Paragona – The Black Rose And The Diary
Release Date: 11th May 2025
A love of hard rock with a tinge of heavy metal thrown in for good mix sees the release of The Black Rose And The Diary from American rockers Paragona and it is coming in like a big old blast from the past. Across the nine songs on the album, it’s hard to think back over the past 50-odd years to a period where this wouldn’t have felt at home.
Opening track ‘My Mad Man’ is one of those ‘setting out the stall’ types of tracks. Furious riffs straight out of the school of thrash metal, vocals that range from those high-pitched wails of 80s metal to more modern, gritty hard rock styles and a drum beat that will get the neck muscles warmed up in minutes.
Across the nine songs on the album variation comes subtly. Whether it be the abuse of drums at the beginning of ‘District Twenty’ backed up with a myriad of vocal styles. Mustaine style cleans make them up for the main, but there are hardcore shouts, almost death metal screams and a big of hip-hop in the background too. Elsewhere, ‘Sunset Over My Heart’ strips everything back across six minutes. Moving away from the more heavy metal style, this is a track that would be more at home from Santana than Anthrax. The solo here is huge, though does come a little close to a famous Metallica solo at times.
The two things that may put people off this record are 1) the run time, over 47 minutes for a nine-track release is a big commitment in the TikTok era of consumption, and 2) the clean vocal style. This is an album with a ‘traditional’ sound and the vocals do line up with that meaning it can feel a little dated in places.
On the whole, the most important thing is that The Black Rose And The Diary is an album that is clearly made with passion, one that is exactly what the band members wanted it to be. If you’re needing some screeching, chugging hard-rock-cum-metal then Paragona are a release from the clutches of the overly autotuned nature of modern alternative music. Start your neck stretches now.