The best Paradise Lost album, at any rate!

Review Score: (10/10)
Before Paradise Lost went Mainstream with "Icon", "Draconian Times" , the dreadful "One Second", the surprisingly good "Host" and "Believe in Nothing" which is very likely gonna be the last album of their entire career, they released "Shades of God".

I remember a friend telling me about them as "Christian Death-Metal". That isn't exactly fitting since PL were neither Christian nor ever really DM. The first album I heard was ICON and I loved it back then. It was spinning on my Walkman and my CD-Player for a LONG time. Not many people knew them when ICON came out, but about one year after, everybody seemed to love the Band, yet few were familiar with their roots.

Now, nearly 10 years after it's release, I can say that SHADES OF GOD is my favorite PL record. From the opening accords of "Mortals watch the Day" to the very listenable "As I die" this album is 100 % the Paradise Lost I know and love. It is nowhere as lightweight as ICON or DRACONIAN TIMES ( if you think of these albums as HEAVY-METAL you know you never heard of METAL ), it has a more doomy, depressing feel to it. Most of the songs are pretty slow ( "No Forgiveness", "Your Hand in mine", "Crying for Eternity", "Embraced", "Daylight Torn" ) and I mean SLOW! Much more Black Sabbath than Metallica and Nick singing pretty much in Death-Metal style. What makes this album special is that neither Paradise Lost nor any of the countless Bands that tried to rip them off ( Cemetery, Theatre of Tragedy ) could top this release in terms of style, perfection and deepness. No other Band ever played an accustic guitar solo in a song like "Daylight Torn", no Band ever made a such honest and depressing lovesong like "Your Hand in mine". "As I die" is beyond criticism to anyone who ever heard it. "Pity the Sadness" is a song like no other as well, the lyircs ( "I've cried for god and I've cried for you, but I pray that in the end your sense will break through" ) give me shivers. This was also a time for PL when they would make a song as long as it took, ignoring radio-airplay guidelines completely. So don't wonder why there aren't much songs under 6 minutes of lentgh.

This is a must buy for PL fans of any kind and one of the best works in metal out there. Get lost, Theatre of Tragedy - this is the real stuff!

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