Icon (Paradise Lost Album)
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| Paradise Lost studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Music for Nations | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
13 |
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running time |
50:32 |
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Studio (s) |
Jacobs Studios, Surrey |
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Icon ( English for icon , holy image) is the fourth studio album by the English band Paradise Lost .
It is the first album on which Nick Holmes sings melodically throughout. It is also the last album with drummer Matthew "Tuds" Archer. It was also referred to as a "metal milestone" when it was released and is considered a "commercial breakthrough" for the band.
Music genre
On Icon , Paradise Lost continued to develop the style Gothic Metal, which is now also known in the trade press . Singer Nick Holmes used in contrast to the previous album Shades of God no death metal - Growling more. In its place came a rough chant, which Holmes himself compared with James Hetfield in retrospect . However, these similarities were not intended.
“Paradise Lost have made such musical progress in the last year that my grunting vocals would have completely destroyed this positive development. Besides, I didn't enjoy this style myself anymore; that's far too monotonous for me and you can't do that for your entire career. I can't sing like Geoff Tate from Queensrÿche and I doubt we'll get any more 'commercial', but that's the step we had to take. "
Stylistically, similarities to Gregorian singing were highlighted, Gregor Mackintosh's lead guitar was called " Baroque metal". With the strings in Embers Fire and the outro piece Deus Misereatur arranged with drums and classical instruments , which in this respect represents a parallel to Desolate in Gothic , as well as female singing by Denise Bernard in Christendom , described by the band as "a kind of church chorale" , more typical Gothic Metal elements are used. In Colossal Rains , scraps of speech and the screams of a crowd were used as samples . The pieces are a bit shorter than on the previous record and are generally seen as rockier and more “mass-compatible”.
As with Shades of God , Simon Efemey is responsible for the production, which is seen as a bit warmer, more atmospheric and denser than on that album, losses "in terms of gloom and heaviness" are noted.
History of origin
The record was recorded in June and July 1993 at Jacobs Studios near Farnham , Surrey , in an English country house. When it came to songwriting , there was the usual separation between Nick Holmes (lyrics) and Gregor Mackintosh (music). The publication on September 20, 1993 was preceded by a show in the Stuttgart club LKA Longhorn on September 5, 1993, which was recorded by MTV . This concert can be seen on the Harmony Breaks video from the same year and on the Evolve DVD from 2002. From October 1993 Paradise Lost played as the opening act on Sepultura's Chaos AD tour. In addition, a tour in the USA with Morbid Angel and Kreator was denied, during which the unfortunate band composition and the relationship between the band and Morbid Angel singer David Vincent became problematic.
True Belief was selected as the music video, but it did not appear as a single. It wasn't until 1997 that the EP True Belief '97 was released , with a remix, an instrumental version of the remixed piece, the additional How Soon Is Now? and Holmes and Mackintosh interviews were only available in France . Icon also entered the German album charts for the first time in 1993, and the album was more commercially successful on the mainland than in Great Britain . An extensive European tour followed in the spring of 1994 with Crowbar .
Texts
As on the previous albums, Holmes mostly leaves room for interpretation in the texts, which lie somewhere between psychology and philosophy . Shallow Seasons is inspired by students who behaved excessively correctly during their studies, suddenly taking drugs or wearing Doc Martens boots during the semester break . “I can't stand such a changeable attitude, but you wouldn't read that from this song, because it leads to a completely different topic.” Other pieces have to do with Nick Holmes “uncertain belief in God” or with feelings of hatred.
reception
In Rock-Hard-Magazin, publisher Holger Stratmann gave Icon a ten-point review and described the album as a "killer" record. Paradise Lost has increased “by worlds” compared to its predecessor. He particularly praised the interaction of the guitarists and the guitar sound and saw the record on par with Ride the Lightning and Reign in Blood . In the monthly "editorial charts" of all editors, the record achieved first place with an average grade of 9.25 points. In contrast, the reviewer on www.metal.de criticized the “lack of innovation”. Although it is a very good album, it leads to a “dead point”.
The employee of the site www.bloodchamber.de, on the other hand, certifies that the record has a high “hit density” and describes it as a “classic”, saying it was a “musical monument and in 1993 an absolute novelty ”. The increased “commercialism” is not a bad thing, as the band is “passionate about the matter”, which was later no longer the case. It is not uncommon for the record to be named alongside Gothic as the “most important album” of Paradise Lost and a source of inspiration for “numerous other bands”. Christopher Anderson of www.allmusic.com suggests that those who preferred harder elements might gravitate towards Gothic , while others might appreciate the follow-up Draconian Times more. However, he also praises the "mastery and genius" in guitar work and awards four and a half stars out of five.
Track list
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- Embers Fire - 4:44
- Remembrance - 3:26
- Forging Sympathy - 4:43
- Joys of the Emptiness - 3:29
- Dying Freedom - 3:43
- Widow - 3:04
- Colossal Rains - 4:35
- Weeping Words - 3:50
- Poison - 2:59
- True Belief - 4:30
- Shallow Seasons - 4:55
- Christian Dome - 4:30
- Deus Misereatur - 1:57
Seals-the-Sense EP
In Icon followed in early 1994, the EP Seals the Sense , with Sweetness contained an additional piece of the recording of the album. In addition, two album songs with Embers Fire and True Belief and a live version of Your Hand in Mine from the album Shades of God were on the EP.
Artwork
Paradise Lost deliberately decided not to work with the designer of Shades of God , Dave McKean , because too many other metal bands would work with him by now. Instead, the design was left to the London agency Stylorouge , who had previously worked for Pink Floyd and Siouxsie and the Banshees . This album was the first time there was a new lettering with slightly ornate capital letters, which appears on the albums up to One Second (1997).
Re-use
The Japanese consumer electronics company Clarion used the song Embers Fire for a TV commercial . In the short film is a Stone Age man to see that on a BMW - Convertible meets. He jumps into the car and turns on the car radio . Stone Age man drives away to the sounds of Embers Fire .
“It was fine with us, that's how we get into the daily TV program. In any case, we laughed wrongly! "
The Clarion company later appeared as a tour sponsor of the Draconian Times tour.
Web links
- Icon at Allmusic (English)
- www.rockhard.de: Review by Holger Stratmann
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b www.rockhard.de: Icon review by Holger Stratmann
- ↑ a b c d www.bloodchamber.de: Icon review by Christian Rosenau
- ↑ a b c d e f Holger Stratmann: Jesus Christ Superstars let pugs bob , in: Rock Hard, No. 76, September 1993, p. 13.
- ↑ a b c allmusic.com: Icon review by Christopher Anderson
- ↑ Götz Kühnemund: Visions from the End of the World , in: Rock Hard, No. 96, 1995.
- ↑ www.laut.de: Band biography Paradise Lost
- ↑ rockhard.de: Band biography Paradise Lost, accessed 2010, no longer available
- ↑ www.intro.de: sunk direct hit! , May 11, 1995, accessed January 11, 2010. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.metal.de: Icon review from chest
- ↑ www.heavyhardes.de Review "Icon" by David
- ↑ Charts DE
- ↑ Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock Hard Mania . Rock Hard , Dortmund 2004, ISBN 3-9805171-5-2 , pp. 245/246 .
