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.