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Paradox > Product of Imagination > Reviews
Paradox - Product of Imagination

Product of Youthful Brilliance - 99%

tidalforce79, February 11th, 2019

Paradox is a band quite a few people know, but not too many fully appreciate. The German outfit plays a mixture of speed and thrash, with tinges of power metal thrown in for good measure. All in all, Paradox is perhaps the greatest band in their genre, with few able to duplicate the consistent quality in their music. No collection of artists had been able to match such top-notch efforts in modern times, at least not for more than one or two albums. The legacy of Paradox began in 1987, with Product of Imagination.

The first attribute of note is the antiquated production values. While not horrible, the overall sound dates the recording to the time period. It should be noted; however, that Product of Imagination has a pretty solid mix. The vocals don’t overpower the rest of the music and the bass can be heard reasonably well throughout. One point of contention is the solo work, which is slightly too loud in comparison to the rhythm section. Paradox’s debut was not flawless in the sonic sense, but the engineer got the point across well enough.

In a most cliché fashion, the album begins with an instrumental introduction. Slowly, the volume increases and the listener is taken to a time when thrash ruled the world. “Opening Theme,” serves only one purpose: anticipation of the forthcoming hurricane. When the first track; “Paradox,” kicks into gear, the wait is over. Unlike a number of their contemporaries, these Germans seem more interested in high-velocity melody than brutality. The riff on the opening track has as much in common with early Helloween, then it does with one of the band’s primary influences: Metallica.

Variety is the key to the album’s success. The songs are played at different tempos, from mid-paced to frantic. At the same time, each track takes the listener on an adventure in terms of general feel. “Death, Screaming and Pain” is restrained in tempo, yet ominous, with gang vocals accenting the classy guitar tone. The title track begins with an acoustic intro; then cuts like a razor with an array of speedy riffs, before trapping the listener inside an almost catchy chorus. The combination of aggression and melody is a feat, few bands are able to accomplish well (Seven Churches is another example, though the debut of Possessed doesn’t sound anything like Product of Imagination).

Paradox offers a galloping tribute to Metallica’s “The Four Horseman” on “Kill That Beast,” but the song has an identity of its own. It is often difficult for a band to honor their influence without blatantly copying them, yet Paradox managed to pull it off extremely well. “Pray to the Godz of Wrath” is the finest example of the band’s ability to churn out fantastic hooks. The main riff sounds like something that could be found on a Stormwarrior album and the smooth, mellifluous chorus will stick in the listener’s head for weeks. The genre-bending flow of the entire album is worthy of veneration.

The musicianship on Product of Imagination is solid, though couldn’t be described as technically impressive. Charly’s voice is among the best of the genre. He combines proficient singing with the occasional snarl or scream. The guitarists (one of which is Charly) never fail to impress in the riff department; however, the leads leave a bit to be desired. While not as bad as the atonal mess spat forth by Slayer’s axe duo, Paradox solos straddle the line between adequate and distracting. “Continuation of Invasion’ highlights some of the better lead work, in a fashion akin to Van Halen’s “Eruption.” The bassist appears competent and the drummer is not particularly imaginative, though his patterns fit the music perfectly. Song craft is what matters most and Paradox has no issue with providing.

My complaints about this album are minimal. Apart from the previously mentioned limitations of the lead work, “Wotan II” is pretty much worthless. The eighteen-second outro contains needless, vocal chanting: basically, that’s it. Minor qualms aside, this album is a classic example of speed/thrash being played with style. Product of Imagination is highly recommended.

The aggressive side of Paradox - 93%

DesecratorJ, March 25th, 2018

As we mostly all know, Germany was one of the big place for thrash, speed and power metal in the 80s, having the reputation to be more raw and aggressive sound-wise than USA for instance. However, it didn't apply to every band from that country, and Paradox are one example among them. While we had the legendary trio of thrash metal and speed metal bands like Helloween and Blind Guardian, Paradox were some kind of a mix between these genre. They were a bit out of the track by 86-87 mainly because extreme metal was way more popular, thus making their early releases forgotten in the shadows of other successful records. Having said that, it doesn't mean their material was not worthy of being listened! Some awesome albums are often hidden, this is one of them.

Speaking of early releases, here we are talking about Paradox's first full-length titled "Product of Imagination". The album was released back in 1987, more than 30 years ago by now, yes. If you ask me, this album is still excellent to listen to, it covers all expectations of a speed/thrash metal fan who likes the old school stuff. The album features 10 tracks for nearly 40 minutes of running time­, which is a little more than the average of a German thrash record length. Though, there are two instrumentals, one that is the intro and the second one being some kinds of weird guitar solos. The most useless song of the record is "Wotan II", which is an 18 seconds track just to scream few words ... unfortunately, those three tracks are easily skippable.

The good news is that the remaining songs of this album are absolutely amazing! There are quite a lot of variety in the riff catalogue too, thanks to the authenticity of their play style, which was a good mix. The material is quite well-written in its own way, we can also see some similarities within the structures of their songs, for example, most tracks have a long-ass intro before the vocals kick-off, especially the self-titled one "Product of Imagination". I also noticed that when hearing the "Mystery" and "Pray to the Godz of Wrath" tracks, I already knew how the songs would sound after the first minute of listening to them. Maybe i'm just crazy, but anyway, their way of structuring their songs on this album didn't bother me at all, in fact, those long-ass intros are great because of the awesomeness of the riffs. It might worth to say that Paradox were already pretty good with their instruments at this point of their career, especially noticeable when you hear the follow-up of this album. The band evolves in a less aggressive thrash metal form on the "Heresy" album, which can't really be compared with the one reviewed here.

Lead singer and guitarist "Charly Steinhauer" used a more raspy kind of vocal that fitted very well with the style presented on this album, in the same veins as early Blind Guardian, Angel Dust and Scanner for example. It came with some interesting high-pitched screams at times, and melodic passages. One thing I really liked is the intensity of the drums, they are fast and aggressive, showing through the whole record that this band could also be violent too. One major factor that made me come back to listen to this album is definitely the catchiness of songs like "Beyond Space" with its damn good chorus, or the pre-chorus of the band's self-titled track "Paradox". Well, what about the quality of the record in general? I would say that it's probably among the best produced German 80s thrash records. The sound is really clean for that time, and especially for a band's debut. All instruments are audible, showing that the mixing was very well done. Lyric-wise, I honestly did not really understood what they are dealing about on this one, and I doubt it would be that interesting to know. It doesn't really matters if you ask me anyway.

So, does this record stand up the test of time? My answer would be yes, but I don't recommend to have this album too much on repeat, just to keep the good feeling of going back to it at times. However, in general it's an excellent speed/thrash metal record that I would suggest to everybody that likes the genre in its old school days. Everytime I take a listen back to this album is a great experience, and don't forget to not judge by the ugly appearance of the album cover!

Highlights :

Beyond Space
Death, Screaming and Pain
Paradox
Pray to the Godz of Wrath

Far from being their best - 73%

Andreas_Hansen, January 19th, 2018

Some bands may be really easy to define. For them, by listening to only two or three songs, we would be able to put a genre on it. Sometimes these bands never change their genre at all, in spite of twenty or thirty years of career (Tankard, for example). Debating on if it's a good thing or not isn't the deal here. I just want to use these bands in order to put them in opposition with some other bands that may be more difficult to define, due to a radical change of genre through their career or simply due to a too vast mix between all their influences. The band that I'm talking about today places itself in this second category.

Paradox was formed in 1981 under the name "Overkill" by guitarist, singer, and frontman Charly Steinhauer and drummer Axel Blaha. They changed their name several times, using first "Maniac", then "Warhead" and eventually "Paradox" in 1986. Throughout their history, this German band dipped into a quite large range of thrash metal, adding sometimes some power, speed or tech influences, which make the band more complicated to understand clearly. They gained the attention of Roadrunner Records since their second demo "Mystery" with whom they signed a deal for two albums. The first one is the one I'm reviewing, "Product of Imagination". This full-length was a real success for the band, as it was considered as one of the best of the year it came out (1987) and of the best German metal debut album after "Walls of Jericho" by Helloween, which came out two years before. As for me, I will be finicky, because if Paradox is one of my favorite German metal bands, it is the album I like the less. Let's see why.

The main reason may be not very original but everything sounds more or less the same. There are no specific tracks that distinguish themselves from the rest of the album, and most of the time they are average or good but rarely memorable.

However, this album is well-made in its structure: the A side has one intro, the very ordinary "Opening Theme", and one outro, "Continuation of Invasion", which is this time excellent. It is the "Eruption" of thrash metal: a beautiful and impressive electric guitar solo with clean moments. The B side has no intro but one outro, the very strange "Wotan II". This very short song (less than 20 seconds) has no particular purpose, as "Beyond Space" already acts as a very good conclusion for the album.

The biggest advantage of this band is the talent of Charly Steinhauer. He's able to serve us interesting and effective riffs like in "Paradox", "Product of Imagination", "Mystery", "Beyond Space" and "Pray to the God of Wrath". These good riffs maintain a certain interest throughout the album. We can feel all the influences of the band, such as Metallica in "Death, Screaming and Pain", or Agent Steel in the excellent "Beyond Space", with a light atmosphere and speed riffs.

The soloing is, overall, very impressive. The mistake would be to make them last ten little seconds but the band successfully avoids it with very long and diversified instrumental parts like in "Paradox", "Product of Imagination", "Continuation of Invasion" and "Pray to the God of Wrath".

In conclusion, "Product of Imagination" is like if "Walls of Jericho" from Helloween would have been mixed with "Master of Puppets" from Metallica, with "World Circus" from Toxic adding too its own part, with a very technical riffing and convoluted instrumental parts (which is the hand of the beginning of technical thrash metal). Overall, there are a lot of good things, especially in the solos and in the drumming, very talented and technical, but nothing that really catches my ear, especially in the singing that didn't convince me at all (hopefully it deeply improved a few albums later). I keep three very interesting tracks though, the instrumental "Continuation of Invasion", "Mystery" which remains me a lot of "Phantoms of Death" from Helloween, and "Pray to the Godz of Wrath", which gather all the good points of this album. But there are too many songs that contain parts that left me dissatisfied (even in songs I appreciate like "Mystery"). Sadly, the opposition between good parts and less interesting ones is too strong, which prevents me from fully enjoying this album.

Originally written in French for Tunes of Steel.
https://tunesofsteel.wordpress.com/

Zebra with bass guitar - 75%

Felix 1666, November 12th, 2016
Written based on this version: 1987, 12" vinyl, Roadrunner Records

The German thrash metal explosion played a main role during my youth and therefore I beg for forgiveness that I always come back to Teutonic albums of the eighties. And there can be no doubt that Paradox were very, very Teutonic. Take a look at the back cover and see the band picture in order to understand what I mean. But first put on your sun glasses. The trousers with the zebra pattern of bass player Roland Stahl or the moustache of main man Charly Steinhauer can cause eye cancer. You have been warned!

The music is much better and it shows more international (read: US-American) influences. Paradox did not play pure thrash, melodic speed and traditional metal elements show up as well. The best songs, for example "Death, Screaming and Pain" combined sharp riffing guitars, high velocity parts and a few rather melodic sections in a successful manner. Perhaps it was slightly unfortunate that all highlights were gathered on the A side. The totally straight and fast band anthem, the complex title track and the aforementioned "Death, Screaming and Pain", which appeared as the fascinating link between these two extremes. The first side of the vinyl was completed by a pretty little intro and a meaningless instrumental, whose right of existence has remained questionable throughout the last 29 years.

The tracks of the B side did not go beyond the scope of those of the A side. Paradox demonstrated their ability to write mid-harsh, intelligently designed speed songs anew. Guess it's just a matter of personal taste which song one prefers. "Mystery", "Beyond Space" and "Kill that Beast" scored with the typical freshness of debut tunes and were far away from mediocrity, that's for sure. And by the way, the latter was not only musically, but also lyrically inspired by the US of A ("The big red flag unfurls... Stop that bear, kill that beast"). Reagan and Gorbachev had already have their meeting in Reykjavik and first signs of a mutual approach showed up, but the dogmas of the Cold War were still present... In terms of music, "Pray to the Godz of Wrath" did not march to a different drummer, too, but its melodies built a bridge to some tunes of the early Running Wild and any connection with Rock'n Rolf's costumed amateur drama group leaves a strange taste.

Paradox were likable debutants, because each kind of vanity did not matter to them. Unlike the guys of Destruction who made their painfully true promotion pictures or Kreator that hoped to impress the scene with their ultra-brutal artworks, Paradox did not intend to score with cheap effects. "Let the music do the talking", this seemed to be their principle and the stories that the surprisingly mature music told were pleasing to the ear, not least because of the contemporary, adequate production. From my personal point of view, Charly Steinhauer's gang was never able to reach a top position in my ranking of German newcomers, because I always preferred harsher, only roughly comparable debuts of formations such as Violent Force or Iron Angel. Nevertheless, "Product of Imagination" deserves a more or less prominent place in the history of German metal. Just beware of the back cover.

An imagination to thrash in a new reality. - 97%

hells_unicorn, May 5th, 2015
Written based on this version: 1990, CD, Roadracer Records

There was definitely a magic to the era of ambiguity that existed between thrash, speed and power metal in the mid 1980s, one that transcended national borders and found itself with a healthy contingent of bands both states side and co-existing in Germany with its more dangerous Teutonic counterparts. The notion of a synthesis between multiple styles that had just barely been fleshed out seems a sentiment bordering on anachronistic, but it is a good way of understanding the veritable bio-diversity of sorts that existed in certain archetype outfits by way of hindsight. What is often understood as the current German concept of speed/power metal and also certain strains of contemporary USPM owe a good deal of its existence to precedents set during this time period, be it from the likes of Agent Steel, Toxik, Watchtower, and their German counterparts Angel Dust and the more Sci-Fi tinged Paradox, of which their high octane, otherworldly debut Product Of Imagination is a seminal offering.

Naturally when dealing with an album that is largely in line with its time, comparisons to a number of similarly oriented outfits like the aforementioned American and German acts lead to inevitable points of contrast. In keeping with this, it is important to note that this album doesn't necessarily hold all three of its exhibited styles equally, as the overall drive and character of this album is geared more toward a mid-80s thrash sound than a speed or power metal affair, though the two latter styles play a significant role in the peripheral detailing. In contrast to the falsetto/head voice steeped heights that typified World Circus, Unstoppable Force and the earlier yet stylistically comparable Energetic Disassembly, the vocal approach takes on more of a gruff character, though it is a bit higher it pitch than a typical Bay Area take on the style and is a bit less vicious and more polished than Schmier. Musically, it is closer to the bands and albums in question, particularly in terms of speed and pacing, though the riff work is a bit heavier and closer to a Nuclear Assault mode of thrashing.

Most of this album thrives on varying levels of speed and mid-tempo territory is fairly rare, hence the speed metal part of the equation, as the mid 80s began seeing more relaxing of the tempo in favor of a progressive tinge brought in by Master Of Puppets in thrash quarters, by which this album is completely untouched. The frenzied madness of the band's own title song "Paradox" and "Beyond Space" are easily pinnacles of the style, outclassing much of Germany's lesser known two album wonders such as Vectom and Iron Angel, whereas even some of the more nuanced songs that bring in some degree of moderation end up in the throws of light speed at some point, such as "Mystery" and "Kill That Beast", the latter taking some heavy cues from the nimble riffing style pioneered by Dave Mustaine on Kill 'Em All, falling just short of quoting "Four Horsemen" at a few points. All the while there is a constant melodic tinge to the music which, while not reflected in the vocals, points to an older heavy/power metal tinge that is somewhat reminiscent of Judas Priest and Crimson Glory.

Auspicious moments are littered all over this entire album, but some of the truly spellbinding points of interest are when the band makes an occasional deviation from their formula in favor of something a bit more forward looking. Chief among these is the guitar solo style that sprinkles over every single song on here, which is highly reminiscent of a wild shredding style that borrows heavily from the tapping craziness of Van Halen, and stumbles into the same territory that Judas Priest would begin exhibiting on Ram It Down and bring to full fruition on Painkiller. Of particular note are the shred fests that litter "Death, Screaming and Pain" and "Pray To The Godz Of Wrath", but even more so the layered and methodical stream of guitar god majesty that is "Continuation Of Invasion", which seems a likely spot for where the shredding insanity that preceded "Metal Meltdown" on Priest's 1990 opus was inspired. Of a near equal significance is the band's effective use of acoustic passages, particularly on the epic album title song "Product Of Imagination", which has the similar haunting effect achieved on Crimson Glory's debut, and oddly finds itself either intentionally or unintentionally paraphrasing a fragment of Aerosmith's "Dream On" guitar line at one point.

In similar manner to their fellow 80s German speed thrashers Angel Dust, Paradox was able to put out two powerful albums before imploding with the ushering in of the 1990s, only to reform much later with a near equally strong sound. Where the two have come to differ is that Paradox kept a healthy degree of their original sound as typified in this album and its follow up Heresy upon reforming, and have largely maintained a consistent presence on the scene that has since seen a revival of power metal, then later thrash, and lately a small number of speed metal acts. This is an album fondly remembered by the older school thrash fanatic, but it is something with enough bite and punch to impress the younger school that has seen all of the results of older thrash bands modernizing and becoming progressively louder and punchier. It straddles the line between the universal obsession with the occult of the 1980s and a newer world of real world political cynicism that is more relevant today but was definitely present in 1987, but more importantly, it bridges the divide between the consonant and the extreme, resulting in something truly unforgettable.

No imagination needed: the product is awesome - 90%

slayrrr666, June 20th, 2013
Written based on this version: 1990, CD, Roadracer Records

The debut full-length from German power/thrash metalers Paradox, “Product of Imagination,” is a prime slice of old-school thrash mixed with adequate amounts of speed and power metal to make for the brilliant evolution to come from the band.

The first half of the album is pretty much straight-forward in terms of what you’re going to get, and it starts right off the bat hitting you in the face with the style and tone of their playing. Led by vicious riffing that recalls elements of early speed and thrash metal with the lack of technical variation aligning more in the speed-metal arena yet certainly not so far removed from the thrash scene either, the writing takes on a grand, epic sense of scale that recalls the burgeoning power metal scene in the US at the time rather than attempt to emulate their German brethren who would forge the true power metal style at the same time. However, they do manage to make use of a pronounced sense of melody within the riffs that keeps the songs from ranging into the extreme territory and keeps the songs listenable and pleasing to listen to, for a pronounced sense of melody is fairly common within both genres from German bands and they’re no exception. These are elements that would in fact be present for the band throughout their career and finds its start here, allowing the band to remain familiar throughout their discography as there’s never been a big change from the early days to now with their brand of full-throttle thrashing speed metal riffs. This is echoed with the inclusion of wailing, high-pitched vocals and an epic grandeur that’s wholly lacking in thrash and feels more at home with the traditional/power metal crowd and maintains the bands ability to mix all their influences together into a tight, energetic core. Led by the thunderous drumming and speed-drenched atmosphere, the band has very little deviation at all and seems to make a lasting impression more often than not.

While these elements remain in play throughout the album, the second half is where this stands out slightly as the band feels the need to experiment slightly with their sound. One of the most significant aspects is the increased amount of technicality in the riffing present rather than the simplistic speed metal dominant in the first half, which adds an extra dose of lethality to their attack and would get an increase of use in the future as they drop the speed-metal tag and employ a more traditional power/thrash mixture which is first found here. This is not to say that they’ve become unsung riffing masters, but more that they’ve thrown in a complex riff or two amongst their simplistic riffs and it adds an extra dose to their attack. As well, the fact that the group also manages to forgo their sense of melody in favor of some straight-up intense and aggressive riffing that seems to be handled with competency and skill that wouldn’t have been out-of-place had they kept that style in the future, yet the fact that it’s experimented with shows a band content to trying something new every now and then rather than endlessly recycling the same formula over again that similar bands would employ. When the band returns to the melodic sensibilities they manage to sound almost like first-generation power metal, which essentially was melodic speed metal very reminiscent of their own style and manages to showcase the band as having more than just a singular way of going about their attack.

There’s some absolutely enjoyable tracks here, which makes this one all the more entertaining and full of thrash goodness. The instrumental ‘Opening Theme’ creates a haunting atmospheric build-up with soaring guitars and ethereal voices as the instruments kick in later on, leading proper first-song ‘Paradox’ to open the first salvo with its pounding drums, powerful power/thrash riffing and a melodic mid-tempo break in the middle before a return to the thrash at the end. The powerful ‘Death, Screaming and Pain’ favors more of a mid-tempo riffing attack and a slight easing off the throttle as the melody comes more in focus, especially on the memorable choruses with an insane solo section. The title track is perhaps the album’s highlight with an epic acoustic intro that gives way to pulsing mid-tempo power/thrash with raging melodic speed-metal choruses and another utterly fun blasting section from the drums to keep the energy afloat during the longer track, displaying a profound ear for dynamics and explosiveness far beyond their years. ‘Continuation of Invasion,’ a shredding guitar-led instrumental ends the first half nicely, then kicks back into high-gear with the explosive ‘Mystery’ which introduces a more pronounced technical riffing pattern than previous tracks within a mid-tempo paced mixture of power/speed song with lots of intense riffing for another album highlight. The up-tempo ‘Kill That Beast’ decides to drop the power for straight-ahead thrashing with intense riffing and drumming, yet still filled with high-pitched wailing and a charging attitude to offer a solid track that continues to see them expanding beyond their simply-defined parameters. The laid-back ‘Pray to the Godz of Wrath’ sees the group become a slightly different beast as it drops the intensity and wanders along at a galloping pace instead that’s remotely akin to traditional power metal and only the killer drumming along the track keeps it in the thrash realm as the melodic vocals and guitar riffs certainly don’t offer that feeling. It ends on a high with ‘Beyond Space,’ an intensity-laced thrasher with blasting drumming and attempts at mixing the power/thrash riffing with atmospheric backing vocals that are quite haunting and return the band back to its roots of US power/heavy metal within a thrash environment with a stand-out performance. The short instrumental ‘Wotan II’ is a bit of a cheat as its charging instrumental that could’ve been made into proper full-length song with its strong central riff, but still ends this strongly.

As far as debuts go, this is certainly an accomplished effort as the band has clear and definite signs of their style and intent early on and never really let up the intensity of thrash with the melodic feelings of power metal to craft a strong, highly enjoyable release. The fact that they know, at this early stage in the game, that being a one-trick pony won’t last long and brings in a strong selection of experimental moments to potentially warp their sound in the future and still keep everything within a familiar framework makes this such a blast that this alone warrants a high ranking on the album. While an argument could be made there’s only seven proper songs on here without the instrumentals, it’s not nearly enough to really hold this down as much as it could’ve due to the strong, quality amount of material surrounding them. This is highly recommended to all thrash and speed metal fans, as well as those looking for less brutality in their thrash but still enjoy the format anyway.

Thrash the Halbfester Schnittkäse way - 70%

morbert, April 13th, 2010

We’re talking 1987. The metal world was just taking a breath after 1986 had pretty much ruined all our ears and increased the average heartbeat with the shitload of fast furious albums that came out.

Enter Paradox! A German group with a fondness of speed as well as taking back some pre-1985 speed metal melody. Come to think about it, Paradox had more in common with Flotsam & Jetsam than any in your face thrash act yet they wouldn’t go as far as Toxik. But don’t expect the vocals to even remotely have the same quality as Flotsam & Jetsam (or Toxik, or Agent Steel, etcetera). That’d be wishful thinking. Charly Steinhauer is just adequate, obviously has a funny accent and that’s about it.

‘Death Screaming And Pain’ is one those lengthier speed metal songs which keep this album from becoming a full on thrash classic. A nice song, granted, but too generic compared to the more thrashy songs on the album. Also filler crap like two minutes of instrumental wankery called ‘Continuation Of Invasion’ really tempers the enthusiasm and kills the pace and continuity. And on ‘Pray To The Godz Of Wrath’ the band sounds pretty much like a cheesy Walls Of Jericho-era Helloween clone.

In the end the album has too many weak moments to stay interesting the full length. Often one also gets the feeling the band themselves are not sure either which direction to go as of yet. If one craves good melodic German speed metal from the second half of the nineties there’s always Rage and Helloween for the really good stuff. And I won’t even start how many good German furious thrash acts were alive back then.

However I must say any thrash metal collection could do with songs ‘Paradox’, ‘Kill That Beast’ and ‘Beyond Space’. These three songs are really worth tracking down. Just forget about the rest.

The first and the worst - 70%

autothrall, December 19th, 2009

Though the Germans have spoiled us with their two recent efforts, the most satisfying in their career, you can still reach back 20 years into the history of Paradox and find nothing but quality. Product of Imagination was the band's first offering, a melodic cut of thrash and speed metal which some similarities to peers of the day like Rage, Vendetta, Mania, Scanner and Deathrow. The material on this album was less complex than the recent Riot Squad and Electrify, the lyrics were still dabbling in mid-80s fare like Satan and nuclear warfare (okay, maybe nuclear warfare never gets old), and Steinhauer's vocals had far less bite than on later records, but there is still enough character here to appeal to the diehard 80s Teutonic rager.

The first few tracks don't offer much in the way of huge hooks, just a blitz of crisp thrashing energy through the band's namesake "Paradox" and the silly "Death, Screaming, and Pain" which is rather unmemorable aside from its first moment. "Product of Imagination" features the style of acoustic lead-in that the band would further sharpen on the successor Heresy (and continue to use through their discography), and the vocals start to become wilder and infectious. The guitarists get some shredding and tapping out of their system through the brief "Continuation of Invasion", and then "Mystery" arrives, one of the better tracks on the album: melodic and heavy speed metal rhythms, and some nice crunchy breakdowns. "Kill That Beast" is similar to "Death, Screaming, and Pain", not much to remember except for the silly chorus (I'll spoil it for you...it's the song title).

"Pray to the Godz of Wrath" is another of the album's strong marks, with some great vocals, a galloping gait, and nice descending guitar rhythm, though it has nothing on "Beyond Space", which erupts in a blaze of speed and lays the foundation for much of the band's later, better work. The album closes with an 18 second song..."Wotan II", which has a pair of pretty good riffs in it that could have been extended out into a song that would surpass a few of the full-length tracks here.

Product of Imagination was a decent start for Paradox, but it soon got lost in the pack as the thrash metal scene was exploding in 1986-1990 and there were far better albums out there to enjoy. The first was the worst, as Heresy would destroy this album, with an enhanced sense for melody and memorable riffing. There are a few songs here I still wander back to, but not a lot of impact and the album hasn't held up well against the ravages of time (whereas Heresy still sounds great).

Highlights: Mystery, Pray to the Godz of Wrath, Beyond Space

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

A precursor to Painkiller - 90%

UltraBoris, August 3rd, 2002

This is probably the second-finest German speed metal album ever, behind only Walls of Jericho. The two really don't sound all that similar - they're both speed metal, and that's about it. This album is thrashier and more brutal, with riffs reminiscent of Nuclear Assault at times. The lead work, however, is total Judas Priest. "Pray to the Godz of Wrath", probably the best song on here, has a set of duelling leads very reminiscent of "The Sentinel", for instance.

There are 8 songs total, and a little intro and a little outro. The re-release features some demo tracks, which I forget exactly right now, but one is "Pray to the Godz of Wrath" with slightly worse production. Other highlights include the thrashy "Mystery" and "Kill the Beast", and the opener "Paradox". If you like Judas Priest, and also other German bands like Rage, Warrant, and old Helloween, you'll definitely like this.