Medusa was the mortal gorgon, transformed into a monster by the goddess Athena. Her name means “protector”, and whoever looked into her eyes, turned into stone. Paradise Lost, as Nick Holmes mentions, chose the Nihilist perspective of the mythological creature which is the avoidance to see that the universe is meaningless.
As depressing as this sounds, so is the album ‘Medusa‘. It reminded me of the ‘Draconian Times‘ album era, regarding the atmosphere and the vocals. It has the unique dark gothic atmosphere Paradise Lost have been known for. Additionally, there is a new drummer, Waltteri Vayrynen, with whom Paradise Lost are very satisfied and those of us who have listened to the album can understand why. His technique stands out in tracks such as ‘Gods Of Ancient‘ and ‘Blood & Chaos‘. He has given an amazing dynamic to the album, although it is classically slow doom and sometimes sludgy. There are also many solos and some very interesting riffs, which I am not sure we have got used to so much in previous albums, such as the track ‘Medusa‘, which although it is a slow track it’s very loaded and ‘No Passage For the Dead‘.
Allow me to say here, that Paradise Lost’s albums so far, after almost 30 years are beyond comparison. I believe that this band has proven that they can make a unique album each time and cannot be compared to the previous or the next. Paradise Lost have already stated a connection to the previous album ‘The Plague Within‘, and that is regarding the vibe of the track ‘Beneath Broken Earth‘ which can be found in ‘Medusa‘.
I don’t think it’s necessary to go track by track and say too much about Paradise Lost’s 15th album. Personally, I have never been disappointed with their experimentation and this time I enjoyed, once again, their darkness and pessimism and especially the degree of their musical maturity in those songs found in ‘Medusa‘ in its entirety.
Mary Kalaitzidou