Paradogmata – Endetid

From Trondheim (Norway) hails a melodic death/thrash/heavy metal band, Paradogmata. Founded in 2018 the band currently consists of Frank Bokseth (vocals), Per Andre Haarberg (guitar), Svein Havard Ruoy (bass) and Bo Dods Anders Vist (drums). Former guitarist and backing vocalist, Wojciech Ziembora left the band in 2021.

Back in 2018 they started out by playing traditional Maiden-esque heavy metal, with only occasional rougher parts. During the last couple of years, the band shifted more towards a death/thrash/black metal sound, albeit still maintaining their melodic core. Speaking of a melodic core, it’s best depicted in the opening 40 seconds of “Seven Curses for the Deathly Pale”, but more on each individual track further on in this review.

Now, a few words on their new album called Endetid. Immediately by looking at the song titles, one can see that they don’t just sing in English, but that they’re capable of delivering even better songwriting when they use their native Norwegian, like in the first single called “Endetidsbundet”. The album’s featuring seven lengthy tracks and three bonus tracks; “Certain Future” (demo), “The Cleansing Flood” (raw mix) and “The Princes in the Tower” (alternative version feat. Magnus Helmersen). This ten tracker album lasts approximately 62 minutes, so there’s a plenty of running time.

Endetid opens with “Endetidsbundet”, being more than eight minutes long track that begins as an atmospheric opener, before it goes death metal way, including dark and harsh vocals, marching and edgy riffs and speedy and blasting drums. I would call it a nice introduction to Paradogmata-universe. “The Seeds of Greed” is one of the single releases, again containing this epic opener, with compelling bass, followed along the way by some fast sections, dark atmosphere and even the inclusion of the choir towards the very end of the song. Next comes the aforementioned, “Seven Curses for the Deathly Pale”, another single release (listen to the track below). It follows more or less similar pattern as its two predecessors, with a rather slow and melodic intro, before the guitars and bass take over. Esp. the inclusion of a beautiful guitar solo is well-placed and delivered deliciously. The fourth track, called “The Cleansing Flood” starts with some twenty second solo, before other instruments join in. This song feels a bit more straightforward, compared to other songs from Endetid. “Corrupt to Interrupt” features some darker vocals and an intense sound on the instrumental side. “Harrowing of Heaven” has this dark and chilly atmosphere, starting out in a malodic manner, but also with a lot of intense instrumental (rock) harmonies. “The Princess in The Tower” is the aforementioned alternative version with dramatic storytelling. It’s another quite varied and memorable song, an eight minutes long anthem mixing dark and melodic metal parts. Apart from sinister riffing, “Certain Future” (demo) has almost similar style with most of the other songs of the album. It’s not bad, but I still feel that this track doesn’t add much to the overall quality of the album. Then we quickly move to the raw mix of the fourth track, “The Cleansing Flood”. As its subtitle tells, we are dealing here with a rough mix of the original version, this time just not as clean and polished as the original version. It’s a real metal blast, that will put a smile on a face of every metal maniac. Finally we come to a closing track called “The Princess in The Tower”, another alternative version of their original track mentioned above. This alternative version is a bit darker compared to the original. Still a nice way to end this 62 minutes long opus from this quartet from the Northern part of Norway. The addtional three tracks are worth a listen but they don’t add to the overall value of this material.

Production, at least for the first seven original songs, is faultless and with a clear sound of all instruments and vocals. Cover artwork is equally beautiful and very representative of the band’s sound.

In conclusion; with the release of their latest album, Paradogmata proves that they are a valuable asset to the Norwegian and Scandinavian death/thrash/dark metal scene. For more info on this particular release visit https://paradogmata.bandcamp.com/album/endetid-2