Estimated reading time: 0 minute(s)

✦✦✦✧ Holy fuck is this heavy. “Paradise Gallows” makes Inter Arma’s previous releases sound like “(Listen To The) Flower People.” But that sledgehammer to your balls is not without finesse; how else could this band pull off 90 minutes without it feeling overly long? The expert pacing makes possible the band’s ability to cover a vast terrain of moods and progressive elements. Put another way, “Paradise Gallows” is one of the most sludgey, doomy, and metal Pink Floyd albums ever released.

(BTW: on most streaming services at least, the final track, “Where The Earth Meets The Sky,” clocks in at an intimidating 28 minutes. However, this is comprised of a lovely and haunting five-minute swansong, followed by 21 minutes of dead air, and capped with a two-minute underdeveloped fragment that I could do without. I do not know by which wisdom bands choose to do this, but I wish they’d stop. Minus ten points for Gryffindor.)

⏮︎

⏭︎