Paradise Lost

Icon

An Iconic statement from an Iconic band

Review Score:

(10/10)
There is a common feeling among PL fans that their fourth outing was by far their best, setting them apart from all the other bands with their uniquely gothic-metal sound. With the introduction of the prevalent wah-pedal to McIntosh's lead, the extra crunchiness of Aedy's rhythm guitar, and the less-gruff/more experimental aspect of Holmes' vocals, the band perfected their dalliance with death-metal and gothic, blending the two into a style which both rocks and holds an almost tangible atmosphere throughout. At once dark and foreboding, moody and stirring, every song shines and every song moves. Lyrically, musically, emotional and spiritually, you won't ever find an album like this one.

'Icon' opens with 'Ember's Fire', the song which defined gothic-metal the moment it was first released, a driving intro and empowered verses breaking into a unique and skilled guitar solo voted the greatest guitar solo of all time in several magazine polls. Followed by 'Remembrance', another power-rock number with an angry solo, they combine to hammer home from the start the angle from which PL strikes. 'Forging Sympathy' and 'Joys of the Emptiness' are slower, gloomier songs, their structures original and unpredictable. These two songs, like all on this album, have lyrics which leave you in doubt as to what exactly is the chorus, what is the bridge, what is the verse; it is all equally catchy, and this melding of musical and vocal hooks are what makes the album so special. 'Dying Freedom' and 'Widow' take the speed up a level, pounding rhythm and dancing lead guitars making them strikingly sombre yet surprisingly uplifting. 'Colossal Rains' is an experimental song with distorted vocals making it a largely instrumental track for the first half, before the vocals kick in proper with suitably colossal, timeless lyrics. Rated as a full-on metal track, 'Weeping Words' is undeniably moody, has a unique solo that uses a timed echo to great effect, and ends with an experimental whistling wah outro. 'Poison' is the heaviest track on the album, kicking in fast and hard and maintaining it right up to the blistering guitar solo finish. Commonly rated the greatest PL song, 'True Belief' is moving, dark and melodic, a palm-muted guitar-driven verse cutting to an atmospheric, deep-throated chorus that is all gothic. 'Shallow Seasons' is faster, heavier, livlier, a flanger guitar giving it a timeless property that leads easily into 'Christendom'. This track is the weakest on the album, using a female opera singer as it did on the earlier album 'Gothic'; this time it does not work half so well. Finally, the piano-fuelled instrumental 'Deus Miserateur' moves the album to its close with grace and harmony.

For non-Paradise Lost fans, this is probably quite a difficult album to get into due to the fact that it sounds so unlike anything you will ever have heard before. Lyrically it is very poetic and emotional, with unashamedly gothic lines like: 'Time is the father in my corrupt mind' and 'My halo is fading with all the sin I deal' alienating anyone who wants an easy-to-interpret quick lyrical fix. For a mainstream rock fan, I'd recommend their 'Draconian Times' album to get a taste of their style, but ultimately, this is the album you need. It may be hard to get into but, once you have, it will stay number one in your collection forever.

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