. 67 minutes
| Mirror (CD) | 1997 | Minotauro |
This compilation shows all of Paul Chain's sides. From experimental industrial/ambient to grooving hard/psychedelic rock. From NWoBHM to heavy traditional doom. Anyone who's new to this guy should have a listen to this CD. If you don't like anything this CD offers, then it's unlikely that you'll like any of his older works.
The title 'Mirror' originally comes from the 7" with the same name. Paul Chain released it in 1989 with basically the same artwork. So in a way this is a re-release of that 7" with heaps of bonus tracks. The 7" 'Les Temps Du Grand Frère' is also present here in it's entirety. Hence this compilation leaves both of those releases as collector items more than anything of pure musical interest. Still, I think it's great when artists do these things so that everyone gets access to their rare stuff.
1. Train Of Illusion ('Punto Zero N 13/14' compilation)
2. The Machine ('Punto Zero N 5/6' compilation)
3. Violence Of The Sun ('Les Temps Du Grand Frère' 7")
4. Paradise Of The Poor('Les Temps Du Grand Frère' 7")
5. Obsession ('Mirror' 7")
6. Headroom ('Mirror' 7")
7. Sangue ('Paul Chain/Eversor Split' 7")
8. Red Light ('Paul Chain/Der Tod Split' 7")
9. Moment Of Rage ('Klein Circus' compilation)
10. Loveless ('Evoluzione Sonora' compilation)
11. Luxury ('Eighties Colours' compilation)
12. Needful ('Yellow Acid/Needful' 7")
13. Electric Funeral
Approx. 71 minutes
| Master of All Times (CD) | 2001 | Andromeda Relics |
Paul plays all the instruments himself and all of them are completely improvised - not a single note was pre-written. The instruments include a flute, piano, industrial crackling noises, assorted mellow and disturbing synths, drums, and what sounds like a Hammond organ. It's probably obvious to everyone that this isn't exactly a Doom Metal release, nor a metal release of any kind for that matter. This is more closely linked to electronica and industrial, but with a rock rhythm thanks to the drums.
The album has a lot of similarities to 'Sign From Space' and 'Cosmic Wind' when it comes to the feeling of the music. It's as laid back as those two, but instead of being extremely spacey, 'Master Of All Times' has developed into mind altering strangeness. This is in no way music that would fit anyone's taste. This is music for the select few who enjoy experimental electronica.
1. Strange Philosophy Of Life 2. Spiritual Way 3. Inexplicable Inwardness 4. Water Of The Veriety 5. Hoping For Better Things
Approx. 40 minutes
| Park of Reason (CD) | 2002 | Beyond Productions |
The album kicks off in style with Solitude Man, a very strong traditional doom track, with some heavy and awesome riffing, with Paul Chain's clean singing on top. Whilst not being a huge fan of ordinary clean singing, I really like this style, it isn't over the top operatic warbling like Messiah period Candlemass, and doesn't go for too much, it just serves its purpose and lets the music do the talking. 'Solitude Man', continues to its logical conclusion with yet more excellent riffing and guitarwork, leading into '8 String Sweeo', which I don't know how to describe. It isn't traditional doom, it isn't death doom, it's just atmospheric doom, with reverbed spoken word and a steady beat with the occasional guitar flourish, the keys really take over in this track creating a fantastic ambience. 'Sanctuary Heave' follows in the same vein as 'Solitude Man' with some solid trad. doom backed by shards of haunting keys that add an unnerving edge to the tune and works really well before moving onto 'Continous Fix', another keyboard heavy track, which develops the use of dissonant keys to create a track that wouldn't sound out of place in a carnival gone horribly, horribly wrong. Which in reality is nothing compared to the insanity and weirdness of tracks to follow, which follow in this same vein of traditional doom, with unusual twists and turns. This strange combination is particularly prevalent in 'Stajness Klaus', which one has to hear to believe it. I couldn't even begin to describe it, it sounds like, well, I'm not sure, it features strange pulses and random keyboard notes intermittently thrown into the track alongside noisy/industrial elements and Paul Chain's vocals. Very, very weird, but it is somehow pulled off very well. The other strange track is the last, which is two tracks recorded in mono, and both put into a stereo recording, so in effect you are listening to two songs simultaneously unless you adjust the balance of your speakers. The strange thing is though, and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the track sounds good with both the tracks playing, as if they were orchestrated together, as they tend to build and subside in the same places, creating a surprisingly easy to listen to song. Or maybe it's just me [Ed note: yep, it’s just you]. Either way, you should still hunt down this record as it contains over an hour of extremely good not-so-traditional doom metal. And yes that's a new genre, I just coined it.
1. Solitude Man
2. 8 String Sweep
3. Sanctuary Heve
4. Continous Fix
5. War Abysses
6. Stajness Klaus
7. Let The End Begin
8. Wings Of Decadence
9. Ascension Of Any Pound
10. Ways Of Change
11. L-Logical Slow Evolution
R-...In Time
Approx. 90 minutes
| Unreleased Vol. 1 (CD) | 2004 | NLM Records |
This first collection of songs is quite interesting for Paul Chain fans. The diversity of this unsung doom guru really comes across on this album. There are Doomy songs, but also experimental songs to be found. In fact, while all songs carry the unmistakable Paul Chain mark, it showcases the great diversity of this multi-talented artist. Because of this, the album lacks in cohesion and really needs to be seen as a collection of songs that all stand on their own.
Although there is no real cohesion between the songs, not making it into an actual "album", the songs do fit together on this disk. Most of this must come from the fact that we are dealing with unreleased songs from the 'Alkahest' (studio album) sessions. While I don't know the ins and outs about it, my guess would be that the songs where recorded in close proximity of one and other.
The laid back experimental and sometimes Doomy music found on this album will surely satisfy the hungry Paul Chain fan and anybody into more 70ties sounding music. These songs also showcase how Paul Chain is able to freely experiment, but at the same time make very easy and relaxing music to listen too. And while I do not enjoy this as much as his regular albums (the ones I am familiar with, the man has such a big discography I still have a long way to go before I own it all) I can recommend this album to any fan. Others who are interested in this often overlooked genius might want to be on the look out for some of his regular albums or work while still in Death SS.
Overall this is an album to simply relax too. It opens slightly faster with more solid and heavier songs, but as the album progresses the more laid back tunes float in. Especially the very enjoyable 'She Tomy My I' is a song that jumps out on that front. Again Paul Chain proves he is one of the select few master musicians that roam this earth. It is a true shame he remains so unknown to a larger audience.
If you are interested in this release or seek more information about Paul Chain, you can contact Quasar records, who are putting a lot of good effort into pushing this release. Either visit their website at http://www.quasarrecords.it or email them at quasar.records@libero.it
1. Song of Estafan
2. Cosmic Collision
3. Mindblower
4. R. 10
5. Secret Voice
6. Short Fly
7. Terror in Air Lines
8. Momentary Lights
9. Bubble Gum of Psychedelic Man
10. Trouble Trumpet
11. She Tomy My I
12. Bridge Parts
13. Space Travel
Approx. 71 minutes
| Unreleased Vol. 2 (CD) | 2004 | Minotauro |
The two compilations that make up the Unreleased-series are meant to sum up and provide a decent closure to Paul Chain. The tracks found on here are highly representative of the man's genius and are mostly rarieties or scraps that never made it onto any other record. Among the tracks you'll find many gems that, thanks to the two compilations, will not be lost. This includes the nearly 5 minute guitar solo called 'Guitar Voices'. It is perhaps his most impressive guitar work thus far.
Also amongst these gems are two amazing tracks called 'Bloodwing' and 'Nibiru Dawn'. These two tracks feature not only the genius of Paul Chain but also that of none other than Scott 'Wino' Weinrich of The Obsessed fame. Both of them are classic tracks which no traditional doom fan should miss. The track 'Full Moon Improvisation', which was originally released on the 'Paul Chain - The Improvisor/Internal Void Split', also needs to be mentioned because it has high-quality musicianship and would have been really hard to get hold had the track not been re-released here.
So this is farewell then. And that is what gives this CD such a bittersweet taste. It's hard to do justice to so many years of excellence. However I do feel that both compilations manage to do so. Additionally I'd also go as far as to say that they are two of the most recommended releases that he's made. Two decades have been summed and brought to a fitting end.
1. Traffic Lights
2. Wrong Woman
3. So Low Far Again
4. Guitar Voices
5. Bloodwing
6. Nibiru Dawn
7. Full Moon Improvisation
Approx. 53 minutes