The Plague Within

Paradise Lost are like the best friend who always looks as though they are completely out of the picture and will never make it to the party/do you a favour/plan your wedding, but then they defy all the odds and still manage to do everything you hoped and more - perhaps they do something that you didn't hope for too, something you didn't even know you wanted. Basically, whoever took bets on the band's career back in the late 90s and predicted anything like what has happened since must have been given some pretty amazing odds. To wind down from hoary doom death to melodic/gothic metal to electronic/gothic rock, then begin to ratchet things up in the opposite direction without repeating any particular steps is a sensational achivement, and that would remain the case even if all of PL's post-2005 albums had completely sucked.

The arrival of 'The Plague Within' was unquestionably coloured by the reputation that proceeded it, which dubbed this a return to the band's doom death roots and a concrete-heavy album like none for the last 20 years of PL's career. I must say that this is quite far from the case, since there is probably as much truth in saying that this album takes a greater influence from the mid/late-period gothic wanderings than either of its predecessors, the startlingly crushing and melodic 'Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us' and the modern and boisterous 'Tragic Idol'. There are songs on 'The Plague Within' that do turn back the years, but notably only to the self-titled album, such as the aching clean-sung refrains of 'An Eternity of Lies' or the slightly more classic gothic poignance of 'Sacrifice the Flame'. The reason why the emergence of this album was met by such a fervour of cries about doom death was largely because of the track chosen for promotion - 'Beneath Broken Earth' - the six minute sloth of which is a mildly compelling argument that the band have come full circle and ended up back at 'Gothic' minus only 60cm of hair. However, I think 'The Plague Within' is a more interesting statement than that, since Paradise Lost have not only remained unpredictable throughout their career (90s doom death bands are well versed in this trait) but because they have managed to remain practically peerless for all those years as well. They have never copied other bands and they have never imitated themselves either.

The main change that this album brought about was that it has a stone-cold set of riffs. Big, bulldozing, slow riffs. Yet this album bears little in common with 'Shades of God', which was the last PL album to feature so many stand-alone doom riffs as this. The heft of 7-string guitars means that the heaviness on this album never comes close to the grinding heaviness and twisting fills that marked the 1992 effort, nor does it have the death metal grumpiness of 1991's 'Gothic'. This is fat and modern, make no mistake. The listener is repeatedly mown down by an immense width of guitar that harks back to Cathedral's legendary debut and at times echoes that band's final statement 'The Last Spire'. However, what makes it 'The Plague Within' markedly different to the albums already mentioned is its sense of confidence at starting over completely as soon as a new song rolls round. Starting from 'Tragic Idol', PL has been broadening their sound, using both modern and classic influences, so that they can make the thuggishly groovy 'Punishment Through Time' (which reminds one of Crowbar in both title and syrupy riffs) sit comfortably alongside the razor-sharp blast and trudge of 'Flesh from Bone', and neither feel out of place with 'Beneath Broken Earth' in the ranks.

I was initially rather sceptical about the quality of this album, since it seemed that some marks of PL's subtlety had waned, but it has grown strongly on me since first listen. I believe that the bare bones approach to songwriting, which sees the band including only a select few riffs and vocal sections per song, has given a great focus that would be wrecked by any of the more delicate experimental touches that went into albums like 'Icon'. It's also a relief to hear Gregor Mackintosh returning to his signature position at the fore of the songs on lead guitar, following his rather bland performance on the preceding album. He waters the cracked soil of the heavy tracks with flowing leads and, despite having few truly attention-grabbing solos, his role is vital in shaping the songs and aiding the cumbersome riffs to always hit the target. That means that the meanness of the riffs in opener 'No Hope in Sight' or the enormous doom of closer 'Return to the Sun' are mediated by melody and remain light and airy, not oppressive. There are also many sections of songs that have a spacious feeling about them, as if allowing the music to float and carry itself, which was the initial reason that I was suspicious about a lack of content. However, this is a very clever and subtle ploy (indeed so subtle it escaped me at first) that does hark back to the feedback-soaked masterclass of 'True Belief', causing the dynamics of the songs to be built from the most natural pieces, instead of forcing more notes into them as sometimes seemed the case with the last album. The greatest examples of this technique are 'Beneath Broken Earth', which is a fantastic exercise in minimalism, and 'Sacrifice the Flame', which at first appears to only possess a chorus and a two note verse melody, though is one of the most affecting listens of the album.

I take something positive away from every song on 'The Plague Within' and register only minor grumbles with the physical and repetitive 'Punishment Through Time' and the sprawling surrender of 'Return to the Sun', while I must say that the two aforementioned highlights ('Beneath Broken Earth' and 'Sacrifice the Flame'), in addition to 'No Hope in Sight', stand as tall as any songs the band has written. There are also some worthwhile bonus tracks knocking around if you feel like getting a little more from the experience. If Paradise Lost continue going down this road, it seems as though there is still a wealth of captivating music left in the band, as well as the promise of more unpredictability to come. We can only hope that they don't call it a day too soon.