Style: Goth rock, electronic
Primary Emotions/Themes: melancholy, angst, longing, yearning for something better
Thoughts: Once upon a time there was a band named Paradise Lost. They strayed from their doom/death metal roots and slowly over the course of seven albums created a pop electronic album called Host. In retrospect, this would be the furthest away from metal the band would ever go. But that longing lingered, and Host the band was born.
To say that this is an exact replica of the Paradise Lost album would be misleading. To say that this album is completely divorced from that sound would also be misleading. XI rather is perhaps what the next album in the Host style would have been, but through the lens that comes with twenty years of maturity and hindsight.
Host (the album) relied heavily on strings to build atmosphere and compliment melodies. While that is still the case here, it's to a far lesser degree. The closest that the album ever gets to replicating the Paradise Lost album. In their place, the electronic elements and guitars are brought more to the forefront.
So Host (the band) is the logical continuation of Host (the album). The songs still have immense hooks in them, the atmosphere is as thick as the original and at points is even more dense. There are layers upon layers of melodies, effects, vocals, guitars, and samples. The music is deceptively simple, yet upon a real active listen the layers start to reveal themselves. It's a phenomenal listening experience.
Despite the loss of the strings, Nick and Greg have created a suitable follow up to the wayward son of a Paradise Lost album. I'm glad that we got to see these guys explore this sound a bit more, as nothing they did after really emulated this again under the Paradise Lost banner. This is a welcome return for those of us that were longing for more.
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