Feature: Paramaecium Releases Ranked From Worst to First

Paramaecium are definitely the unsung hero of the death/doom movement. Arising around the same time as the style was picking up speed in the form of Britain’s so-called “Peaceville Three” (a term disputed by some) – My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost – Paramaecium’s status as one of the greats of death/doom was often withheld by gatekeepers who couldn’t possibly stomach the idea of Christians playing the style in a noteworthy way. Such is the usual struggle, I think, for many metal bands comprised of Christian believers. In spite of this, Paramaecium’s work remains a high point in the style, masterfully combining the plodding pace of funeral doom with the drama of goth and the brutality of death metal, and would echo on through the work of acts like My Silent Wake and Dalit. 

Despite the quality of their music, Paramaecium is not an easy band to get into. Songs are often around 6-9 minutes long, the pace is utterly glacial, and there’s almost nothing to hook the listener in. It’s a sonic journey one chooses to undertake with the full knowledge that it’s going to take some time to get to the destination. But in the end, it’s worth it. 

Here, we’ll be diving into the catalogue of the band, ranking it all in the customary fashion that you’ve come to expect. Cue the melancholy, summon the grey skies, and grab your favourite skull chalice – it’s time to dig into Paramaecium.

Echoes from the Ground

A concept album about a 19th-century academic’s struggles with faith, Echoes From the Ground would prove to be the last release of the band; sadly, Andrew Tompkins, the leading mastermind behind it all would later leave the faith and adopt an atheist position, though not without still giving thoughtful commentary on his time with the band. Echoes From the Ground sees the band lose some of the heaviness of yore, and relatively-speaking, move far closer to a gothic metal feel. Though the violin work on here is beautiful (on par with The Sins of Thy Beloved’s Lake of Sorrow at least), Tompkins’ vocals here lack the power they used to have, coming off like simple growls rather than guttural roars. And while I love melodrama in this kind of music, it all comes off a bit pretentious. Perhaps it’s the concept album thing that bugs me (I’m not a huge fan of concept albums in general), the slightly off-key clean vocals, or the over-the-top operatics of Tracy Bourne, but this one just fails to hit the mark for me.

Within the Ancient Forest

Within the Ancient Forest largely continues the stylistic themes of its predecessor, and in some respects, that’s what keeps it from being higher up the list. However, its strength lies in the band’s willingness to expand on the sonic template. The quirkier elements on Exhumed of the Earth are only amplified here, with more use of violin and flute, the additional use of a harpsichord, the use of clean vocals on the part of Andrew Tompkins, and increased use of female singing from multiple singers as well. Within the Ancient Forest boasts some of the band’s most achingly beautiful moments, such as the haunting guitars and soulful singing on “Gone Is My Former Resolve” but also loses some of the impact that the more death metal-leaning early records had, especially on opening track “In Exordium.” A mixed bag, but still a solid record.

A Time to Mourn

By this point, all but Andrew Tompkins remained of the band’s original line-up; however his recruitment of the famous Ian Arkley of Seventh Angel and My Silent Wake would prove to bear some pretty good fruit. A Time to Mourn took the plodding doom of the first two albums into new territory, picking up the pace ever so slightly, experimenting with clean vocals, and making greater use of female singing (courtesy of Tracy Bourne, whose singing on here is excellent) and violin. The end result was an album that blended the best of both worlds, mixing in a newfound gothic/melodic sensibility while still maintaining that ultra heavy death/doom core that they’d become known for. Though, Andrew Tompkins’ clean vocals are not my favourite, they’re not enough to seriously detract from this album’s take on a more relatively mid-paced and gothic take on death/doom. Fans of mid 90’s My Dying Bride and My Silent Wake will definitely dig this.

Silent Carnage

Absolutely sick death metal slowed down but not yet to the funereal pace of the band’s main albums, Silent Carnage lacks the melancholic atmospheres of later works but makes up for it with some seriously nasty noise (it’s actually surprising, given his penchant for extreme metal sounds, that Jayson Sherlock wasn’t yet in the band at this point). Like My Dying Bride’s Towards the Sinister, there’s very little on here to indicate the direction that the band would take in its forays into funeral doom and goth, but as a piece of early, raw death metal history, it’s a riveting listen. That said, it’s a demo and the recording quality is, at best, pretty thin. Still, I eat stuff like this up. If you dig or used to dig the sounds of early My Dying Bride, Autopsy, and Asphyx, you’re going to love this one.  And that album cover? Perfect.

Repentance

It might seem redundant to throw this compilation EP on the list, as three of its tracks are from the Silent Carnage demo above. However, there’s three other tracks on here – two re-recordings of Silent Carnage tracks that fix the thin production quality of the 1991 versions, and an atmospheric piano piece to close them out (and close them out in spectacular fashion, it does!). Everything I said about Silent Carnage applies here, with the exception that this EP gives fans of that particular death metal style even more to feast on. 

Exhumed of the Earth

Paramaecium’s first album is considered a classic of the subgenre, and for good reason. Combining the ultra-slow pace of Thergothon with the heaviness of early My Dying Bride, Exhumed of the Earth slowed the death metal sound down even further than pretty much any band I have heard from the time period. Though flutes and violins make their appearances on this one, they aren’t used quite as much as on later records. Andrew Tompkins low-pitched growls are absolutely on point on this one, reaching new depths in terms of delivery. From the slow trudge of “The Killing” to the poetic beauty of “Removed of the Grave,” Exhumed of the Earth remains one of the heaviest and most thoughtful records of the death/doom subgenre, showing the band had mastered the art of blending death and doom genres into a single cohesive whole. Though in many ways I prefer when the band emphasized certain elements more than others (the gothic element on A Time to Mourn, the feral death metal of Silent Carnage) Exhumed of the Earth remains their most consistent and timeless work, earning its top spot in the list. 

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