''Draconian Times'' is the fifth studio album by British band
Paradise Lost
''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
, released on 12 June 1995 through
Music for Nations
Music for Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. Originally a subsidiary of Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG, the label was closed in 2004 and later revived in 2015 by Sony Music Ente ...
and
Relativity Records
Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his vinyl record shop, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metropolitan New York City. The IRD distribution name was later known as RED Distribution and ag ...
. Two tracks from the album, "The Last Time" and "Forever Failure", were released as singles with music videos, and both charted.
The album was played in its entirety on the band's live record ''Draconian Times MMXI''. It was also released with ''
Shades of God'' and ''
Icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
'' in a boxed set called ''Original Album Classics''.
A song called "Another Desire" was written during the recording of ''Draconian Times,'' but not released on the album or the reissues. Instead, it was included in the "Forever Failure" single.
Reception
Daevid Jehnzen of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
rewarded the album a score of 4.5 out of 5, calling it a mix "between stark, oppressive
goth rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
and crunching heavy metal" and praising Paradise Lost's ability to "create and sustain a mood".
Ulf Kubanke of
Laut.de
''laut.de'' is a German online magazine covering music and entertainment. It was founded in Konstanz in 1996 by Rainer Henze[morbidity
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are asso ...]
" and also points out that the album sounds "as if
Hetfield took a bite out of the album ''
First and Last and Always''".
Track listing
Personnel
Band
*
Nick Holmes
Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (born 7 January 1971) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic metal/doom metal band Paradise Lost and Swedish death metal supergroup Bloodbath.
Biography
Holmes formed Paradise Lost in l ...
– vocals and lyrics
*
Gregor Mackintosh – lead guitar
*
Aaron Aedy – rhythm and acoustic guitars
*Steve Edmondson – bass
*
Lee Morris – drums
Guest musicians
*Andrew Holdsworth – keyboards
Production
*Simon Efemey (Zomba Management Ltd.) – production
*Pete "Pee Wee" Coleman –
audio engineering
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
*Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
* Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
*Digital audio, representation of soun ...
,
mixing
*Kevin Metcalfe (at Townhouse Studios, London) –
mastering
*Holly Warburton –
illustrations
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...
and photography
*
Stylorouge
Stylorouge is a graphic design studio based in Yalding, Kent, formed in London by creative director Rob O'Connor in 1981.
Art work created by the studio has included record sleeve designs for bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees for their 19 ...
–
design
A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
and
layout
In general terms, a layout is a structured arrangement of items within certain limits, or a plan for such arrangement.
Specifically, layout may refer to:
* Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page
** Comprehensive layout (comp), ...
*Andy Griffin, Phil Woods, Phil Luff – assisting
* Spoken Dialogue on "Forever Failure":
** taken from "''Charles Manson – The Man Who Killed the Sixties''"
** produced by Box Productions for Channel Four Television Corporation.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
Paradise Lost (band) albums
1995 albums