PARADOX “Heresy II – End Of A Legend”
By Theron Moore
Cult 80’s thrashers, PARADOX, have resurfaced with ‘Heresy II – End Of A Legend’ which dropped back in September on AFM Records. The band features frontman Charly Steinhauer, guitarist Christian Münzner, bass player Olly Keller, and PARADOX co-founder Alex Blaha who last performed on the orginal "Heresy" record. Can the sequel best the original? That’s the $64,000 question.
Sans vocals, PARADOX seem like a tight metal killing machine. They strike me as better parts of EXODUS during their ‘Impact Is Imminent’ period and METALLICA’s ‘Master Of Puppets’ era but with a modern day sound. They’re thrashy but accessible. And then unfortunately, Steinhauer’s vocals kick in and just like that, I can’t connect with the band anymore.
The issue isn’t with Charly Steinhauer not being able to sing, it’s that his vox have this distracting, DRAGONFORCE / VICTORIUS vibe to it, and it doesn’t match up with what the band is doing musically. Imagine TESTAMENT with a melodic power metal singer and, well, you get the idea, they just don’t match up. There’s a few tracks I dug, namely “Unholy Conspiracy,” and “Journey Into Fear” but the rest of ‘Heresy II – End Of A Legend’ is simply just “OK,” it’s not appealing to me. I couldn’t figure out if PARADOX was shooting for a thrash sound or attempting power metal, or something else entirely. For me, ‘Heresy II – End Of A Legend’ is a no go.