Paradise Lost

In Requiem (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

First off, a title like In Requiem just flashes by – used too many times, plus it makes you think the band broke up. Anyway, that malaise carries over into a record that isn’t bad, it’s just kind of everywhere and nowhere at once, Paradise Lost saddled to their rough and raw and rudimentary signature sound which now, an eternity of metal styles after its golden period (’93 to ’95), just makes you think the band is simple. The industrial bits and the droning faux-doom riffs have much in common with the dreary and tiring new Ozzy. Sentenced wrote better in this realm, and they usually eschewed the trendy postures. Sure, this is sung and recorded better than a Sentenced album, but man, nearly every time the verse starts, you’re bored with it (try this with “Sedative God” and “Fallen Children”). And there’s a lot of singing like Pete Steele outta Nick Holmes, which kind of perks the ears a bit, actually. Still, it doesn’t help the stodgy, oppressive songs which, in the end, aren’t that heavy. In Requiem most definitely is more Goth than doom.
(www.centurymedia.com)