Born during the “lockdown era”, London’s Perpetual Paradox are a band who instinctively know their way around a heavy riff. Blending metalcore, prog metal, groove metal and thrash, their core sound lurches between different styles of extreme heaviness – often within the same song – but as demonstrated throughout ‘Deathwish’, the first Perpetual Paradox full length, following a couple of EP releases, their complex sound really works for them. The musicians are insanely tight players; so tight that it doesn’t really matter that there are points where the listener might find themselves playing “spot the influence”. The end results are rarely less than stunning.
By way of a lead in ‘Alea Iacta Est’ presents a ghostly wind coupled with distorted guitar lines, which sets up a doomy and almost gothic atmosphere, but it’s merely a gentle mood setter, which allows ‘Forgiveness Is A Weakness’ to sound even heavier when it kicks in. The introductory guitar riff latches onto a hardcore grind – a couple of steps heavier than the heaviest moments of Pantera’s ‘Great Southern Trendkill’ album – immediately advertising this band’s intense sound in a brilliantly direct manner. Even when slowing down to attack with more of a metalcore infused crunch, the heaviness is truly impressive, and the addition of a Lamb of God-esque vocal should appeal to lovers of the style. Not content to leave things there, the second half of the track teases with some rather complex prog metal leanings during an impressive instrumental section, before settling into a speed driven, thrash tinged riff that celebrates a full throttle edge. Finishing with an intense blend of angular prog metal complexities and melodic death metal vocal layers, this certainly doesn’t leave anything to chance. It’s more of a collection of neck-breaking riffs than a memorable song, but the playing is so tight, it’s hard to imagine any fans of relatively extreme metal sounds being in any way disappointed.
‘Backbone of Existence’ continues their intense musical assault in an equally impressive manner. The track doesn’t even break in the listener with any kind of intro. Crashing in with a full compliment of pneumatic drums and melodic hardcore vocals, there’s an intense edge from the outset, and although the riff in hand is a dead ringer for ‘Ashes of The Wake’ era Lamb of God, Perpetual Paradox handle everything with brilliant precision and a huge amount of confidence, making an obvious influence work for them in its own right. As before, things aren’t content to settle there. This track moves into a more melodic interlude where traces of Fear Factory colour a more melodic vocal, whilst the riffs – albeit somewhat slower – continue to crush their audience. Switching the tempo yet again for more of a hardcore section allows for a melodic death metal vocal to take centre stage, before the more melodic hook makes a return to end the number with a very strong climax. Despite sounding like three very different ideas colliding to create the ultimate in metal workouts, everything here works brilliantly, and the same can be said for ‘Self Gravity’ which really cranks the pneumatics, showing off some really solid playing from drummer Will Amstrong, before a decrease in tempo allows the band to work through another rather Lamb of God inspired frenzy of riffs. The influence may be obvious, but that doesn’t mean the performance is uninspired; vocalist Adrian Caucelo fills plenty of space with some his most impassioned roars, and in case there had been any doubt previously, this is the sound of a band who are absolutely on fire.
A stand out track, ‘Ash and Blood’ opens with an incredibly taut prog metal riff, sounding like Periphery in a particularly harsh mood, then slips into a touch of death metal pneumatics, before reintroducing the original riff. The addition of a vocal finds the music taking steps into more of a hardcore sound and the prog elements are joined by a crushing metalcore groove and some melodic death metal fury. That would be enough to make such an intense track fly, but a deeper tone during the chorus where elements of a doomier sound collide with a Lamb of God-esque grind really shows off a band who are in genuine command of a great riff. For those not entirely sold on such an intense sound at this point, things lighten up just a little a couple of minutes in, when rhythm guitarist Jorge Nuñes takes centre stage with an old school thrash assault, which, in keeping with one of the band’s earlier musical flourishes allows a ‘Resolution’ era Lamb of God era sound to push everything forward. The extra melody is then offset by vocalist Adrian in full melodic death roar, but by the time he steps back, the band really cut loose with a fantastic prog metal riff and by sharing a blistering lead break courtesy of Oliver Miles. When eventually returning to its core prog-death hybrid, ‘Ash and Blood’ already sounds like a track that’s put in some seriously hard yards…and it’s only clocked up three and a half minutes.
‘Unhealable Wounds’ in some ways, works to a formula: the faster moments draw from Pantera, Lamb of God and Testament but crank the intensity a little more; the doomier leanings – although infrequent – advertise a truly intense unit, but, for those who are really taken by the Paradox’s heavier sounds, various flourishes will ensure that the track sounds just different enough to ensure things never feel completely repetitive. Most notably, the arrangement finds time to share some very old school twin leads, bringing forth an extra layer of melody. The title track, initially, also suggests fans will be thrown head first into a world of very similar riffs – and, indeed, the intro does appear to feel a little predictable. The band have clearly thought of this, though, and a couple of minutes in, all heaviness gives way to a world of atmosphere. The band abandon their signature heaviness and instead weave a world of dark melodies via acoustic guitar lines, whispered voices and wordless harmonies. Closer to a gothic interlude from a black metal album, this shows a band who can easily branch out into very different territory if and when required to do so. Naturally, a pneumatic rhythm and typical crunch reinstates itself for the latter part of the number, but between some superb lead work and an absolutely killer riff, this helps the track to become another album highlight.
‘Into The Void’ isn’t a Sabbath cover, but has all the makings of something equally impressive, at least in metalcore terms. The grinding guitar lines find Oliver and Jorge working within a comfort zone, but as things progress and the choppier riffs grow into a speed driven melodic death backdrop, their unity is impressive. As with the title cut, there’s a moment for reflection here when another gothic interlude introduces clean vocals, but the all round heaviness is what really counts, and hearing Will and bassist Andre du Barros steer everything between hardcore pneumatics and really complex prog metal bendiness provides the perfect snapshot of Perpetual Paradox’s unrelenting, edgy style. Again, the heart of the track will immediately sound like something you’ve heard from the band previously, but the end results are still very strong indeed.
Presenting just seven tracks and an intro, ‘Deathwish’ is an album that leaves no roof for obvious filler, or precious little time for listeners to catch their breath between its very heavy workouts, but what Perpetual Paradox do, they do brilliantly. An album worth hearing purely for ‘Ash and Blood’, ‘Deathwish’ and ‘Into The Void’, this won’t necessarily play to a broad audience, even in metal terms, but lovers of technical thrash, melodic death and extreme prog metal are likely to find a genuine love the intense sounds on offer here.
June/July 2025