Primary Emotions/Themes: The parodical son returns home.
Thoughts: I don't know if there is a discography in metal as varied, yet consistently good as Paradise Lost (you could argue Ulver, but they never returned to metal). The early albums are undinably important for the genre, and even as they strayed from their roots they produced several excellent albums culminating in the fantastic Host.
Host serves as a bit of a lynchpin in their discography. It would be the furthest that they ever strayed from metal as every album released after it became progressively heavier again. It wasn't until In Requiem that the band truly embraced metal again. Both Symbol of Life and the self titled album were close, but not quite there.
As good as In Requiem is, Faith Divides Us, Death Unites us is better... in nearly every way. We need look no further than the opener to see the evidence of this. That opening riff is the heaviest they have written since... Gothic? I don't remember anything off of Icon or Shades of God sounding that crushing. The way that the song builds and builds until the pre-chorus, it's monstrous.
Nick's vocals, while not yet quite to the intensity of the early years, has once again stepped it up in the intensity factor. His clean vocals have always been immaculate, but here his gruff vocals break free of the James Hetfield impressions and become his own once again. He has the equivalent of a melodic grunt for most of the album, resembling something close to Icon or Draconian Times in execution. Good stuff.
Of course not everything is as intense as the first track, but the album does truly feel like a Paradise Lost album. One of the defining factors in this is the lead guitar work. Greg's mournful leads permeate nearly every moment of the album, and this right here is what makes this such a strong album. In Requiem leaned into this, but Faith Divides Us... truly embraces it and god damn is it phenomenal.
Faith Divides Us is likely in the top five releases for me in the band. It surpasses several of the early albums and several of the newer ones as well. They balanced everything perfectly here: melody, aggression, and that gothic overtone that I absolutely adore from Icon and Draconian Times. Honestly if you told me this was released in 1995 I would have believed you. For fans of Paradise Lost's gothic metal era, this one is a no brainer.
Written July 29th 2024
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