Warthur On their self-titled album, Paradise Lost don't so much set a new manifesto for their sound as they continue their evolution back towards the genre they had originally pioneered - having left the metal sphere altogether on Host before Believe In Nothing and Symbol of Life began their evolution back.

Whilst back in the 1990s the band were true trailblazers of gothic metal, here they feel more like they are comfortably plugging along in the middle of the road of the genre. This doesn't bother me as much as it might, however, because whilst this is slightly generic gothic metal, it is at least extremely well-crafted generic gothic metal, and as a result I can accept it as an album which manages to be rather fun even if it isn't necessarily all that substantial next to the likes of Draconian Times.

UMUR Paradise Lost is the self-titled 10th full-length studio release by UK doom/ goth metal act Paradise Lost. The album was released in March 2005 by Gun Records/ BMG. Drummer Lee Morris left the band before the recording of the album and session drummer Jeff Singer plays the drums on the album.

Usually when bands release self-titled albums it means that the band want to signal that there´s been a drastic change in sound or that the band have returned to the roots of their sound. Sometimes it´s just a celebration of the release of a 5th or a 10th album which I guess is the case with this album. It would definitely be wrong to suggest a return to the roots and there hasn´t been a drastic change in sound either. The music on Paradise Lost pretty much follows the goth metal style of the two preceeding album releases Believe in Nothing (2001) and Symbol of Life (2002). The songs are as always well composed but too many are too ordinary and don´t stand out from the rest. The musicianship is good, but nothing extraordiary is going on. Main composer and guitarist Gregory Mackintosh has chosen to include lots of atmosphere creating keyboards on the album, which again isn´t much different from what the band have been doing on the last couple of albums. My favorite here is probably the goth rocking Forever After but as mentioned there are no sub par tracks on the album.

Paradise Lost is another quality goth metal release in a long line of good quality releases by Paradise Lost. Unfortunately the album doesn´t rise much above standard and a 3 star rating is warranted.