PARADISE LOST - The Anatomy Of Melancholy 2-LP (White/Clear Vinyl)

Live at the Koko, London (April 12th 2007).

Recorded on the Twenty First Century Mobile.
Audio mix and mastering at Fascination Street Studios, Sweden.

First off the production is amazing as you can hear everything perfectly. The bad is beyond tight and musically nearly flawless. The guitars are loud, bombastic and heavy. It sounds as if the band has returned to 'D' tuning, but in the liner notes it says they play in standard (damn shame too). The bass is a little low in the mix but good all the same.

The drums are incredible! Jeff is easily the best drummer the band has ever worked with and his professional skill is amazing. There are some samples from the songs that have them too, as well as backing female vocals from the songs that had them. The band/crowd interaction is a little on the thin side but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Nick's voice is surprisingly good. Its really hard to tell if his voice was over dubbed or not as anyone who has seen anything from youtube can attest that he's totally lost what little vocal prowess he's had since 'One Second'. He does a very weak but still somewhat cool gruff style of vocal for the tracks "Eternal" and "Gothic", these two tracks easily garner the most crowd reaction.

It was very interesting how they took non-Metal songs like "So Much is Lost" and "Mouth" and made them Metal. Playing all the synth parts with their guitars and adding more than any computer could.

There are countless high points over all this album. One would be the band playing "Embers Fire" at about half speed. The inclusion of "Sweetness" and "Forever Failure" (along with the Gothic tracks) makes this an entertaining listen.