One Second
Like Life of Agony, English band Paradise Lost softened up, expanding its parameters to assimilate with the anti-metal music scene of the late '90s. OnOne Second, the band eschews its former proto-Sabbath grind in favor of gloomy metallic pop that echoes with minor-key keyboard lines, desolate-sounding vocals and electronically treated percussion. Some of the songs use dynamics well, and many of the melodies are catchy, but on the whole,One Secondis too radical a transformation to be a natural progression. At its best it comes across sounding like a watered-down blend of Queensryche and Gravity Kills, and at worst it's merely another Sisters of Mercy ripoff.--Jon Wiederhorn