World of Sin

Soon after Paragon was discovered for their rather old yet well presented brand of speed metal, which was virtually non-existent in the metal world at the time, they recorded their first full length studio album under the banner of Blue Merle records. Although this was probably not the blaze of glory that the band had hoped for in terms of distribution and success, the album itself is quite a towering achievement considering the year it was released and the natural hostility towards the genre that coincided with it.

Much like the EP, which would see 2 of its songs remade on this LP, the brand of speed/power metal on display here is much darker and more evil than what they would become known for. Vocalist Kay Cartsens does get his fair share of rough yelling on here, but his voice is much more reminiscent of higher end vocalists like Rob Halford and Warrel Dane than Babuschkin’s invocation of Peter Wagner, and surprisingly enough now Cartsens has gotten the high shrieks down right. The guitars are also in top form, although a bit more evenly balanced with the drums, which has seen some improvements in production. The bass is still pushed into the background and doesn’t have the prominent role that it would assume on the next release.

The person who really carries the album is Martin Christian, whose lead playing is pretty showy, yet more in the fixed scale pattern approach of players like Dave Mustaine and Kai Hansen rather than the fancy sweep picking of the Neo-Classical crowd in the epic power metal scene or the noise driven madness of the Kerry King approach of soloing which is difficult to recall after it’s over. His two best guitar solos can be found on the earlier Heaven and Hell-like epic “Beyond the Void” and the better produced remake of EP titled track “Into the Black”, which also fears a much better job done by Kay Cartsens and a much fuller arrangement due to an improved drum sound.

This whole album listens pretty consistently from start to finish so picking a stand out track is a little bit difficult. “Needful Things”, which segues directly out of the gradual fade in intro so beautifully is one of the better ones, and much like “Into the Black” takes a good share of influence from early MegaDeth and Overkill. The gloomy Mustaine-inspired ballad “Drug Fiend” is another solid song that features some pretty memorable quiet sections with Martin Christian putting forth melancholy yet nostalgic clean leads over a woeful repeated clean guitar line. But in actuality, all the way from the original sounding intro bit to the last thud of the re-recorded speed metal EP track “Bring the Hammer Down”, this entire album is a consistently solid listen.

The re-issue of this album comes as a double CD along with “Chalice of Steel”, the second best album from their earlier days. Although I’d say they are superior, it is recommended that any fan of this band that hasn’t encountered these early albums or is into aggressive speed metal similar to Rage, early Helloween and Running Wild pick up all of these. They are an important chunk of early power metal history and a testament to a band that toughed it out during a drought in the heavy metal movement. All first rate efforts from a certified first tier band.