PARAGON - "CHALICE OF STEEL" (B.O. RECORDS)

 

A band really needs to stand out from the rubble these days. There's so many metal releases - either the buying public has to make a selection or their bosses/parents have to double their income/allowance. Sticking out is especially true for the crowded 'traditional metal' market into which Paragon sits, even though it's flirting with a few outsiders through the window.

For starters, Paragon sound good. It's no use if you produce traditional metal that actually sounds like it was made a decade, or more, ago. Paragon couple traditional riffing and the unsurprising sorcery-and-dragons lyrics with state-of-the art sound. What you end up with is a heavy sounding album with cool songs that rarely sit back to allow your eardrums some rest. There's a few acoustic intros, but that's about it. For the true lovers of traditional metal who were actually around at the time when 'traditional metal' was 'contemporary metal', there's a nice surprise in the form of the album closer, a cover of Exciter's "Violence and Force". Hm, I still have that album on vinyl somewhere, even though my record player has long since vanished.

More of this, please, and less of some of those others...

RK

 

Written May 1999

 

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