| Live Death (VHS Video) | 1990 | Jettisoundz |
This Video shows us Paradise Lost in their very early beginning. The track list is basically the tracklist of their first album 'Lost Paradise' and the gig was recorded on Saturday the 4th of November 1989 at the Bradford Queens Hall (so before they released their debut album!). The band still looks very young on this video and have definitely still have the entire Death-metal vibe of the time.
Nick Holmes' performance absolutely steals the show. Everybody of those to whom I've shown this video, dropped from his or her chair laughing at his extreme overacting and death-metal attitude! I am guessing he was trying to look all brutal and evil, but unfortunately for him his "stage act" is more comical then anything else.
Absolute highlights are the fact that he never stops grunting EVER! Even when he's just talking to the audience… he grunts to them! Also when he pounces his fists towards the sky, as if he is trying to pick a fight with God, it is very hard to contain your laughter. Nick Holmes is so Death-metal that it's strange to realise how much he, and Paradise Lost, have changed over the years. His performance does make this tape nice to watch and not just another boring live gig put to video (gigs should be attended, soaking up the atmosphere and the energy in the club, not watched from a comfortable chair).
The sound quality and the overall recording quality of this video are good. Don't expect any daring camera work, it is what it is; a good quality recording of a gig somewhere in England. If you can find this and you enjoy early Paradise Lost I advice on picking it up, if only because these days it has become a bit rare.
1. Deadly Inner Sense
2. Frozen Illusion
3. Breeding Fear
4. Paradise Lost
5. Our Saviour
6. Rotting Misery
7. Internal Torment
Approx. 42 minutes
Video format: VHS (PAL)
| Lost Paradise (CD) | 1990 | Peaceville |
The death-metal influences are still clear (both musically but also lyrically like on 'Our Saviour') and the sickening grunts by N. Holmes compliment the heavy atmosphere created on this album. Faster parts are regularly put in between the slow grinding overall sound of the album. The overall feel of darkness is however not affected by this; it insures the album remains interesting. G. Mackintosh rather unique bleak guitar sound and solo's also help a lot on this point.
This CD breathes misery and despair. Shamefully however also when it comes to the production. The sheer quality of the music however makes more then up for the bad production.
1. Intro
2. Deadly Inner Sense
3. Paradise Lost
4. Our Saviour
5. Rotting Misery
6. Frozen Illusion
7. Breeding Fear
8. Lost Paradise
9. Internal Torment II
Approx. 41 minutes
| Gothic (CD) | 1991 | Peaceville |
The Death-metal influence is less and there is more room for experimentation, like sporadic female vocals and keyboards. This use of keyboards to create an even darker and haunting sound, orchestral arrangements and the sporadic use of female vocals considerably add to the overal atmosphere. All this without losing much of the heaviness of their debut. Don't be fooled into thinking this album has anything to do with the mellow sounds of Gothic-metal just because of the keyboards and female vocals. This is raw Death/Doom to the max! N. Holmes also still grunts on this album but at times also experiments a bit with his vocals.
One of the darkest and most unrelenting albums ever, more accessible than their debut due to the experimentation and the wonderfully depressive atmosphere. Once more however it is a shame about the lack of a good production, although it in a sense also adds to the depressive feel of the album.
Note: Rumour control - when this album was released nobody used the term Gothic-metal for it. This term did not get into use till years later for a DIFFERENT type of music. As such doom-metal.com does not share the believe this album, despite its name, "created" Gothic-metal.
1. Gothic
2. Dead Emotion
3. Shattered
4. Rapture
5. Eternal
6. Falling Forever
7. Angel Tears
8. Silent
9. The Painless
10. Desolate
Approx. 40 minutes
| Shades of God (CD) | 1992 | Music for Nations |
However the depressive nature of the music and the dark atmosphere have not suffered at all. Besides an increase in speed it is also the last album where N. Holmes still uses grunts. Although my personal favourite a lot of fans complain about the fact that the music is simpler and the songs are more monotone than before. This in my opinion adds a lot to the depressive nature of the album. This is also the album that holds Paradise Lost's best known song 'As I Die'.
1. Mortals Watch The Day
2. Crying For Eternity
3. Embraced
4. Daylight Torn
5. Pity The Sadness
6. No Forgiveness
7. Your Hand In Mine
8. The Word Made Flesh
9. As I Die
Approx. 53 minutes
| As I Die (Mcd) | 1992 | Music for Nations |
Next to this track you can find the following songs on this Mcd: 'Rape of Virtue', 'Death Walks Behind you' and a live version of 'Eternal' (originally on the 'Gothic' album). All these tracks are interesting and of the same high quality Paradise Lost usually produced.
There are not many Mcds which include album tracks that I would deem worthwhile to own for other reasons than as a collector's item, but this definately is one of those Mcd's. All tracks are great, so if you can still find this one, pick it up!
1. As I Die
2. Rape Of Virtue
3. Death Walks Behind You
4. Eternal (Live)
Approx. 19 minutes
| Icon (CD) | 1993 | Music for Nations |
The album is still clearly a metal album and highly enjoyable, especially for people who enjoy a more open sound or who do not like grunts. We also see a return of the use of some female vocals (only on one track however!). This album sounds highly pleasing to the ear, mainly because the loss of the ultra heavy sound. This gives rise to exploring more corners of depressive and melancholic music. The album however does seem to weaken a bit in the middle.
The weaker middle however does not stop this from being one of the best Paradise Lost albums. If one looks beyond a middle track like 'Colossal Rains', which in my opinion is too pretentious, there are so many great songs to be found here. Like 'Remembrance', 'True Belief', 'Joys Of The Emptiness' and so on. No it might not be Doom-metal in its most true shape, it might not be the most influential album, but it is definitely "earcandy" if you filter out the one or two weaker middle songs.
1. Embers Fire
2. Remembrance
3. Forging Sympathy
4. Joys Of The Emptiness
5. Dying Freedom
6. Widow
7. Colossal Rains
8. Weeping Words
9. Poison
10. True Belief
11. Shallow Seasons
12. Christendom
13. Deus Misereatur
Approx. 50 minutes
| Seals the Sense (Mcd) | 1994 | Music for Nations |
The new track is in the lines of 'Icon' and while it's not bad, it's also not really special. Nice collectable item but otherwise not really that interesting.
1. Embers Fire
2. Sweetness
3. True Belief
4. Your Hand In Mine (Live)
Approx. 22 minutes
| Draconian Times (CD) | 1995 | Music for Nations |
This however does not mean it is a bad album at all. Althrough they left their more depressive sound behind the album is certainly not filled with happiness and joy. This combined with their more up-tempo and catchy sound means that the album is perfect for people who enjoy a more gothic-metal sounding sound. Good solid "depro rock and roll" might actually be a nice description for this album.
1. Enchantment
2. Hallowed Land
3. The Last Time
4. Forever Failure
5. Once Solemn
6. Shadowkings
7. Elusive Cure
8. Yearn For Change
9. Shades Of God
10. Hands Of Reason
11. I See Your Face
12. Jaded
Approx. 49 minutes
| Say just words (Single) | 1997 | Music for Nations |
The Booklet consists of a single folded paper, like 'Gothic', with the lyrics for the title track only. And it's that cheap, thin kind of paper that constantly slips out of the box. The cover shows the mouth from the face of an elderly person that appeared on the LP cover.
All in all, it's a single that looks nice between my 'Draconian Times' and 'One Second' CD's, but I doubt I'll bother to pull it out for a spin more than occasionally.
1. Say just words (edit)
2. Cruel one
3. Soul Courageous
4. Say just words (Album version)
Approx. 13 minutes
| One Second (CD) | 1997 | Music for Nations |
The name of depro electronic/dance/goth/pop wizards Depeche Mode is often mentioned when people describe this album and I have to agree on that one. Most of the songs are extremely catchy and probably also danceable. While this album has little to do with the old Paradise lost, Doom-metal or well... metal in general it also isn't a bad album.
Goths will probably enjoy this album and older Paradise Lost fans will generally need to give it time... a lot of time! A bit of a shame is the fact that the first two tracks are a lot stronger then the rest of the album. As the album continues it can not regain the strength of the first two tracks.
1. One Second
2. Say Just Words
3. Lydia
4. Mercy
5. Soul Courageous
6. Another Day
7. The Sufferer
8. This Cold Life
9. Blood Of Another
10. Disappear
11. Sane
12. Take Me Down
13. I Despair*
* Bonus track on the digipack
Approx. 50 minutes
| Host (CD) | 1999 | EMI |
From a non-doom point of view, this album is superb. The melodies get better and better as the years go by, and so does Holmes' voice. Even with all the electronics involved, you can safely say this is Paradise Lost at their best. If you're looking for grunts and heavy guitars, avoid this one. If not, and you are simply looking for a great album, 'Host' is definately worth the money.
1. So Much Is Lost
2. Nothing Sacred
3. In All Honesty
4. Harbour
5. Ordinary Days
6. Its Too Late
7. Permanent Solution
8. Behind The Grey
9. Wreck
10. Made The Same
11. Deep
12. Year Of Summer
13. Host
Approx. 56 minutes
| Believe in Nothing (CD) | 2001 | EMI |
However, one word of advice. This device looks very similar to a music CD and you might accidentally put it in your CD-player. Do not do this under any circumstance! It will result in some of the most horrible noise you have ever heard!
All joking aside, I am not impressed with this album. I have been a long time Paradise Lost fan and I do also enjoy their newer work but this stuff is bad even for pop songs. Nick Homes sounds horrible, the tracks are uninspired and it is just boring. Every now and then an interesting riff emerges or a semi catchy tunes starts but that is more than anything else an exception to the rule.
It is absolute nonsense that Paradise Lost returned to the style of 'Icon' or any older album here. Avoid this album at all costs and I think I have already wasted enough words on it.
1. I Am Nothing
2. Mouth
3. Fader
4. Look At Me Now
5. Illumination
6. Something Real
7. Divided
8. Sell It To The World
9. Never Again
10. Control
11. No Reason
12. World Pretending
Approx. 44 minutes
| Evolve (DVD) | 2002 | Music for Nations |
The DVD comes with a small booklet (4 pages) in which one of the lesser known members, Aaron, takes the time out to explain the meaning behind this DVD. There he makes the totally ridiculous claim that they invented gothic-metal. Not one gothic-metal band (Trail of Tears, Within Temptation, etc.) sounds like any period of Paradise Lost`s music, but I guess with releasing an album titled ‘Gothic’ once and a lot of gullible people walking around, it’s a good way to create a bit of a myth around your own band, however historically inaccurate it is.
The DVD showcases “specially selected material”, in other words two video tapes and all the video clips have been put on DVD. The video-tape quality is very clearly noticeable. In fact between two of the video clips they cut the videotape erroneously and you get the beginning of ‘True believe’ at the start of the previous video, to then see the video be put on pause before the clip ends and you can then truly select ‘True believe’. Video clips have also been taken from the tapes of the live recordings.
The Harmony Breaks live set, which is recorded at The Longhorn, Stuttgart on the 5th of September 1983, is quite nice. It has a very odd start, where we are bored for about 1 minute looking at a logo and then a bad cut to the actual gig. The band still clearly played metal, had long hair and weren’t afraid to show it either. The sound quality and the selection of songs are really nice as well. Only downside is the fact some idiot director decided to cut out of the concert every so often to Paradise Lost sitting around a campfire talking about the upcoming song. Mostly making complete fools of themselves.
The explanation about the title of ‘Widow’ is exceptional, according to Nick Holmes he was inspired for the title name by a woman who loses her husband and a certain spider called a black widow. *gosh* Teach us more Nick! Teach us more!
Overall it is a good gig, but it doesn’t really pull you in or anything. Perhaps however I am a bit biased, as I never understood the true excitement about seeing a metal band on your TV screen. It just never seems to have the feel of a real gig (obviously). Why do I buy such DVD’s then? I often wonder the exact same thing. Killer edition of ‘As I die’ however.
Next are 5 promotional video clips Paradise Lost recorded at the time. This is also where the videotape is cut wrong between ‘Pity the Sadness’ and ‘True Believe’. All the video clips more or less have the same message, the band playing their own music. Nothing grand or spectacular, but some absolutely killer songs and that is in my mind all that matters.
After this we are treated to the “home videos”. This mostly showcases the band in the recording studio (two recording sessions) and acting very goofy and the band on the road at Donington and their tours of that time. Especially Nick Holes in the recording studio goes all out to act goofy and even plays a little guitar and other odd stuff. It is an okay watch and it’s cool to see how a band records a new album. Although the studio shots are to short to really give you a good insight into what happened. It quickly switches to the on the road stuff. Which is close to horrible to watch, you see small 10 second outtakes of the band performing, which totally kills any kind of atmosphere those songs had. When it goes back to the second recording session (of ‘One Second’) it becomes a bit more interesting. Overall however these home video’s rush through so fast you don’t learn that much about what is going on at all.
The One Second Tour was filmed at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London on the 28th of January 1998. I myself saw them on this tour when they hit The Netherlands. When I attended the live show I was pretty disappointed, but seeing it back on DVD (of a London show) it looks and sounds a lot better. Of course if you’re only into the old style of Paradise Lost, this gig will be wasted on you as they mostly play new material. What you get to see however is a solid show of a well oiled entertainment machine. Although they do still focus more on the music and don’t make a true spectacle of things (in this they can still learn a lot from people like Messiah of Candlemass, now that is a stage presence!).
The only old song they played was ‘As I die’ and even though it is their own song they should be shot for even daring the play this song again! I don’t mind them playing it, in fact I welcome it, but not like this! Clean vocals, weird sound effects and even changing the lyrics to fit the live set. There are only a few instances where a band has butchered one of its own songs this badly, and that for such a classic. While I to this day like almost all Paradise Lost releases, including the newer ones, this truly is a crime they should never ever commit again. Play it right, or don’t play it at all!
The last things to be found on this DVD are the video clips of the `Draconian Times` and `One Second` era. It’s clear that the band got a bigger budget with each video and they look more professional. There also is more “story telling” in most of the video’s (except for the first one) and less just the band playing their own music. Good solid music and okayish video clips. It is nice to see them if you never saw them, but personally I have nothing with bands making video clips and much prefer to just listen to an entire CD.
Overall this DVD does exactly as it promises, it overloads you with Paradise Lost music to show you some of their changes and be it “evolution” throughout the years. Despite me being very critical of this DVD, I think it is a worthy addition if you enjoy this type of thing. It’s worth your money also, given the huge amount of material you get. The overall execution of the DVD is somewhat lacking at times and it seems to have been put together hastily. But that should not keep you from getting this if you are a Paradise Lost fan (like me).
Harmony Breaks concert 1993
1. Mortals Watch the day
2. Joys of the Emptiness
3. Your hands in mine
4. Widow
5. Shallow Seasons
6. Pity the Sadness
7. As I Die
Promo Videos
1. As I Die
2. Pity the Sadness
3. True Belief
4. Embers Fire
5. Widow
Home Movies
1. One Second Live 1998
2. Say Just Words
3. Hallowed Land
4. Blood of Another
5. True Belief
6. Disappear
7. Lydia
8. Dying Freedom
9. Mercy
10. Shadow Kings
11. The Sufferer
12. Remembrance
13. Forever Failure
14. Soul Courageous
15. One Second
16. This Cold Life
17. Embers Fire
18. As I Die
19. The Last Time
Promo Videos
1. The Last time
2. Forever Failure
3. Say just words
4. One Second
Approx. 180 minutes