PARADOX

Tales of the Weird

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After a quarter-century of raging, give or take some periods of inactivity, Paradox is still spoiling for a fight. On their sixth album, the German thrash mainstays wage war against the government (“Brutalized”), the media (“Brainwashed”), mental illness (“Fragile Alliance”) and the idea of war itself (“Escalation”). They wield the typical heavy metal weapons—shamelessly brazen broad-sword riffs, charging double-bass-kick rhythms, supersonic tempos, medieval acoustic interludes—but they keep it dynamic and melodic enough to avoid pummeling listeners into early submission. And that’s a good thing, since closer “A Light in the Black” features a solid minute of goofy prog-rock synth—a bit of unintended comic relief after 45 minutes of combat.

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