Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Paradise Lost

Details: Written by: Daniela Vorndran; Published: 19 September 2008

Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany
17th September 2008
Paradise Lost & Anathema

It was in May 2008 that PARADISE LOST released their new DVD ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’. But that wasn’t just an ordinary release for this band which is known to be the creator of a whole new genre: The Gothic Metal, a mixture which appeared for the first time on the album ‘Gothic’ in 1991. Since then a lot of time has passed and a lot of albums have been released, culminating up to the release of their eleventh album ‘In Requiem’ back in 2007. The DVD was a gift to the fans to celebrate their 20th anniversary and for this special occasion, the band has played a few hand selected anniversary shows in Europe, the last one being the show at the Kulturfabrik in Krefeld. The support slot was taken by the British rockers of ANATHEMA.

Anathema

Founded in Liverpool 1990 under the name PAGAN ANGEL, the band first served more doom music. The first demo ‘An Iliad of Woes’ was spread in January 1991 and received positive critics. Thanks to support slots for bands like BOLT THROWER or PARADISE LOST, the band quickly built up a true fan basis. Soon after the second demo, the band signed a contract with Peaceville records. During the years, the doom influences were fallen away and were replaced by Gothic and Psychedelic elements causing comparisons with PINK FLOYD. Currently the band has released their brand-new CD ‘Hindsight’ end of august. The current line-up is Vincent Cavanagh (vocals, guitar, vocoder), Danny Cavanagh (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Lee Douglas (vocals), Les Smith (keyboards), Jamie Cavanagh (bass) and John Douglas (drums). http://www.anathema.ws/ / http://www.myspace.com/weareanathema

Music & Performance
After waiting for about an hour in the hall, ANATHEMA entered the stage at 8.30. I already was impressed when I saw this band touring with PORCUPINE TREE some month ago and so, I was also looking forward the show in Krefeld. And it was absolutely great. All band members are perfect musicians and the showed what they are able to do with great solos. When you think of ANATHEMA you know that this band offers the right sound track for people drowning in sadness, seeing only the shadows of life. The repertoire of this band is hardly to been taken out in its sadness and emotionality. Its embrace is deadly. The band presented several songs out off the very new album ‘Hindsight’ such as ‘A natural Disaster’, ‘One last goodbye’ or ‘Angelica’ which was dedicated to PARADISE LOST. But also “Some more songs from the early albums” were presented i.e. ‘Deep’ or ‘Sleepless’. Different to the last show I have seen, this time ANATHEMA brought a female guest vocalist with them supporting the band for two songs.

And also when the sound was not always optimal, very quickly a magical atmosphere was created with which the lads bewitched their audience during several years now. People welcomed the band very openly and there were several fans within the audience. Thankful the Cavanagh brothers recognized the good mood within the audience and animated them to give even more. As told already, the band integrated some new songs into the set. Those new songs offer softer sounds than you know it from the past even though the track ‘Angels walk among us’ is quality-wise connected to the older songs. Again in the foreground the three brothers with their guitars acted while keyboardist Smith and drummer Douglas built up the musical basis in the background. The whole set lasted about an hour and according to several fans it could have been still longer. But they will get more soon because ANATHEMA will be touring Germany in autumn.

Setlist
01. Deep
02. Empty
03. Closer
04. A natural Disaster
05. Angels walk among us
06. One last goodbye
07. Angelica
08. A dying Wish
09. Sleepless
10. Shroud of false
11. Fragile dreams

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8

Paradise Lost

No one would have thought at that time when a couple of friends formed a band called PARADISE LOST, that it would be the birth of what would one day become one of the most influential in their area and the founder of a complete new genre. But first things first... as the first songs, amongst others, included on the legendary ‘Frozen Illusions’ demo were more Death Metal with some Doom influences than anything else, a style they also celebrated on the debut ‘Lost Paradise’(1990). The following ‘Gothic’ then was the album eternalizing their name in the annals of musical history as the inventors of ‘Gothic Metal’ However, the Death Metal influences on the album still were quite strong. They significantly decreased though, starting with ‘Shades of God’, especially Nick Holmes’ chant made through a remarkable change. The preliminary peak of their popularity was reached around 1995 with the release of ‘Draconian Times’. From there on the style changed with almost every new album and more and more electronic elements found their way into the sound of PARADISE LOST, much to the discontent of the old fans, and culminated in the still controversial ‘Host’ album. Fast forward now to 2007 when the band releases ‘In Requiem’ and gets celebrated just like in the old times. It unites influences from every chapter of the band’s history and therefore is their most mature work to date. PARADISE LOST are Nick Holmes (vocals), Greg Mackintosh (lead guitar), Aaron Aedy (rhythm guitar) and Steve Edmonson (bass). Drummer Jeff Singer has left the band in August and a regular replacement is not found yet. Anyway the band found drummer Marc Heron, from the band OCEANSIZE for the three anniversary shows. http://www.paradiselost.co.uk/ / http://www.myspace.com/paradiselostuk

Music & Performance
After about half an hour rebuilding break, it was finally time for PARADISE LOST, who entered the stage at about 10. The band was quite nervous today because it was the first ever show with PL of replacement drummer Marc. Another sign that anyone was very nervous was the fact, that - according the security guys - the sound check took more than four hours. Sadly, at least right in front of the stage, the sound was not the best and Nick’s chant was not loud enough. But people said the sound more backwards was very good. So, I might have had the wrong position for the show, but small as I am I wouldn’t have seen anything from farther back in the venue. Well, this first of three anniversary shows was, despite of the new drummer, something special anyway. With the setlist, the band was going back to the roots presenting some songs you haven’t heard for a while (even though there were not too many surprises) keeping out the - from many fans not really loved - ‘Host’ album.

During a new intro, a song of LISA GERRARD, the band entered one after another the stage to start with ‘Hallowed Land’ from ‘Draconian Times’ followed by ‘Rememberance’. After ‘Never for the Damned’, drummer Marc was introduced, as Nick said… “He learned the set in 25 minutes - amazing”. Well, maybe he meant 25days? After ‘Erased’ the next song was announced as “a song we haven’t played for 35 years” with Nick wearing a big smile in his face and so, ‘Elusive Cure’, also from ‘Draconian Times’, started. All in all, Nick was in very good mood anyway with speaking a lot to the audience, animating people to clap and raise their hands or even holding out the microphone into the audience to head people sing… or just shout the words “As I die”. After ‘Elusive Cure’ another song from the same album followed with ‘Shadowkings’ before the band turned to more recent times with ‘No Celebration’ and ‘Ash & Debris’. Alternating with some more newer songs, classics like ‘As I die’ and ‘Gothic’ followed until the band left the stage after ‘Requiem’.

Loud applause and cheers brought our guys back for two more songs - my all-time favourites ‘Say Just Words’ and ‘One Second’ - until they finally left and nothing could bring them back again, quite sad because there was still one more song, ‘Last time’, on the setlist. Overall it was a fantastic concert. Drummer Marc was quite good for a replacement, even though his play was not always perfect and every now and then he received a critical glance from Nick. There were also some longer breaks than usual in-between the songs. You had the impression the rest of the band was waiting for Marc. The sound was not always perfect as mentioned above. The light show was also typical PL, mostly in blue and pink, with some brighter spots. All very mystical and dark, just as it fits to a band like PARADISE LOST. With some quite old song, we got some surprises… for some songs Nick even needed a text book. Must have been a while since he performed those songs… I was hoping for a longer set, it still was quite short with 90 min and the band has so much material after 20 years in the business. Still we all were really amazed by the while set. Well done!

Setlist
01. Intro (Lisa Gerrard)
02. Hallowed Land
03. Rememberance
04. Never For The Damned
05. Erased
06. Elusive Cure
07. Shadowkings
08. No Celebration
09. Ash & Debris
10. As I Die
11. The Enemy
12. Gothic
13. Enchantment
14. Embers Fire
15. Requiem
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16. Say Just Words
17. One Second

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8.4