Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
While I love Paradise Lost, I do wish the guitars were turned down a bit and the keyboard raised. There's no doubt that the guys' last two albums have been more punchy and direct - even more dynamic. But part of me does miss the keyboard-laden sounds of earlier efforts. For example, the tracks I thought stood out the most on The Odyssey were Accolade II, Awakenings, and the title track; they had the most feeling in them, and featured the keyboards in a more prominent role when compared to the rest of the album.
Paradise Lost cut back on tracks like that. It has a lot of guitar riffs, which I do like, but not at the expense of the keyboard being so low in the mix. I'm also not fond of how much Pinnella cut back on his solos - there are FOUR keyboard solos on Paradise Lost, as opposed to a countless number of Romeo shredfests. I like guitar solos, but I've always loved the back-and-forth interplay between Romeo and P.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying I think the band should make another Divine Wings. There were things about the "old Miller days" that I didn't like. For example, their albums since Lepond joined have been more consistent than their earlier efforts - there are very few "weak" tracks. In my opinion, the older albums had two or three "filler" songs per record (Savage Curtain, Pharaoh, Witching Hour, Dragon's Den, just to name a few). The Odyssey is a great listen the whole way through (some tracks are weaker, but still well-composed), and Paradise Lost follows the same pattern.
I was surprised to see that Romeo and Russ wrote 95% of Paradise Lost, though. I hope that P, Lepond, and Rullo get some more say in the next album. Didn't Lepond co-write some of the best material on V and The Odyssey?
Paradise Lost cut back on tracks like that. It has a lot of guitar riffs, which I do like, but not at the expense of the keyboard being so low in the mix. I'm also not fond of how much Pinnella cut back on his solos - there are FOUR keyboard solos on Paradise Lost, as opposed to a countless number of Romeo shredfests. I like guitar solos, but I've always loved the back-and-forth interplay between Romeo and P.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying I think the band should make another Divine Wings. There were things about the "old Miller days" that I didn't like. For example, their albums since Lepond joined have been more consistent than their earlier efforts - there are very few "weak" tracks. In my opinion, the older albums had two or three "filler" songs per record (Savage Curtain, Pharaoh, Witching Hour, Dragon's Den, just to name a few). The Odyssey is a great listen the whole way through (some tracks are weaker, but still well-composed), and Paradise Lost follows the same pattern.
I was surprised to see that Romeo and Russ wrote 95% of Paradise Lost, though. I hope that P, Lepond, and Rullo get some more say in the next album. Didn't Lepond co-write some of the best material on V and The Odyssey?
