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Released on November 20, 2015 via Century Media Records
Following on from this year’s brilliant The Plague Within album, Paradise Lost have released this live recording of their one off 2014 gig in an old Roman theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria that saw their brand of gothic and doomy metal augmented by the well respected Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor Levon Manukyan.
Considering the number of years that Paradise Lost have been around and the fact that they have had symphonic influences throughout those years it is surprising that the band hadn’t done something like this before, but this has been addressed with the gig and this recording shows that it is done in fine style. The songs are made more epic and grandiose with the aid of the orchestra and this combined with the reputation of Paradise Lost as an already excellent live band makes listening to this live album an extremely pleasurable experience, and with the sound from the going being as close to perfect as you’re going to get from a live recording makes things all the better.
The band kick off with ‘Tragic Ido’l and ‘Last Regret’ and it is evident from the start just how well the songs that they have chosen to play work with the orchestra. ‘Last Regret’ in particular sounds massive and superbly triumphant, with giant waves of sounds from the orchestra complementing the bands epic gloom perfectly. The band continue to up the ante with ‘Your Own Reality’, which is transformed into anthemic status with the orchestra’s help. The likes of ‘Joys Of Emptiness’ and ‘Soul Courageous’ are given a grand musical sheen that makes the music soar, the doom and heavy nature of Paradise Lost’s music is still there, but with the orchestra it sounds more upbeat, even a classic song like ‘Gothic’ has this feel to it, depressing and heavy as it should be, but with a life affirming quality at the same time. Songs from throughout the band’s career are played with the likes of ‘Gothic’ sounding right at home with the recent ‘Victim Of The Past’ and this gives the whole thing a sense of looking back and completion, but also looking to the future.
If there is one slight flaw with the setlist it’s that there are a few songs from the band’s vast catalogue that would have sounded magnificent with the aid of an orchestra, ‘Embers Fire’ from Icon and ‘Pity The Sadness’ from Shades Of God spring immediately to mind, but you can’t have everything and the songs that are played are well chosen and brilliantly executed.
The second half of the album (and the show) doesn’t feature the orchestra, but does show off how good a live band Paradise Lost are with the likes of ‘The Enemy’, ‘Isolate’ and ‘Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us’ played with vigour by a well seasoned band that love to play these songs live and it is good to have that mixture of the styles here.
Symphony Of The Lost ends with a five song knock-out that most bands would find hard to top. ‘As I Die’, ‘One Second’, ‘True Belief’, ‘Say Just Words’ and ‘The Last Time’ are all classic songs that showcase all that is good about Paradise Lost, from their doom metal beginnings to their more electronic leanings, they have always had the knack of writing brilliant songs and these songs sound great live.
Symphony For The Lost is not only a document of a unique live show in the history of Paradise Lost, it is also a reminder just how good the band are in a live setting and to see them live again is definitely something to look forward to. With an orchestra would be immense if there would be any chance of the band recreating it (and if not, this is what this album is for), but just the band on their own doing what they do best would be enough.
