| Silent Carnage | 1991 |
| Exhumed Of The Earth | 1994 |
| Within The Ancient Forest | 1996 |
| A Time To Mourn | 1999 |
An innovative band in the melodic death metal field, adding many symphonic elements to their music from cellos to flutes to sopranos. Clean vocals and acoustic guitars also pop up all over the place on all three of their albums thus far. Led by Andrew Tompkins the band has again and again made some of the most impressive music in all of metal. Tompkins' vocals are either low growls (I believe it takes four people to do his vocal effects for him) or a deep, deep, clean voice. The other band members have changed with every album, perhaps the most talented being the drummer for the first two releases, Jayson Sherlock who also drummed for some early Mortification (ick) but who's work is mostly incredible both technically and artistically making him one of my all-time favorite drummers. The other members work well with the music, slow and depressing as it is. Probably the biggest flaw with the band is that Andrew likes to take long breaks between albums, about one every three years. The albums are worth the wait, though, as it's some very high quality music they Paramaecium produces.
--Robert Grazer
Post your comments about Paramecium
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Voyage Of The Severed, Untombed, The Unnatural Conception, Haemorrhage Of Hatred. LOW POINTS: None.
What a debut. An truly innovative work. The first melodic death metal album that I'm aware of to focus so much on acoustic guitars and clean vocals (yes, this, and not Opeth's Orchid, as many may believe), with some symphonic instruments giving solos here and there. And Paramaecium also beat out Opeth as the first death metal band with those extremely long songs. They range from four and a half to seventeen. Yep, these are some long songs here. And yes, at times the album may seem to become a bit too repetitious, but it really doesn't annoy or bore at all since repetition is kept to a minimum in most cases.
Opening the album is the seventeen minute piece, "The Unnatural Conception" which shifts back and forth through several different riffs and melodies, developing each one to it's fullest before moving on to the next. The second half starts out quietly with a violin playing a sad melody (something Paramaecium write a lot of) that is joined by the guitar before the song resumes and finishes. Following it the shortest song on the album, "Injudicial," which may seem short in comparison to the others on here but it goes hand in hand with "The Killing" which follows. A truly depressing song we have here, completely with a sad flute solo to add to the mood.
"Untombed" begins with a great bass line and like the other entries on the album moves through phase after phase, building up through it's ten minute length to a fantastic coda which leaves the song on a perfect note. My favorite song on the album follows with it's slow pace but effective and fantastic melodies in "The Voyage Of The Severed," which finishes with a fantastic guitar solo, equaled only the solo following the scream of "The unholy GOD" from Edge of Sanity's Crimson. It's simple, not too technically impressive, but an absolute melodic stunner.
One of the only places where any speed at all can be found on this album is in "Haemorrhage Of Hatred," but even so it isn't that fast, and I think it was just an excuse for Jayson Sherlock to give off a few great drum rolls. And finally, to finish off the whole piece is "Removed Of The Grave," which begins with several minutes of excellent acoustic guitar sections before becoming one of the most interesting songs on the album, particularly when the soprano leads the death growl echo through the verses of the song.
On the downside there are times when this album can seem tired, and overall it just doesn't hit me as strongly as it used to, and I'm not entirely sure why. There are days when Exhumed just sort of seems, I dunno, a little empty to me. Just some days, though. Usually I can really see this as a masterpiece. I don't think this is the place to start since the band would seen mature into something that was really incredible, but I still find this album to be among the better debuts that has been made.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Darkness Dies, The Grave, My Soul, Gone Is My Former Resolve, Song Of The Ancient, In Exordium. LOW POINTS: None.
Every single good thing about death metal, or rather Paramaecium's version of it, can be found right here. In many places the soprano (or rather sopranos, as Sue Bock, Rosemary Sutton and Annette Dowdle all sing several parts) sings instead of Andrew's growls (and his deep clean voice, which is all over the place as well), and the flutes, harpsichord, piano, cello and other symphonic elements return to the music, even better than they were before, to form what nearly every Paramaecium fan considers to be the band's masterpiece, myself included. The songs are somewhat shorter too, the longest only being a little over nine minutes.
Within The Ancient Forest is also a concept album, a concept as pretentious and poetic as the album's title, and one that I believe to be the best story line of and 'rock opera' ever. There's struggle, pain, wonder, depth, loss, sadness, sorrow, darkness, and finally fulfillment and joy. The stretch of the first six songs on the album is perhaps the most depressing stretch of rock music I've heard, but the final track is such a contradiction that actually flows in incredibly well, strengthening the concept, but I'll address that later.
And a lot of this album isn't even death metal at all. The opening "In Exordium," for example, is only Andrew's clean deep voice with a piano backing it. Sure a guitar comes in later, but I still wouldn't call it a metal song. The first real metal song (about 2/3 of which is sung by a soprano) comes in the masterpiece of "Song Of The Ancient," which focuses around several great riffs building up to a great climactic finish. Along the way each band member shows their ability, especially Jayson Sherlock, whose great rolls are everywhere. Tompkins also gets out some intense growls as the concept continues.
"I Am Not Alive" begins with a beautiful harpsichord solo before the slow pace of the nine minute epic sets in. I'll admit there was a time when I considered the song weak, but I don't have any idea why now, as the depressing mood of the song works perfectly as the concept continues further and deeper. Following is "The Grave, My Soul" which, in addition to being the second longest song on the album, slowly paces itself to work up to a dramatic climax with the band working their best as the first hint of hope in the darkness of the album is reached, then slowly winding into a three minute long cello solo, which I guess some people could find boring, but to me is one of the most beautiful pieces of any song I've ever heard.
Following the depressing, but almost hopeful, beauty of "The Grave, My Soul" which begins with an acoustic guitar section, just like "Removed Of The Grave" did, but moves into some great death metal sections before a sad flute solo comes in and Sue Bock repeats the word "sorrow" over and over as Andrew returns with his clean vocals, and the music just tears you down and makes you feel more and more depressed with every single note as it comes to a close. "Of My Darkest Hour"is the final breath and one of the slowest (damn, this is a slow album) and darkest on Within, as the title might suggest. It's a final test of sorts, and musically living up to it as well, and it ends with what seems like final breaths being gasped away...
But "Darkness Dies" is not the depressing finish that it may have been. Rather it is an upbeat and almost happy song, at least by Paramaecium's standards. The hope and joy that were only hinted at in "The Grave, My Soul" are released here, as the melody is cause for rejoicing, Annette Dowdle's vocals singing, and even Andrew's growls sounding more uplifting than ever before. And everything blends together so well. and the song manages to be such a powerful finish to the album that it's my favorite Paramaecium song, as well as one of my favorite songs in metal in general.
Within The Ancient was, for a long time, my favorite death metal album and, for a shorter time, my favorite metal release altogether. Even though it doesn't quite hit both of those for me anymore, I'll still say it's one of the best albums I've ever heard, as well as Paramaecium's most mature and melodic release. It's quite expensive if you can find it, but it's out there, and if you look you should be able to get it for at least a somewhat passable price. So look for it. You'll find yourself a masterpiece.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Live For The Day, Enter In Time, Even The Walls, My Thoughts. LOW POINTS: Betrayed Again.
Following Within the Ancient Forest, Paramaecium nearly fell apart. Many thought that the band was finished. I'm not all that sure what happened, but three years later the only member left standing was Andrew Tompkins, who picked up a couple new members and started to write once again. Because of this A Time To Mourn has a different feel to it. The songs are even shorter and less epic (only one hits the nine minute range), and some have very little to nothing of the Paramaecium style to them at all, showing that the band is changing its direction here, and who knows what'll be next.
Even so, the album is still great, filled with quite a few great songs. There's also a concept again, or at least there should be, as the first and last songs ("A Moment" and "Unceasing") are practically the same, a simply guitar melody repeated over and over with our soprano (Tracy Bourne) singing out the single line of the song for us. It's an excellent way to both open and close the album, setting the depressing mood of the record quite well. Other than those "My Thoughts" and "I'm Not To Blame" are the shortest songs on the album, and maybe the style Paramaecium is headed for, but luckily it's just a good style they could be heading toward.. On fist listen they might seem like standard death metal, but after repeated listens you can pick up the sad mood, and great vocal melodies the songs have to offer, so while the symphonic elements may be gone, the songs themselves still show what the band is capable of.
More intense territory is covered in the songs "Even The Walls" and "Enter In Time" where Andrew's growls are desperately longing and crying out. "Even The Walls" has a descending violin in the beginning, that can seem to try a little hard to be annoying, but for some reason it isn't,to me. Unfortunately A Time To Mourn holds the one Paramaecium song thus far that I honestly can't like. "Betrayed Again" has got the violins and clean vocals that several of the other songs have, but it gets too monotonous, the clean vocals having a poor sound to them, and the overall melody just being weak. It drags on and on, the only interesting part being the violin fade out, mostly because it seems to fade back in on "Enter In Time," which happens to be a good song.
But nothing really matters about the other songs when the epic on the album, "Live For The Day," with plenty of female vocals and Andrew's clean vocals and the beloved flute returning turns out to be a true Paramaecium classic, one of their all around best songs. The vocal melodies are awesome, the chorus unforgettable, the songs earns it length completely, putting each little minute to great use all the way through the fading out chorus. As long as he keeps writing songs that are this good Andrew will have the ability to create great album after great album.
Despite a misstep and a change of style this is still a great album. Even though overall A Time To Mourn is simply not Within The Ancient Forest in terms of quality and melody, after whatever disaster occurred for the band between the two albums Andrew gets up and shows that he can still make great music. Recommended for both fans of death metal and Paramaecium.
Post your comments / reviews for this album