Paradise Lost - Draconian Times

A lot could be said of Paradise Lost and their long and highly varied career. Of their 16 albums so far, not one sounds exactly like the other, and they went through a lot of styles through the years (they even went full on synth-pop back in 1999!). June 12 was the 25-year anniversary of “Draconian Times”, still their most well-known album and probably commercially their most successful one, let’s take a brief and indulgent opportunity to take a stroll through their career and where this album fits in there.

In 1995 “Draconian Times” was a massively unexpected follow-up to ‘93’s “Icon” and “Icon” itself was a big-switch up in sound from the previous Doom, Dank and Death Metal of their earlier albums. It became apparent that the lads were listening to a lot of The Sisters of Mercy and similar gothic rock bands. The riffs became actual rock-out riffs rather than doom drawls, and Gregor Mackintosh’s legendary melodic leads were put in all the right places. Nick Holmes’ vocal performance was more dynamic than ever before, embracing both his inner Hetfield and Eldritch.

All the stuff Paradise Lost imported to make “Icon” leap from ‘doom’ to ‘gothic’ was here and then some. We got piano intros now, chorus effects, occasional acoustic guitars, etc. The sound ended up being a lot brighter, and while still undoubtedly a metal record, the characteristic metal darkness of “Icon” gave way more to a pronounced feeling of melancholia. Indeed, emotions were heightened, and there was likely no song on “Icon” that could hit right in the feels as “Forever Failure” or “The Last Time” could. Other than label support, this sound switch-up was probably one of the reasons “Draconian Times” was such a huge commercial hit and continues to be revered to this day, giving Paradise Lost a brief time in the mainstream.

Another thing which makes “Draconian Times” such an important album for Paradise Lost is how it became to be a sort of breaking point. Their pure doom days were over, their mature gothic days were highlighted by this album and their incessant progression would lead to another switch-up with their next album, ‘97’s “One Second”. Cynics would say “One Second” was the moment Paradise Lost sold out. The aesthetic of the previous albums was still tangible here, yet it was much more of a straight rock album with plenty of popular stylizations to go around.

‘’Draconian Times’’ is imperious, elegant, sophisticated, and powerful. It is a true classic.

Paradise Lost - The Last Time EP

I suppose I should write a wee introduction to this part of the party. Paradise Lost are an unusual choice of band for someone like me to enjoy. I’m not a fan of Doom/Death/Sludge Metal at all and I had steered clear of all such nonsense during the 90’s and early noughty’s, until about 2007 when I was working with a colleague who was constantly playing this Gothic Metal or Goth Rock noise as I called it. When this EP by Paradise Lost came on I was my usual dismissive self until their version of T’Sisters ‘’Walk Away’’ came on. Now yes, its T’Sisters meets Dark Metal during a long walk home in Leeds during a torrential rain storm. They have much in common but still so very far apart I thought. But no, it actually seems like the perfect blend for these two Leeds based behemoth bands, almost a decade apart, to create this bastardised offspring.

On the 8^th May 1995, ‘’The Last Time’’ became the lead single for Paradise Lost’s fifth studio album ’’Draconian Times’’. Paradise Lost had matured both lyrically and musically from their Doom days and unbeknown at the time, DT found itself right in the middle of their journey, the perfect blend of sounds from their beginning and melodic moments that spilled over their horizons, and it is not without reason that DT has become one of their fan favourites. A slightly faster than fans were used to, “The Last Time” brought more rock elements to the table for Paradise Lost. It is a great opening salvo that showed Paradise Lost were playing music that they appreciated and wanted to listen to.