This is Paradise Lost's best album to date! Better than "Gothic", "Icon", and "Draconian Times" (all great releases by the way). But what makes This self-titled Gothic/Doom Metal album such a triumph is the heart and soul completely devoted in every song featured within it. Honestly, I can listen to every single song on this album over and over again and never get tired of them one bit.

From the opener "Don't Belong" with it's catchy melodic chorus to the awesome leads of "Sun Fading" to the album's closer "Over the Madness" (a fitting title for an ending track), "Paradise Lost" drips of amorousness. The songs are short, simple and sweet; which is a nice change from the countless lengthy tracks you hear from other Metal bands today. Sometimes less is way more, and in this case, Paradise Lost proves just that.

Every song is melodic, mid-tempo'd and features a great guitar solo which plays just the right amount of notes at the perfect structure to further compliment the track's atmosphere. Not to mention the added choirs boost the band's performance and memorability (listen to "Close You Eyes"). With all these layers evenly placed in each song, Paradise Lost have created their unsurpassable masterwork that was definitely challenged by their successor "In Requiem", yet, still remained undefeated.

-Jeremy