Shades of God - Dark Publications

Location: Home » music » Goth » Shades of God

Similar Items:

•	Icon
•	Gothic
•	Lost Paradise
•	Host
•	One Second

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
The British doom metal band's 1992 album features nine tracks. Music For Nations.

Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

pretty nice! February 16, 2000
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Are you still thinking is this the album for you or not? So read what I think, but seriously I truly don't know what to say when we talk about Paradise Lost, not because I don't have anything to say but because when you speak about Paradise Lost words are not enough. I am not a fan of this band but really appreciate their three albums: "Gothic", "Shades of God" and "Icon". After listening to them for several years I can admit that "Shades of God" is their best album though it is more inornate than "Icon". Of course "Icon" has very melodic elements of doom-goth metal and is cleverly made for success but doesn't have such a conception as "Shades of God", and I am able to listen to "Icon" with great pleasure just once in 6 months. After listening to "Shades of God", on the other hand, I can't abandon this compact disk on the deep shelf because I want to remember the melody and refresh the feelings over some time. There are some really catchy and very attractive melodies with gloomy poetry, mainly it concerns such songs as "Pity the Sadness", "Mortals Watch the Day" and "As I Die". Gregor really wrote beautiful music, and Nick has pretty nice vocal but can't say the same about his singing on the last albums, where he has a bad vocal, and maybe it would be better if he wouldn't sing at all, just a music playing. Back to the point: if you like doom-death music with smart melodies and performance - you have to listen to "Shades of God" - in any case it is not the worst album of Paradise Lost.

5 out of 5 stars

Paradise NOT lost! June 4, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I don't understand why I'm reading all of these bad reviews of "shades of god". I had bought this album when it came out, then someone decided they had to have it so they stole mine! So here it is exactly 10 years later, I've bought it again and I must say this album is HEAVY! "NO FORGIVENESS" is a classic ballad of despair that will go down in history. Who would dare disagree with "As I die"?, a haunting, doom filled masterpiece! If you don't own this--buy it today! I know when I first heard this album that I had to have it--it gave me "chills", that's how you know it's a good album. Put this in the CD player and crank up the first track "Mortals watch the day", and know you have done the right thing.

5 out of 5 stars

DREAMSCAPE November 13, 1998
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Discovering Paradise Lost after Icon was relased, I was immediately hooked. Moving backwards, their evolution is clear.... songs such as As I Die, Pity the Sadness, and No Forgiveness demonstrate the orchestrated guitar parts and goth overtones of the band< with lyrics that provide insight to pain we have all felt at some point or another. In all, the album is an awesome dreamscape of a tired soul.

3 out of 5 stars

The most overrated Paradise Lost album...but still good. May 19, 2002
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

Many Paradise Lost fans look back to this album as the "good old days"-- and good they were, with emphasis on "good." Unfortunately, many of these same fans who don't like what the band has done with their sound more recently tend to inflate this album in their memories into some legendary piece of artwork, which it is not. It's a good album, the work of a band still progressing and doing some brilliantly unique things along the way, especially with guitars.
The guitars carry this album, although much of the music is excellent. Music writer and lead guitar player Greg Mackintosh has one sorrow-filled and beautiful riff after another on display here. He and rythmn guitarist Aaron Aedy work very well together and are a joy to listen to. The work these men have put down on this album has spawned many imitators, and that is a credit to Mackintosh and co-writer/vocalist Nick Holmes. Holmes brings a despairing growl to the music-- distinctive, but not over the top or a distraction from the musical work. But it is the splendid doom-laden guitars that resound throughout and give "Shades of God" its legacy. "Pity the Sadness", "When Mortals Watch the Day", and "Your Hand In Mine" are monuments in guitar driven dark music.
As good as the guitars are, however, they can't cover up several faults with the album. The foremost of these is that the album gets overbearing. Nearly every song is a seven minute slab of melodic, distorted drear. It is beautiful, but in the way a walk in heavy rain is beautiful-- for awhile it is a wonderful and refreshing experience, even in its inherently gloomy character, but after two or three miles down the road you're left soaked to the bone and needing a different setting. After five or so tracks, the album drags even in the best of circumstances. It doesn't help that the drumming is terrible-- a sort of half-hearted, amateurish effort by Matt Archer.
The song "As I Die" is one of their most popular songs to date, and stands out as an up-tempo and shorter variation on what is mostly a trudging sound for the whole album. It's a great song, and when compared with the rest on the album proves that even in the depression and gloom of goth metal, lengthier is not always better.

5 out of 5 stars

don't turn on the lights. I'll fry! January 9, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

this cd was my fourth by Paradise Lost, and while it isn't my favorite, PL is one of those bands where you need to hear everything. It's all good, even if it's very different from what I had gotten used to expecting. If you liked Draconian Times and Icon, this should come next. Draconian was my very first, and is still my favorite, but this was my cd of choice this halloween. Maybe not as well thought out as Draconian Times, but there was some definite emotion put into the making of these songs.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic