Music Review: Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol (2012)

It will take you at least three listens to start enjoying Tragic Idol. Doom Metal monsters Paradise Lost are back with an album that showcases a fantastic blend of what made the band great and the turn they took later in their career. Solitary One opens the album on an ominous note, before Paradise Lost move into Gothic Rock territory with Crucify, after which it becomes impossible to tell if the rest of the material is from the classic doom act or the new shape they took. A great situation, if you ask me. Fear Of Impending Hell, Honesty In Death and could easily be confused with the band’s vintage stuff and please those who enjoyed the band’s pop-music phase as well. But then Paradise Lost‘s music has always been easier listening as compared to, say, a sinister-as-fuck doom act like My Dying Bride. I didn’t think much of PL‘s early works (unless we’re talking seriously addictive tracks like As I Die) and fell for their catchy pop-rock hits like One Second and Shine – how can anyone not like that stuff? – and then went back to the band’s dark beginnings. The album gets thrashy with Theories From Another World and In This We Dwell, and philosophical with To The Darkness. Yeah, it’s easy to make out what Nick Holmes is singing; his clean tone suits the songs, and his doom growl is… well, a shout. The title track brings some of the gothic/pop elements back; Tragic Idol sounds like Type O Negative on a few pots of coffee. The album is really good. Paradise Lost have never been lazy in the songwriting department, and this sudden realization should lead me to download their entire discography and dedicate a few evenings to this highly listenable legendary band. It’s Worth Fighting For, the band says, before closing Tragic Idol with The Glorious End. It’s scary when albums end with songs titled like that; it makes you wonder if the work is the band’s swan song. Paradise Lost‘s Tragic Idol is a strong mix of melody and gloom – not catchy at all, but intriguing and worth every listen you give it.