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| Bands :: A-Z / P / Paradise Lost / | ||
Draconian Times - Claudia Ehrhardt - Draconian Times - Volker Raabe - Symbol Of Life - Claudia Ehrhardt - Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us - Umberto Mino -
Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us
(Century Media - 2009)
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Well guys, after fourteen years since Draconian Times, years of experimental sounds, years of Depeche Mode sounds, years of trying to modernize their sound with electronic elements and finally we can hear the real follow-up of the 1995 album!!!! |
Symbol Of Life
(Supersonic - 2002)
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A new album of the Bradford quintet is hitting the stores. Their last release Believe In Nothing wasn't what many fans expected and not one of the bands highlights. Symbol Of Life is a quite optimistic title for the former death / gothic metal band. With their EMI debut Host the band of main men singer Nick Holmes and guitarist Greg Mackintosh changed from gothic metal to more electronic sounds and became almost an electro pop band. Now they are back with an album which is heavier and is kinda building a bridge between the gothic metal albums like Draconian Times and One Second and the more modern electronic sounds of Host and Believe In Nothing. Opening with Isolate the Bradford five start with electronic sounds and it takes a few seconds until the guitar joins in and make this song to a catchy heavy electronic guitar pop song. A song which soon puts you under a spell. An enchanting track which combines the best of their last 4 albums with some new elements. Only the melancholy lyrics are something which the bands sticks to since their debut. The first notes of the track Erased remind me of the Draconian Times era. But again the band didn't just copy their songs and sounds. They developed as musicians and guitarist Greg Mackintosh also as a song writer. On this track a female voice was added and gives the song the special touch. Lee Dorian added some vocals to Erased as well as Joanna Stevens who also did vocal parts on the songs Mystify and Primal. Outstanding for me is the song Two Worlds which is unusual for Paradise Lost and where Devin Townsend added some vocals. Beside that on some songs they added keyboards (Isolate, Erased, Pray Nightfall and Channel For The Pain) and also some piano and strings (No Celebration and Symbol Of Life) been added. But all this are just elements which been added to the Paradise Lost sound which is based on Mackintosh's guitar and Nick Holmes vocals. It's amazing how much this band develops from their debut in 1987 until today! This album should be seen in his entirety, coz it's like the songs take you on a trip through the musical world of Paradise Lost. Even if the band crossed the boundaries of metal and can't be called metal nowadays, they still have metal elements in their sound, but are more electro pop... And industrial elements are there as well, but for fans of them from the mid-90's who aren't afraid of new sounds I can recommend this. Also I can recommend this album to fans of bands like Deftones and NIN. Give it a try and I guess that this album will stay in your CD player for quite a while! |
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The British five-piece started as a death metal band, but these days they are more gothic or dark metal. The band of singer Nick Holmes developed through the years their own style. Draconian Times is their 5th full-length album. Starting with Enchantment they show their direction, this track is well chosen as the album open, coz it has power, emotional vocals and a certain sadness. On 12 tracks the Bradford boys offer up-tempo songs, but most are mid-tempo. But breaks make the songs interesting, give them surprising moments. They no longer sound raw, this is more mellow. The lead guitar of Greg Mackintosh and the voice of singer Nick Holmes carry you off into the melancholy world of the quintet. The track Forever Failure starts with spoken words of Charles Manson! A mid-tempo track with heavy guitars, but is nothing without the sound basis of drummer Lee Morris and bassist Steve Edmonson. They also use spoken words within the track and ends with "I don't really know what sorry means!" Then with Once Solemn a faster one, but with a catchy hook line. I don't want to talk about every single track, coz there are no weak ones. I liked the album since I listened first and I think this is an album which I'll listen to again and again. Even in a few years this magic will enchant me, I guess. |
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With this album the British Paradise Lost definitely released a mega-seller of 1995, even if the year has just began. Many of the songs on Draconian Times could have been on Icon, but they have more atmosphere and so they are quite emotional. |
| ©2008-2010 by Claudia Ehrhardt • E-Mail: contact@ice-vajal.com |
