Downward Spiral is a crunchy track, opening as it means to go on drawing riffs from all the best places and backing everything with a solid rhythm section before throwing some roaring vocals into the mix for consideration – it’s different to the other tracks so far but it works! As the next track, Lame and Languid, opens with ‘can you listen to how I’m feeling’ over an acoustic line before kicking in with those guitars again you find yourself realising this band can do it all. Over the tracks so far they’ve proven they can do heavy, soft, grungy, sludgy, everything which is good in music! What You Were proves this even further as the opening ‘funky’ riff kicks in before the track becomes a Hole-esque ditty, funky, grungy and catchy from the outset, this track will have you nodding along within seconds whether you want to or not! I can also imagine this is a live anthem, one which will get the crowd jumping all over the place to the catchy beat.

The final two tracks (for the purposes of the review, there are more on their various sites) push the boat home and leave you in need of hearing more. Apathy is an almost hypnotic track featuring layered vocals, Alice in Chains style guitars and a solid bass line, very much like listening to mid 90’s music but with a modern edge. Spasm finishes the selection off nicely with a pounding drum and bass laden intro, feedback from guitars then an almighty riff kicking in. This is a track which will please even the heaviest fan, melodic yet heavy from the outset and never relenting up until the final second.

Normally I try to cover every track a band features on their sites in order to give a varied over view, but with these guys there are (firstly) a lot of tracks so I’d end up wittering on for pages and (secondly) so many influences coming through here it’s impossible to list them all. This music is timeless, solid and to the point. Coming across as heavy sometimes and soft and soothing at others, I’d happily sit for hours listening to these guys play. They need to get their album over here, get more people on to them and get their name out there – they’re a band who represent this entire section of the website, a band you need to hear.
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I know Paradox mainly because their frontman and main musician Pete Mac added my band on MySpace, Patrick Lew's Band that is! As a friend on my buddylist. And he later did the same for me on my personal Facebook page by adding me as a friend there!
Speaking of the music. I hear a lot of melodic hard rock, introspective lyrics and intricate and fluid melodies and arrangements. As a Grunge fanatic and Grunge musician myself, I hear a lot of Nirvana and Candlebox influences on this record they did.  Although "Sacred" was released in 2004, it sounds like a time warp for me back to my childhood years growing up in the mid 90's. 1996 at least! The music, while sounds slightly modern and updated. It does indeed have that throwback post-grunge feel to it indeed. I feel, this music is pretty darn good for a modern Grunge act or group of musicians. Especially from Ireland and garnering rave reviews across the universe and having some airplay on their MySpace page and the radio. While there were a little bit of fluffy moments on the album, I think a lot of the songs were good, reminiscent of the mid 90's for myself and fun to hear. My favorite song on this album has to be, "Destressed", "What You Were" (which sounded to me like Buckcherry mixed with Candlebox) and the song "Sunburn Daze" which has a huge Nirvana-meets-Bush kind of sound!

Overall, this record was amazing and brought me back to a simpler time as a kid growing up on Grunge in the 90's. Yup! I recommend this record to anyone who loves Grunge music with bands like Candlebox, Nirvana, Silverchair, Bush and Alice In Chains. Along with people looking for some good modern Grunge still left in the world!
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Paradox
Reviewed By: Sharla Cartner

Band Members:
Pete Mac - Vocals, Guitars, Bass (for albumz)
Mike Mac - Vocal Harmonies, Drums
John Fin - Bass 
 
This Irish trio Paradox is an alternative hard rock band. With influences from Jeff Buckley, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and The Tea Party, Paradox constructs their own developing sound of hard rock. Paradox has a solid fan base and has received airplay on radio stations, and rave reviews around the globe.
 
Paradox explodes with high intensity with screaming guitar riffs and solid drumming but there is more to this band than musical talent. Paradox generates melodic hard rock, with introspective lyrics and intricate melodies. The vocals of Pete Mac are delivered with solid feeling and sincerity. The two tracks Downward Spiral and Lame and Languid are from the album Sacred. Lame and Languid possess some sweet acoustic guitar riffs and loaded with emotion. Downward Spiral is energetic, with infectious riffs and the vocals grind out the lyrics.
 
 "Is it time for me, is it time for you." - Lame and Languid
 
If you love hard rock music, check out Paradox:
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Paradox is a two-brother team originally from Cork, Ireland who do all of the work on their second release, Sacred. Pete and Mike Mac played all of the instruments for all the studio work for both this and their first album, Circle of Growth. Mike does all the percussion and backing vocals while Pete does the guitar, bass and lead vocals.

It is interesting – although Sacred was released in 2004 there are times when I felt like I’d been transported back to the mid-1990s. They do classify themselves as alternative/grunge/rock. Yes, Grunge. The band started in 1996; so that would explain it.

The music – though slightly updated – instantly brings to mind the artists that Paradox site as being their influences – Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Silverchair. Then there are darker tracks that mix in their other, newer, influences, like A Perfect Circle and Auf der Maur.

“Lame & Languid” is a perfect example of the older influences – the high vocals and the quiet-then-loud formula is in place. The first half of the album is softer, then gets harder as it goes along, heading more into that metal sound, almost punk, too. “Downward Spiral” has a build up that reminded me right away of The Offspring’s “Self Esteem.” “Thorns of Rose” is probably my favourite track on the disc, probably the most metal-sounding song on it. Starting with a feedback intro, the song picks up into a heavy, catchy, quick guitar riff. There is even a moment at the beginning of this song that reminds me of Primus.

Although they are a mix of old and new, I would like to point out here that I found they were a lot like a band from that era, one that didn’t get as popular as the rest – but could have been -- Failure. Failure had a lot of that sound that you find in A Perfect Circle, with the atmospheric guitars that give a fuller sound. However, Paradox does make it a little bit harder, leaning more towards metal.

That being said, I still want to give credit where credit is due. These brothers are extremely talented, undertaking the producing duties too. This album is a great effort. The songs are really tight. The only reason why I would mark this down is because as much as they are trying to fuse together new and old alt rock, it is too familiar. When it comes down to it, there may be a little too much of the old. As I sit here reviewing this in 2006, I would never have guessed that it was released only two years ago. It sounds dated – and definitely by more than two years. However, I do enjoy it; maybe it’s nostalgia.

Score: 7


- Mistress Kara
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