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Paragon > Into the Black > Reviews
Paragon - Into the Black

Paragon - The Early Years (Part 1) - 75%

hells_unicorn, December 22nd, 2007

Paragon was there at both the end and the new beginning of power metal’s existence. As was the case with their Swedish counterparts Nocturnal Rites, they started in the late 90s sounding a bit different than the sound they are better known for now. They also had their share of troubles with recording companies in the dying metal scene, although in the case of Paragon, there was a whole stream of unlucky occurrences with multiple labels rather than just a single company dropping the ball on distribution and promotion. But with hard work and dedication they were able to overcome it all and become one of the most respected German acts on the scene today.

“Into the Black” is more of a melodic speed/thrash release than a power metal release in the sense that it is defined today. Even by the standards of early bands associated with influencing power metal such as Accept, Helloween, Sanctuary, Fates Warning, Judas Priest, Queensryche and Iron Maiden, what Paragon plays on here is darker and heavier in comparison. Probably the best analogy to their early sound would be a somewhat less speed obsessed MegaDeth, but with lyrics more in line with Venom, and a vocal performance that could be described as John Arch-like, but less precise and compressed.

The production on here is fairly impressive considering it is an independent recording. There are naturally a good amount of flaws in the product, probably the most obvious is some high notes where Kay Carstens just misses the center of the pitch and it’s quite noticeable. Likewise, the drums are fitted with a good amount of reverb, but still sound a bit thin and rough. The guitar sound is where the production is really strong, thick and chunky, and covers most of the flaws in the rest of the instrumentation.

As far as the songs go, they tend to vary in quality. The best on here is a toss up between the galloping riff monster “Crossed Out”, and the Peace Sells sounding mid-tempo thrasher “Into the Black. Both of these feature the best vocal performances out of Carstens, mostly because he avoids shooting up into his falsetto range, which is where he often loses the pitch. The weak one on here is “Sinister Rising”; not only does it feature a sloppy vocal delivery, but it also drags out too long and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I wouldn’t say anything on here is overtly bad, but it is quite primitive when compared with later works in both songwriting and production.

Everyone basically has to start somewhere, and this is pretty good when considering how horrible most demos and independent debuts normally sound. If you are in the market for the early Paragon album “The Final Command”, the re-issue of that album also has this EP on it as bonus tracks. It is a worthy purchase and you get an important piece of this band’s history to go along with a solid power/speed metal album.