Paradise Lost : "Obsidian"

2017 found Paradise Lost returning to kick a bunch of ass and show the would be death doom bands how it is done. It is more likely a coincidence but since it's released there has been a deluge of death doom bands. This album finds the band raising the bar on themselves  and telling their "Medusa" album to hold their beer. More doom paced than death metal. It is not as heavy as "Medusa" , but darker and more melodic with the song writing  totally blowing my mind. They have expanded upon the more Type O Negative side of the band. "Ghosts" finds a more rock n roll mood rising up rising up and their drummer is really killing it on this songs. Yea this time around when I said the album is darker I meant goth. If you know me then you know I grew up a poor goth child so this is the shit I living dead for.

They have not gone full on Sisters of Mercy. There is a good balance between the macabre and having metallic balls. It is much more prominent than on not only the previous album, but most of the post "Draconian Times : albums . They are more straight forward metal on "Serenity" but not picking up the pace so much that it knocks them out of being doom., It still evolves into darker atmosphere. "Ending Days" has almost a Katatonia feel to it.  Holmes' voice has never sounded better, I guess doing double duty in Bloodbath he gets more than his fair share of growling so he wanted to sing some. They return to a more rock n roll direction with on "Hope Dies Young". Still dark, just more up beat and very melody driven .

They balance the rock n roll moments with going more metal on " Ravenghast" where the vocals do kind of a good cop / bad cop turn, growled on the verse and sung on the chorus. The gloomy guitars lines help make the song., I typically do not include the bonus tracks in my review, but these two songs are just as good as the others. In fact "Hear the Night " is drearier than the other songs, falling more in line with traditional doom, "Defiler" is more death n roll. It has a very deliberate stomp. Without question I will give this album a 10 . It's song writing is some of the bands best. It might not be their heaviest album in fact it is not as heavy as "Medusa" but it is more melodic and makes it an album worth listening to again and again. Out on Nuclear Blast.