OK, I already know that this trend of trying to bring back the 80s is the new fashion on Metal. And to me, that lived that time, it seems something weird and completely nonsense. Sorry if you are distressed with, dear reader, but only few cases of those bands that try to play Metal in the same way of those ones from the 80s can do something that don't have a moldy feeling, something that brings to mind that same thought of "I already heard this somewhere before". And I really don't think that the past can grant something good only being revisited. But of course that some albums from those days really deserves to be reissued.

And besides it was a not big band, North American band PARADOX gained a compilation called "Reel Life and Beyond", released by Stormspell Records. This fine quartet existed and did what I usually call "US Heavy Metal" or "American Metal", what means that the band play a melodic and technical way of Heavy Metal, being a bit different from European Heavy Metal. And in the case of PARADOX, sometimes they get near from Hard Rock boundaries, due the use of very good and catching choruses.

The sound quality is good for a work recorded three decades ago (this compilation is done using the material from 1982's "Creation Audio Sessions", the 1985's EP "Reel Life", and from 1987's "Westwood Sessions"). It sounds loud, heavy and clear.Is it moldy? Yes, a bit. But it's a true 80 Metal band, not a clone. They remind something from earlier works of VIRGIN STEELE, especially due the vocal tunes in some parts.

I really liked this compilation, that has some very good moments on songs like "Ain't It Strange" (a very good and heavy song, with some notorious elements from the 80s, like the great guitar riffs and fine vocals),  the hooking and melodic "Wicked Rock & Roll" (again, fine riffs and solos), the excellent "Through the Looking Glass" (it's a pity that the quality is not so good, for this fine work on rhythmic session), and the thunderous "Hell Gate" (a heavy and with medium speed tempos). But the entire album is very good.

A fine work, showing a good band that really deserved a better luck... Maybe they could come back and show the clone what is a band from those times.