Paradise Lost Ignites Toronto with Their Goth Metal Magic on May Long Weekend

jaybroderick
3 days ago
3 min read

By: Jojo Taylor

Toronto, Canada - Over the May long weekend (the unofficial start of Canadian summer), Toronto stuck around for a real treat. The UK Goth Metal Band Paradise Lost made a stop over at Lee’s Palace Sunday night. It was one of two Canadian dates on this tour and Canadian fans came from all over to see this band. I met one guy from Barrie Ontario, and another who flew in from Edmonton Alberta to catch this show.

Gigan

Techno-Death Metal band Gigan opened up the show. The band comes from Florida and the name comes from a Godzilla character that battles our favourite monster.

Gigan hit the stage and was flooded behind with green lights. This was a solid choice for the band because you couldn’t help but notice the size of the lead singer. This guy looked like the Hulk on stage. This is the guy you don’t want to meet in a back alley or a warm shower.

His vocals were very much gargled as if he had been chewing on the crushed souls of the damned. The band pretty much crushed you like a locomotive that had a mission of transporting carrion to their final grave.

The bass player reminded me of a crack Yeti who wielded a weapon of mass destruction. This band has a no quarter attitude and takes no prisoners. If I had to describe them in three words or less, I would say- Gigan SMASH!

Paradise Lost

One of the things that makes this band special, is that they formed in 1988. Four of the five members of the band are original members. The only lineup changes the band has seen is the drummer. In today’s musical climate, this is a bit of an anomaly. This is one of the reasons these fans are so dedicated.

Lee’s palace was fully packed on a Sunday evening to reunite themselves to one of the original bands to bring you Goth Metal. The lights went down and the quiet opening was like a calling for despair to enter our souls. Nick Holmes vocals slithered in and held you at bay, like you were held there by some dark “Enchantment”.

The guitarist stood near the edge of the stage and looked like special guards protecting some special secrets that they will release on their time. When the next 3 songs are named, “Forsaken”, “Pity the Sadness” and “Faith Divides Us and Death Unites Us”, you just know you have entered your own special coven filled with your murky integrity.

Aaron Aedy of Paradise Lost performs live in Toronto. Photo By: Jojo Taylor

When the band went deep into their history with “Eternal” from their second album Gothic, I understood where this band came from and how they got to this point into their history. The dark rawness of this song fed my younger self the cult-like energy to bond with its black allure.

One moment I will never forget, because I do not witness this at other shows, was watching the loyalty of the crowd throwing envelopes onto the stage. It turns out this is the way of passing the religious basket of offering for the band. It was not envelopes of money, but offering of cannabis as a thank you for coming to our weed happy country. Nick Holmes stood their stoic but proud as the roadies walked on to collect their tip for the night.

The band had 38 years worth of music to cover so they did play as many songs from their past albums, like, The Plague Within, In Requiem, Icon, and Shade of God.

This crowd was craving and the band was happy to deliver. The guitarist Aaron Aedy clearly was having a great time with Toronto as he stood close to the stage and engaged the crowd to participate in the songs. Toronto was only too happy to pipe up for a few choice songs.

By the time the encore came around, the converted would have been happy with just one more song. Paradise Lost came back with an anthem like song, “Embers Fire”. They threw in a Bronski Beat cover song, “Smalltown Boy”, and finished strong with “Ghosts”.

If you were at the show, I would love to hear your thought on this night. You can comment below.

Concert Photo Gallery