Location: Zagreb / Boogaloo / Croatia
Date: 14.10.2017
The English pioneers of gothic/doom metal Paradise Lost aren’t resting. Just two years after the album The Plague Within, they’re back with Medusa, which takes them back to their doom metal roots. The album has so far gotten mostly positive reactions, so expectations for the show were more than good. Paradise Lost stopped near Slovenia once again. They’ve wowed crowds in Zagreb several times before, so it’s only logical that the band includes the Croatian capital on the tour.. As support, Paradise Lost brought along American doom metallers Pallbearer and Portuguese sludge/doomers Sinistro.
Portugal’s Sinistro, still a young band, tried to win people over with something of their own. The heavy rhythms and guitars that come with the territory in sludge metal didn’t show anything special here. Fittingly, the whole thing thundered along, though a bass guitar in the mix could have beefed up the sound even more. The biggest standout of Sinistro was vocalist Patricia Andrade, who put on a definitely interesting performance, helped by experience she’d previously gathered acting in films and series. The vocals themselves are undoubtedly varied, but also annoying at the same time. So Sinistro are special in some ways, but as far as the music itself goes, they don’t promise all that much for now.
With Pallbearer, the sound took quite a turn. The band puts a pronounced doom metal element up front, one that also stresses melody. The fairly long songs are varied and unpredictable. The guitars are definitely a strong factor, and so is the distorted bass, while the drums lacked any real dynamics. The band presented their current album Heartless, which doesn’t reach the quality of the first two albums but solidly continues the band’s established style. With those first two albums, the band made it known that something is stirring on the American doom metal scene, and now they’re keeping up that quality more than solidly. The main problem with Pallbearer’s set was above all the dreadful sound. The band was so loud that you often couldn’t tell the instruments apart, and even earplugs didn’t help, which further left the melodic vocals feeling rather flat. Pallbearer will obviously need to be given another chance. After all, they have interesting material for about an hour.
With Paradise Lost, there’s always the riddle of what form the band will be in. Really, it all comes down to singer Nick Holmes, whose mood you can never predict on any given day, or at the hour he steps onto the stage. There’s no doubting the band’s repertoire either. This time too, the band served up current songs plus a medley of the hits PL are known for. There’s not much to complain about in the band’s form, at least the instrumental side, while Nick Holmes was merely average. The power just wasn’t felt in his vocals, and he wasn’t loud enough either. The rest of the members were solidly energetic, as expected. Really the only static one is bassist Stephen Edmondson, while guitarist Greg Mackintosh was in his own world of melancholic melodies as always, and rhythm guitarist Aaron Aedy was smiling the whole time and moving around quite a bit. Current drummer Waltteri Väyrynen deserves praise, easily playing the older material, while on the new stuff he proved he has loads of imagination and knows how to bring a lot of dynamics even into slow songs. With the current album, Paradise Lost gained a lot. The band’s repertoire now touches on morbid doom metal, melancholic gothic metal, and also something a bit gentler. Paradise Lost tried their hand at synth pop in their career too, but they no longer play that live. With 15 albums to date, the band can hardly satisfy every taste, but with the songs Remembrance, Shadowkings, As I Die, Embers Fire and the closing Say Just Words, the older fans got their due, proving that new and old fans are worth the same to the band.
All things considered, the Paradise Lost, Pallbearer and Sinistro show at Zagreb’s Boogaloo club was solidly put together, but it would undoubtedly have left a better impression with better sound. Here’s hoping that gets fixed by next time.
author: Primož Novak
photos: Sebastijan Videc
