Paradise Lost

Draconian Times

Draconian Times, Exhilerating Tunes

Review Score:

(8/10)
Perhaps the last great rock album of the nineties, Paradise Lost's fifth studio album brought them on a par with Metallica's 'Black' in terms of musical brilliance and commercial potential. Indeed, it sold one and a half million copies and reached number sixteen in the UK album charts, something unheard of for a northern gothic-metal band. Blending keyboards into the mix of hard-rocking guitars, they diversified their sound whilst still retaining the catchy lyrical hooks and pounding choruses of previous albums. The songs are tighter and more structured, and though this detracts from the sprawling originality and unpredictability featured on their previous album, 'Icon', it creates instantly accessible and identifiable rhythms. This is undeniably the pinnacle of the great band, before the next album's slide into European cyber-gothic mediocrity.

'Enchantment' opens the album on a high, moody guitars and atmospheric keyboards merging to great effect throughout and culminating in an enchanting, mystical outro. The stand-out track of the album is 'Hallowed Land', the new drummer Matt Archer's off-beat rhythms creating a lively sense of anthematic rock genius that fully complements Holmes' gruff vocals and McIntosh's singing guitar, and enables them to fit a piano into the mix without lessening the pace. 'The Last Time' is one of the most famous songs from the album, and despite a lacklustre guitar solo, it delivers the catchy chorus and pounding verse that made it the first single. The second single from the album, 'Forever Failure', is a deeply atmospheric number, ringing guitars and a sense of timeless gothic melodrama offset by Charles Manson's dismembered voice entering the mix. 'Once Solemn' is a masterpiece of gothic-metal infused punk-rock power, pounding, hard and heavy, whilst 'Shadow Kings' holds the heaviness yet pulls in a much softer, more melodic vibe. From this point, all the songs start to sound a little the same, most beginning with finger-picked intros and building up to distorted gothic peaks, 'Elusive Cure' and track nine, 'Shades of God', prime examples. Track eight however, 'Yearn for Change', is unique in its fast rock sensibilities and soaring guitar riffs that compete with vocals on top form. 'Hands of Reason', my personal favourite, contains perhaps the best build-up to a guitar solo ever recorded, the drums erupting into a fury that is at once heavy and intriguing. This song also carries one of the best vocal/guitar unions, the opening of the chorus an emotive flurry that is definitely PL's finest moment. The final two songs, 'I See Your Face' and 'Jaded', are like tracks 7 and 9, still powerful and great music, but certainly not stand-out like many of the others.

'Draconian Times' has deservedly earned its place in history, every song intermingling the various styles that make up PL's unique sound and adding something new. The first six songs on the album are all single-potential, but this perhaps is to the detriment of the rest of the album's unfortunate sameness. Holmes' voice on this album is one notch softer and one notch wider-ranging than on 'Icon', and McIntosh continues to astound as the greatest living guitar player, every song complete with guitar-solos that run from fast and frenetic to slow and moody. This album definitely represented PL on the spring-board towards rock-gods status, so it is a shame that they went down the opposite route. If you liked 'Icon', you'll like this, though probably not quite as much due to its tighter formality, but anyone wanting to get into Paradise Lost, or anyone wanting a fine, hard-rocking, diverse and entirely unique album that shows every reason why the band are loved by so many fans, this is the one for you.

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