Rockezine.com concert review for Paradise Lost on May 12, 2001 in the Plato/Helmond

May 12, 2001

AFTER ALL
AFTER ALL is a good, somewhat traditional orientated metal band. Sometimes the songs are predictable, but on the other hand the band sometimes know how to combine the traditional metal with the new heavy alternative music of today. These songs make the world much brighter AFTER ALL. The band is musically correct, got an extraordinary live-sound (congratulations sound mixer) and got a singer with a more than average voice. Therefore a good opener for…

PARADISE LOST
For a lot of metal people PARADISE LOST is lost. The band got in a new musical direction, but the audience (at least in the so called open minded Netherlands) can`t coop with that. The critics are numerous (the band got an eighties sound, the record is still stocked under `metal` and for their current record label EMI PARADISE LOST is surely no `high priority` band).

On the other hand the music of PARADISE LOST rocks too much for an alternative/ or even gothic audience and is too soft for the metal orientated fans. Still, the band proves to have a lot to offer. The fact that the band still continues their path of music they created during "One Second", "Host" and the last album "Believe In Nothing" is an act of class. If you consider that their latest album sound more adult and more organic again than `Host` it`s a pity that only about 150 persons came to this show.

Especially when you see that PARADISE LOST live is still a rock band that knows how to entertain musically. Although a somewhat pale Nick Holmes (singer) keeps a distance to his public (the only smile and real reaction came when he spotted a clown, from a bachelor party, in the audience). Drum animal Lee Morris however seems to be so pleased with the current direction of PARADISE LOST that his background voice is clearly heard. Not to mention his driven drum-parts. That `old` classics like `As I Die`, `True Believe` and `Enchantment` still get most of the support may be obvious.

On the other hand it`s noticeable that Nick got problems singing them. Most of the songs come however from the last three albums. Songs like `One Second`, `Say Just Words` (actually, the most known song for the public this evening), `Permanent Solution`, `So Much Is Lost`, `Mouth`, `I Am Nothing`, `Sell It To The World` and new single `Fader` prove that PARADISE LOST got musically more to tell than most of the other average metal and rock bands. It`s only a pity that the current metal audience still seem to care more for the obvious and usual music in their genre…

(Review & Pics: Ron Schoonwater)