Paradise Regained

Paradise Lost played their 25th anniversary show at the roundhouse on Sunday, and I was there! It’s been 25 years since Paradise Lost emerged from Halifax in west Yorkshire. Twenty-five years in which the band has established itself as one of the best and most reliable in metal music, with 13 studio albums to their name, all but one original member still touring and new material that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of their early work. Guns n’ Roses should be jealous. Listening through the extensive back catalog it’s clear the band are never resting on their laurels either. The first record ‘Lost Paradise’ sits well within the death/doom genre, which Paradise Lost, alongside Anathema and My Dying Bride helped to define in the early 90’s when all three bands were signed to the peaceville label. The solid chugging rhythm guitar of Aaron Aedy with Gregory Macintosh’s lead guitar soaring above and Nick Holmes harsh vocals gradually evolves over subsequent releases. Macintosh’s single string leads become increasingly orchestrated, slayer like dive bombs replaced with more tasteful calculated melodies. Simultaneously Holmes eases off partially due to the need to conserve his voice and female vocals are introduced in places. By the fifth album Draconian Times in 1995 the band have become one of the primary progenitors of gothic metal. In fact the band make it all the way into Depeche Mode synthpop territory with 7th release Host before rebounding back into the realms gothic/doom metal by the time of Tragic Idols release in 2012. This being the bands 25th anniversary tour the full breadth of their work is represented. Katatonia open the show by playing their brilliant Viva Emptiness album in full, legends in their own right Katatonia’s early releases are highly reminiscent of the death/doom period of Paradise Lost’s history. Next up gothic metal band Lacuna Coil speak more to their recent albums. Paradise Lost themselves manage to represent twelve out thirteen albums in their set, opening with the awesome ‘Mortals Watch the Day’ complete with Holmes death growls before, somehow, transitioning seamlessly into ‘So Much Is Lost’ from 1999’s Host. Proving that whilst the genre may have changed the quality has always been there. They put on a great show, any sense of pretension or gloom you might expect from a gothic/doom band is completely nullified by Nick Holmes sarcastic attitude on stage. The Roundhouse treats the audience to a lights show projecting cover art up behind the band and the crowd are appreciative responding well to classics like ‘Enchantment’ and ‘Gothic’. There is even a small pit which is impressive given the slow tempo of most of the tracks. The only downside: perhaps predictably for a band with such an extensive discography I catch myself noting the songs they don’t play. No ‘Embers Fire’ no ‘Eternal’, what if they’d played ‘Crying for Eternity’? ‘Daylight Torn’? The first five albums back to back to be honest would have been fine by me. There’s no pleasing some people, it was a great show and if you don’t listen to Paradise Lost already you should really start. In fact if you are new to the cannon this may well have been the best set list for you, capturing a bit of everything. I suppose I’ll just have to keep waiting for the eleven hour gig where they play everything to be announced . . .