To break away from looking into nothingness, reality is too fragmented into cases of depression and decline, everywhere you look is hollow, empty of content and doesn't worth the trouble of sticking around to enjoy it. Sounds like a great formula for the continuance of mankind's existence, not after looking into the forbidding eyes of the Gorgon monster. The process of turning into stone, might actually be seeing the truth as it is, cold, hard and lifeless. Forcefully avoiding it may as well be the continuation of the nihilistic fate that all of us have been sharing. Call me philosophical or mainly babbling my guts out, but I can see why it has been a cause of interest by the British pioneers PARADISE LOST. Dwelling deeper into depression, the Brits are back with a new album, titled "Medusa", via Nuclear Blast Records, maintaining their tradition, enhancing it into new boundaries.

Essentially, "Medusa" prolongs the extremity that return into full motion on the previous "The Plague Within", where PARADISE LOST nearly completed the cycle, heading back to the music that was their calling back in 1991's "Gothic". This time they immersed themselves with a crude layer of crusty Sludge driven sound, channeling their Doom Metal robustness and sorrowful yearning in type of coldness that may freeze you over. In a way, this sound signature has a lot in common with nearly everything that is coming out nowadays from Sweden that is regarded to old school Death Metal or modern Crust / Death Metal. In addition, the material is swarmed by thick impending grooves and slow tempo rhythms that will have their way to draw blood from one's skull. Nick Holmes agonized growl vocals and Greg Mackintosh's lugubrious melodies are more reasons for "Medusa"'s grace. Though "Tragic Idol" became my favorite out of the later manifest of the band, the depth of this new shindig is uncanny, heavenly strong and touches the soul.

Though now included in the original version of the album, and considered a bonus, "Symbolic Virtue" couldn't be ignored. A song in the spirit of the later last decade until "Tragic Idol" entangled with the band's current production values. The music is crafty harmonic and the lyrics are top notch. "The Longest Winter" and "Until The Grave" are showcases of escapism towards the veils of depression, completely made with a true sense of art, inner abysm, that isn't quite common in the band's line of music. Once again, it was hard not to notice the richness of the melancholic melodies and of course rich lyricism that is simply a gift. Furthermore, I was swallowed by the massiveness of the opener "Fearless Sky", an epic and an unexpected to start off this newfound journey. The self-titled track and the bonus "Shrines" joined in to make this Doomish feast an experience to remember and redone.

Other than moving forward into a much thicker sound pattern, "Medusa", material wise, sees PARADISE LOST going slowly into their unending winter. Ever as deep in their concept and mindset, there is a lot to look for right here.