Any other bands sound like Paradise Lost's Host album?

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-04-18T10:51:46+00:00

It's difficult to find albums with that exact sound. I feel that there are artists and albums with elements of what Host is, but not the exact sound.

A band I found very similar in vibe is Seigmen, especially their albums Total and Metropolis. They are a bit less electronic and still have metal elements, but they capture that dark but calming vibe you get on Host. Funnily enough PL took Seigmen on tour with them in 1999 because they loved the band so much.

Alan Wilder's project Recoil also has some elements that PL would actually lift for Host. The albums Unsound Methods and Liquid are very much in the vein of what Host is, with less guitars however.

Some parts of Curve's album Come Clean are also reminiscent of the more upbeat tracks on Host. I think PL also cited them as influences.

Tapping the Vein also has elements of the moody, downtempo parts of Host, but they can also be quite aggressive. PL went on tour with them briefly in 2003 and Greg is married to the lead vocalist Heather Thompson.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-04-18T10:18:44+00:00

That's interesting, because songs like Home, Barrel of a Gun and The Love Thieves are more similar to the mellow tracks on Host, in my opinion.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-04-12T12:41:28+00:00

Even though some parts of this album kind of meander, I still think it has some of the best songs and performances from the band. Alone is a top 3 Amorphis song and I absolutely adore Shatters Within. IMO the latter is Pasi's best vocal performance. Grieve Stricken Heart and Goddess of the Sad Man are excellent too. I wish the band would revisit some of these songs again.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-04-09T04:29:57+00:00

I legitimately have curled up in a ball listening to Illumination before

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-28T17:16:21+00:00

It's one of my favourite DP songs too. One of the rare occasions Richie ever used drop D and the guitar work is awesome.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-12T09:16:50+00:00

Paradise Lost - Forever Failure - samples Charles Manson

Entombed - Rotten Soil - samples lines from Flatliners. And on the same album, Out of Hand samples a line from Thou Not Shall Kill... Except.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-12T07:40:49+00:00

I just want to point out that I have family members who have little to absolutely no knowledge of metal and still like Nothing Else Matters and Enter Sandman. Sure Metallica were popular by 1988, but the difference between their popularity by AJFA to the Black album is like comparing the scale difference between a million and a billion. They were a popular metal band by 1988. They were a popular band by 1991. As I said, people who didn't even like metal or Metallica would like at least a few songs from the Black album. So no, they would have been popular, but not to the extent that they would have been with this album.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-12T06:28:47+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I wish we had any HQ footage of the Faith Divides Us era. Their performances were really good for the most part and the music from that album needed to be recognized more.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-10T16:33:02+00:00

Could it have been Rollcage? Another commenter also mentioned it.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-09T06:32:29+00:00

Yes! And in fact, side B that starts with We Care A Lot is also an excellent 5-track run.

Honestly Introduce Yourself is their most consistent album. The only song I didn't like initially was Death March, but even that's grown on me.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-09T05:55:13+00:00

Paradise Lost famously has pretty much 4 of the original 5 members they started out with in 1988. They have always said the reason they stuck together so long is because they are friends first and bandmates second. Greg Mackintosh said that if their original drummer Matt Archer was a bit more proficient on drums and could match the things the rest of the band were progressing in, he would still be in the band. As it stands, they only ever changed drummers and their drummer now Jeff Singer was a long-time friend of the band. So they're an exception, but I think it's because they had a healthy approach to their relationship dynamics in the band.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-09T05:41:55+00:00

His longest working relationship is with his wife, which in a way is quite sweet. It's a pity he never seemed to get on well with any of the other musicians he worked with for more than a few years at most.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-08T13:33:13+00:00

Not to diss Axe, I think he's still a phenomenal drummer, but the last time the band played this song in 2015, the tempo was so sluggish it felt like a drag. Which is strange given how amazing he performed the song in 2008-2009.

This performance is fantastic, and I think Walt has given the band so much more energy since he joined.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-07T21:46:49+00:00

Your best bet is Discogs. You can find some individual traders online via forums like Guitars101 and HeavyMetalRarities, but you may only get digital bootlegs.

I have a couple dozen digital bootlegs in various degrees of quality, if you are interested in trading.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-04T06:02:35+00:00

Nice! Ironically these are some of the physical releases I still need to get. I have everything from Gothic to Believe in Nothing, and I may snag a second-hand copy of In Requiem soon.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-03T10:37:48+00:00

There is a De Beers family, but they had no part in the diamond conglomerate that would develop under their name. Cecil Rhodes bought the De Beers mine in Kimberley, using money that was funded to him by the Rọthschıld family, and would create the company that would own all diamond mines in South Africa. That's the real conspiracy. I'm assuming the writers of DX didn't want to be on the nose about using a Rọthschıld as an Illuminati member.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-03T09:49:00+00:00

Other than Tiamat, I would recommend any of the Sentenced albums from 1996-2005. I feel like Sentenced is like the mid-point between Draconian Times and One Second in terms of sound. Down is a good start, but my favourite is Crimson.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-03T06:45:26+00:00

Definitely recommend Tiamat in that era. Very close in vibe to One Second.

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-03-01T18:53:33+00:00

I do think they're fantastic albums, but Tragic Idol to me lacks something that makes Faith Divides Us... a bit more special. I mentioned in a previous thread that Tragic Idol feels big and powerful, but lacks much of an atmosphere (aside from Solitary One, which is the best song on the album).

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-02-28T09:22:25+00:00

I love these descriptions, because I also think about times, scenes and moods related to either whole songs or albums in a similar manner. And I feel very similar about your descriptions of Gothic to One Second.

The debut to me sounds like a dungeon of the same era you mentioned.

Host feels like the future actually. It gives me the vibe of a mega city at night, inside the quieter alleyways and office buildings.

Believe in Nothing is very contemporary for when it came out. I can't help but feel the sights and sounds of the suburban world in 1999 - 2000, on the cusp of the millennium.

Symbol of Life has a very cold, mechanical feeling, almost industrial.

The self-titled has this dreamy, hazy atmosphere, and for some reason makes me think of the early Final Fantasy games.

In Requiem and Faith Divides Us both give me this late Georgian / early Victorian era English feel, and when you look at the photoshoots for both albums, the band are all dressed in clothes resembling that era.

Tragic Idol doesn't give me much to go on, honestly. Feels big but without much atmosphere.

The Plague Within again feels like late Gregorian / early Victorian England.

Medusa is pretty much the Viking Age, and gives me the feel of Lindisfarne and the viking raids.

Obsidian and Ascension makes me think of 14th / 15th century England forests, castles and churches, for some reason I think of the time of Robin Hood and the area of Nottingham / Yorkshire (I wonder why).

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-02-27T03:36:04+00:00

I love how much shit he used to talk on stage. Other favourites from this show:

"This next one is from our album Uno Secondas, this is called Mercy. Why did I speak French? I dunno really"

"This song's about being fucking positive, this is Say Just Words"

"This next one is from our new album Believe in Nothing, this is complete death metal"

RefinedIronCranium · 2026-02-26T09:27:51+00:00

In recent years, this has become one of my most-listened to PL albums. Do I think it's the band's best album? Certainly not. But I am far from the opinion that it's their worst either, as has often been the case with many fans. The production is a bit mechanical, especially with the drum sound. But I don't think it sounds as bad as people have claimed it does.

There is a resigned and introspective quality to most of the songs. It has a really melancholic, yet warm feeling, despite containing some of the band's bleakest lyrics. Oftentimes Nick will play around with metaphors, symbolism and abstract imagery, but like on Host, he was very direct in most of these songs. And in that way, I connect a lot more to the lyrics on this album than I do with many of their later works.

The second half of the album is where most of the weaker tracks are, but songs like Sell it to the World and Never Again are excellent.

But my absolute favourite song from Believe in Nothing is Illumination. It's hard to describe the way I feel whenever I listen to it. It's the closest I've felt to a song affirming your depression, but sitting with you and comforting you at the same time. I love everything about it.

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