Paradise Lost was one of the first non-Thrash Metal bands I got into back around the time of Icon’s release. I remember seeing the music video for True Belief which to this day is one of my favorite songs of all time. I proceeded to get heavily into the rest of their material, including the Doom/Death of their early career. I was a little disparaged when One Second came around though; there are few songs I’ve always liked on it but it saw the band focus more on catchy melodies than gloomy despair and atmosphere. The train went completely off the rails with Host, which for those that don’t know sounded more like a Depeche Mode release. While Paradise Lost has slowly (and I emphasize slowly) gotten away from the debacle that was Host they’ve never really returned to their roots despite various promises and media allegations. Sure, the band got heavier and less electronic with previous releases but everything had a Nu-Metal vibe with little semblance to the atmosphere building that made Paradise Lost so successful in the first place. While In Requiem is not the return to the Gothic sound some of us secretly wish for this is an actual Metal CD that shares many similarities with the Draconian Times and to lesser extent, One Second era of the band with a bit if Icon thrown in for good measure. So in short it’s not a complete return to the glory days but it’s a return to making quality Metal.

The band has finally gone back to an atmosphere centric song writing style on almost all the songs and it’s not a poppy, electronic atmosphere, but one that bares the almost Doom but more Gothic Metal sensibility of material found on Draconian Times. Also, Nick Holmes has finally given us a CD full of his more aggressive, gruff style mixed in with his more laid back, clean vocal style. There are no Doom/Death vocals but this is the most emotion and power Holmes has sang with in quite some time. The guitars are also way more in the fore front with the piano and synth more in the background, where it should be. There are some legitimately awesome Metal riffs, that are at once heavy and not Nu-Metal-ish. Also, making a reappearance in full force is a lot of theme leads that the band was always famous for. The leads really help bring back the atmosphere of the band with simple but effective build-up while the overall music features a lot of sensible but not obvious tempo changes.

There are a few instances where the band is a little too laid-back and have an almost Evanessence (re: not good) vibe to the music but this is really only found on two songs. The atmosphere is certainly more of a Gothic Metal one than Doom but with the slow build-up and plodding gloomy riffs on Your Own Reality it almost made me think of a worthy successor to the Icon era, but then I re-listened to True Belief and Ember’s Fire and realized it’s not the quite the same, but this is the closet the band has gotten in quite some time and above all else the music is really quite good. The production also has more of a Metal feel to it with heavy and dirty guitars and a guitar tone to the leads that really helps in creating the haunting atmosphere. The drums also have a powerful sound to them and a few songs feature the mid-paced double bass runs of the past along with some more up-tempo double bass rhythms. Make no mistake, the music is still largely slow to mid-paced, but there are quite a few tempo changes found throughout and a couple of fast runs (fast for Paradise Lost) appear to keep things interesting.

Being a long time disillusioned Paradise Lost fan I was pleased with this release. They still have the odd tendency to create a pop-friendly melodic hook and laid-back guitar riffs but by and large these things are certainly an exception rather than a rule and if the band can continue in this direction and not go backwards again, those aspects might completely disappear by the next release. Fans expecting another Icon or Gothic won’t get it, but this is certainly more of a natural evolution to something like Draconian Times than say, even One Second was. Admittedly the overall CD is not a masterpiece or all that prolific as some might expect but there is enough solid material on here to warrant a re-examination of the band for fans wrote the band off after Host.