Peaceville strike again with their vinyl re-issues giving audiophiles the chance to get their hands on limited edition copies of records that are now impossible to find. Here, Paradise Lost’s excellent ‘One second’ album gets the treatment and while it offers a less alluring package than the stunning ‘Draconian Times’ re-issue that was released a few months ago, it is still a good opportunity to pick up a fine record in a very special format.
Packaged, like most of Peaceville’s vinyl editions, in a gatefold sleeve, the first thing that strikes home is the quality of the sleeve printed, as it is, on heavy weight card for durability. The records themselves are pressed on 180gm black vinyl and the album is spread over two platters to maximise on sound quality. The inner sleeves are printed, as were the originals, with the photos and lyrics from the album booklet and while it all looks stunning it is a shame that neither label nor band took the opportunity to add liner notes to the package. The whole thing also comes with a familiar Peaceville sticker showing what number vinyl (from a limited run of 2000) you possess and the sound quality is typically excellent.
As for the album itself, well ‘Draconian Times’ may be the most fondly noted but ‘one second’ surely is the most notorious as it represents the first step in the band’s shift in sound that would prove so controversial. And yet, what strikes home now is how little the record has aged. With tight song structure and state-of-the-art production techniques at the band’s disposal, ‘One second’ is a well-honed piece of gothic rock that showcases Greg Mackintosh’s song-writing nous as well as Nick Holmes’ increasingly confident vocals. Where before riffs had ruled the day, here vocal melodies abound while songs such as the bitter ‘Lydia’ retained a snarling edge that helped to maintain the band’s confused and spluttering fan base. The truth is, though, that while ‘One second’ is different it is still very identifiably Paradise Lost and there are some ever-green classics on the record that remain highlights of the band’s live set today. Songs such as the title track and ‘so much is lost’ may have added an electronic flavour to the bands oeuvre, but the guitars, particularly in the live renditions, were still very much in evidence albeit in a twisted and transmuted form and while the melodies were terrifyingly catchy there was never any question of the band ‘selling out’ for airplay as the subject matter remained as unremittingly bleak as ever.
Divided up into neat three-track sides the band’s effort to perfect the running order and dynamic between songs remains a strong point and each triptych works well, with ‘One second’, giving way to the dramatic, synth-laden ‘Say just words’, with its huge and memorable chorus, before the band unleash the vitriolic ‘lydia’ which rounds out the first side with its heavy guitars and eerie samples. Essentially what this means is that the light and shade on offer here is shown to a far greater extent than on its heavier but less dynamic forebears. The net result is that each side presents a microcosm of the album as a whole with a real ebb and flow between menace and despair making this one of the most finely balanced releases in the band’s admirable canon. Other highlights include ‘Blood of another’ and ‘soul courageous’ both of which offer up a dark vision of the more pop direction that the band would take on the perennially underrated ‘host’ while closing track ‘I despair’ is as bleak and cold as the band ever managed coming on like the Cure jamming on Depeche mode but with a metal guitar tone.
Ultimately you’ll know already if you want to invest in this gorgeous vinyl reissue. Fans of the band will undoubtedly rejoice regardless while those who were never convinced by this albums dark charms are unlikely to change their mind now. Nonetheless this remains an excellent piece that has aged well and it still stands as the finest Paradise Lost ‘chill out’ album where pop and metal collide to spectacular effect.
