Paradise Lost

One Second

Essential Paradise Lost

Review Score:

(10/10)
"One Second" was Paradise Lost's first big change of musical direction. At first I didn't like the idea of Paradise Lost "changing", but when I bought "One Second" at the signing session in London in 1997, I was eager to hear it.
This was the first Paradise Lost album that, on first listen, blew me away! I didn't have to wait for it to grow on me, it just worked immediately.
The heavy guitars characteristic of Paradise Lost remain. Guitarist Greg Makintosh has relaxed his efforts on soloing in favour of an enhanced atmosphere provided by keyboards. The keyboards really work here aswell, providing a clean, mature feel as well as a colourful futuristic sheen.
Vocalist Nick Holmes has found a new vocal style here, while maintaining some of the old grunts, he prefers to sing on this album, and it works very well too. Bassist Steve Edmonson peforms several subtle rhythmn deviations and nice flicks, demonstrating his ability to work around the rythmn passage. The bass on this album is very loud. Aaron Aedy's guitars are as precise as on all previous and following albums and Lee Morris' drumming is similar to that on "Draconian Times"; largely rhythmic with several ghost strokes.
There are several songs here with the use of heavy guitars throughout, and are not alien to previous works. "Sane", "The Sufferer" and "Blood of Another" are good examples of this. The title song "One Second" is the opener and demonstrates how a nice simple rhythmn with underlying piano lines can create a very effective and tuneful song. "Say Just Words" is another example of this, with a nice groove. Some songs on this album are very topical. This typifies "One Second" in that most of the song's lyrics are easier to understand than on previous albums. "Lydia" and "Another Day" are two of the best songs on this album, both concerning two disturbing elements of human life and the face of society in the present age. The album also contains a few what could be termed "gothic masterpieces", these are "Mercy" my favourite Paradise Lost song, "Disappear", "This Cold Life" and "Take Me down". These are the album's most atmospheric songs, where the keyboards shine at the forefront, and the listener realises that Greger Makintosh has surpassed himself having written this album. "Soul Courageous" was my first taste of "One Second", and it took some getting used to. After a few listens the song grew on me, the lyrics are particulary impressive on this song. "I Despair" is an effective closer. It is more uptempo that "Take Me Down" which is the album's official closer, and so finishes on an amazing high.
The most obvious musical indicator that this is Paradise Lost is the air of misery. "One Second", although colourfully keyboarded and masterfully written, is very dark and downbeat, and this is what I love in music. "Mercy" is the greatest song I have ever heard with it's slow, heavy drum structure, beautifully keyboarded atmosphere and slow guitar melodies.
This album was a brave step forward for the band, and what an amazing step it was. This is dark gothic metal at it's finest, presented by the fathers of gothic metal themselves, Paradise Lost.

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