Paradise Lost, The plague within

Paradise Lost's The plague within is a very intriguing record, one of those albums of contrasts you can't really make up your mind about. First of all, it's a very atmospheric album. How you feel about it will be directly influenced by how you feel in general and how you listen to it. Second of all, it's an album of "buts". You know, the kind of music that makes you go "it's x, but it's y, but it's actually z" and then raise your hands in confusion because you realise you just contradicted yourself ten times and still everything you said is absolutely true.  It is definitely an awaited return to the roots and a huge step from Self obsessed, but it's still not quite up there where it should/could be. 

The first strangeness is that there are tons of genres they venture into. There's the regular Paradise Lost gothic metal, there's some thrashiness in Punishment through time, some death and black metal in Flesh from bone, a ton of doom in Beneath broken earth and Sacrifice the flame, yet sometimes the monotony and repetitiveness of the music become irritating. I have no idea how you can try so much and actually try so little at the same time. I understand that it's a grey dreary world, but it's only meant to be so atmospherically, not musically as well. Throw some colour in there, some variety, some something. You want me to understand the suicidal depressed thoughts because of how good you are at conveying them, not because I'm going to kill myself out of boredom. Thankfully it's not an omnipresent fault, but there's certainly enough flatness to consider it an issue. 

The second oddity (and this time it's a positive one) is that throughout the sprint over most of the extreme metal genres, there's still a red wire and a Paradise Lost trademark they never step away from. This is most evident in Punishment through time which, like I said, has strong thrash influences, but at the same time still sounds as gothic as it can be, maintaining the same settled burdening rhythm that's present on every song of the album (and when I say every song, I mean every song, as even Flesh from bone returns to the slow and powerful gothic cadence after an alert and aggressive beginning that shakes things up a bit). Basically, no matter where they go to musically, the atmosphere is always the same: there's a hole in your soul that needs to be filled, a burst waiting to happen, a need that's never satiated, a frustration that makes you unsettled and yet swirling with emotion at the same time. Welcome to the world of metal, where all the negative feelings that you'd never want to experience in your normal life, somehow make you... pleased.

As it's probably abundantly clear by now, the high point of this record is definitely the atmosphere. It's burdening, desolate and creepy, but it doesn't make me roll my eyes in exasperation and it doesn't lack power and intensity. Even the doom tracks, with their classic grave bass riff, stray lonely guitar, steady drums and grim vocals, are still nowhere near the level of dramatic over the top angst this genre is able to produce (even though I lean towards melancholic music because I love the intensity and deepness that are completely missing from the sunny cheerful songs, I do find a lot of the bands of this genre exaggerated, trying too hard and achieving the opposite effect in the process). But for a student of the "less if more" school like myself, the beginning and ending are ten times better. Remaining in the same area of rewards and gratifications, if the middle of the album basically tells me my need is never going to be satiated and makes me pretty much abandon, crawl in a hole and die/sleep, the first and last songs keep me engaged by rollercoasting. They're basically teasing, but they don't kill all hope. And yes, sorrow and despair did we foresee, but music is still supposed to evoke something positive, even if it's in the masochistic "it's so heartwrecking it's good" way I described earlier. 

The older fans will probably very excited to hear Nick grunting again and I am too. It's a touch of aggressiveness that was sorely missed on the last records and I like how the growling fits in with the rest of the music and spices it up a bit (with the exception of Beneath broken earth, were it drags it down even more). However, I love Nick's clean vocals a lot and I'm a sucker for the low almost spoken vocals of Cry out, so I would've liked more of that. It's not that big of a problem, though. 

There's a lot of confusion concerning what gothic metal means, but as pioneers of the genre, Paradise Lost really encapsulate it perfectly. Gloom, rain, thunder and lightning, creepy rituals in dark gothic cathedrals... if not even Return to the sun makes you picture all that, then your imagination is officially dead. And buried. And has been played a doom song as goodbye. There is never any chaos or hastiness, everything is steady and calculated and even the growth is somehow contained. If you're a fan of this kind of music, then The plague within is your most dear dream, especially as it marks the return of the lost sheep paradise. If you expect animated music, with more changes of pace and atmosphere and less angst, then two songs in and you'll probably be bored out of your mind. As for me, I'm somewhere in the middle, happily drowning in the melancholy and bleakness at first and then becoming slightly impatient and distracted as the album goes on. Mostly I think I'm excited that a band I used to love is back to doing what I used to love it for. Now that the "what" is back on track, I'm waiting patiently for the "how" to be settled as well. 

Best track: An eternity of lies, with those compelling violins, those yearning heartfelt vocals and yes, changes of pace!
Worse track: When I listen the songs separately, they each sound very good and only when you put them one after the other does the repetitiveness become annoying. I couldn't choose.