Warthur A concept album about the Albigensian Crusades, in which the medieval Catholic Church and its allies fought in the south of France to stamp out the Cathar heresy, the final release of Paradox's original 1980s run may be steeped in European history - but it's decidedly US-oriented when it comes to its musical style. With a thrash approach reminiscent of Testament or the harder, more serious moments of classic Anthrax, Paradox might not be enormously original in their sound, but they're certainly very good at it; someone who didn't know better might well guess that this album hailed from the US scene rather than the somewhat differently-flavoured German thrash realm.

UMUR "Heresy" is the 2nd full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Paradox. The album was released through Roadracer Records in February 1989. The lyrics to the album form a concept story about the Roman Catholic Crusades of the 13th century.

Like the case was on the debut album "Product of Imagination (1987)", I sense a strong Testament influence in the music, and Paradox are generally not the most teutonic sounding German thrash metal act on the scene. Their music style is far more sophisticated than most more raw German thrash metal acts, with both strong US thrash metal leanings but also with quite a few melodic speed/power metal elements that remind us of their European heritage. There are some incredible lead guitar work throughout the album and even though I´d say the lead vocals are the weakest element in the music, they are still decent and doesn´t ruin the listening experience. The drumming needs a mention too as it´s pretty varied for the style and well played too. There is generally a very good energy in the music, so while the music is occasionally very melodic, the basic thrasy aggression is not neglected.

The material on "Heresy" is generally of very high quality (a track like the title tracks is of exceptionally high quality to my ears), the musicianship is excellent and the sound production sharp and powerful (considering the time of release it´s brilliant). That adds up to a very strong thrash/speed metal release by Paradox and I´d say a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.