Paradise Lost ‎"Tragic Illusion 25" CD

A collection of rarities, b-sides, and one new track:
Track 1 is a new song.
Tracks 2, 3 are from the album "Tragic Idol" special and Japanese editions.
Track 4 was previously only available on the "Decibel Flexi Disc" series.
Tracks 5-8 are from the album "Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us" special and Japanese editions.
Tracks 9, 11, 12 are from the album "In Requiem" special and Japanese editions.
Track 10 is from the single "The Enemy".
Track 13 is a re-recording of a song from the album "Gothic".
Track 14 is a re-recording of a song from the album "Lost Paradise".

Things seem to be going right for these somewhat prodigal sons and standard bearers of doom. Since the early part of the last decade they've been releasing high quality metal with a renewed sense of purpose and with each successive release there have been a variety of requisite B sides and singles. For those of us who either don't have the time or money to hunt down the singles or special editions PL have finally made life a little simpler and put out a comp of said tracks (akin to a double disc of singles not listed on here(?) that came out some years back). Over all this is a fairly diverse offering.
The opening track (Loneliness Remains) is full-on old school doom; groovy riffs, heavy guitars and an almost sexy rhythm. It's dark and dreary and something no one would expect from these guys. It's almost reminiscent of their cover of 'Death Walks Behind You' from the As I Die EP. Continuing on the following track 'Never Take Me Alive' and (even further down the track list) 'Missing' are two cover tracks that are very well done, especially the latter. How they took a dance/pop song and made it into sprawling metal song is pretty neat considering they took all the pop and dance out of it. It's possibly one of the best covers you could ever hope to hear.
All the tracks are from In Requiem to Tragic Idol and pretty tasteful with the exception of the Prague Orchestra's versions of 'Last Regret' & Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us'. To quote rhythm guitarist Aaron Aedy "They're like James Bond versions of our songs" and that's pretty accurate. Big symphonic songs chock full of classical pomp and grandeur, these versions start off good but go to crap when the horn sections start in. Cheese doesn't begin to cover the slaughter.
Also in the mix was a single only instrumental called Godless. It doesn't sound like a Paradise Lost song. It's cool and heavy and it rocks but it doesn't fit their body of work, good as it is. Other than that the remaining tracks are mostly good. 'Ending Through Changes' would've been an excellent addition to Tragic Idol where as 'The Last Fallen Savior' sounds like it could've been on Cathedral's the VIIth Coming.
The coolest songs on here however are the re-recordings of 'Gothic' & 'Our Savior'. Nick has finally found a way to growl again, though not as low as he once did. The production is solid and all the instruments come through loud and clear. If they wanted to re-record the albums said songs are from with today's production it would rule. That's how good these re-recordings are (a rare thing really). They make you want to hear the classics anew.
This comp is good for a few reasons with the most obvious being it's a great way for the collector to catch up on tracks once missed. But ultimately it's just a fun comp of random stuff from a very diversified band.

Sample: