In a new interview with Belgium’s Graspop Metal Meeting, vocalist Nick Holmes of U.K. gothic metal pioneers PARADISE LOST was asked how he and his bandmates have managed to keep almost the same lineup for almost four decades. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We grew up as kids and then we started as a band very innocent, kids just into metal music. We were also in the right place at the right time. We’ve been very, very lucky as well. There’s so much luck involved, I think, when you’re in a band, and we’ve had a lot of that as well. So a lot of the right chemistry, et cetera. So, yeah, lots of things, but being friends first and foremost was very important, I think.”
Regarding what he has seen “changing for the best in the world of music” since PARADISE LOST was formed in 1988, Nick said: “I guess the planet is a lot smaller place now. The Internet’s brought [all of us closer]. You can travel more places than perhaps you would’ve done. So that’s a really good thing. You can go play in countries where fans might not even have known about you. So it’s definitely [made] the world a smaller place now, I think.”
Asked where he and his PARADISE LOST bandmates get the inspiration and the drive to make new music, Nick said: “We love doing it, and we get the same buzz out of it since we were kids. It is exactly the same thing. And as long as we enjoy doing it and people wanna hear it, we’ll keep doing it as long as we can. And it’s the same for every band who’s been around as long as us. You still get that buzz about it the same as you did when you started, I think.”
PARADISE LOST will release its 17th album, “Ascension”, on September 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. The band’s first album in five years, following 2020’s critically acclaimed “Obsidian”, was produced by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh and mixed/mastered by Lawrence Mackrory.
“Ascension” is a testament to PARADISE LOST‘s longevity and relevance over the band’s 35-plus-year career, encompassing their signature styles of gothic, death and doom fans have cherished along the way.
“Ascension”‘s album cover fittingly features the painting “The Court Of Death” (1870-1902) by renowned British artist George Frederic Watts, which hangs in the Tate Gallery in London. The painting depicts Death as an enthroned angel flanked by allegorical figures of Silence and Mystery guarding sunrise and the star of hope, while a warrior surrenders his sword and a duke his coronet, showing that worldly status offers no protection. The painting’s bleak, prophetic vision embodies “Ascension”‘s dark, tormented soundscapes as mournful verses collide with dire, foreboding riffs.
Commenting on the record, Holmes said: “‘Ascension’ is a cavalcade of molten misery, a vigorous sorrow filled stroll through a wicked world of glorious triumph and pitiful tragedy.”
The official music video for the LP’s first single, “Silence Like The Grave”, can be seen below.
“Ascension” track listing:
01. Serpent On The Cross
02. Tyrants Serenade
03. Salvation
04. Silence Like The Grave
05. Lay A Wreath Upon The World
06. Diluvium
07. Savage Days
08. Sirens
09. Deceivers
10. The Precipice
“Ascension” was produced by Gregor Mackintosh at Black Planet Studios in East Yorkshire, U.K. and NBS and Wasteland Studios in Sweden. It was mixed and mastered by Lawrence Mackrory.
PARADISE LOST is performing alongside KING DIAMOND and at festivals in Europe this summer before embarking on the first part its “Ascension Of Europe” tour this fall.
More than three decades into their career, and with over two million albums sold, PARADISE LOST remain the undisputed kings of metal’s dark side. Formed in Halifax in 1988, the band quickly became noted as the pioneers of gothic metal through their early groundbreaking albums like 1991’s aptly titled “Gothic”, a mixture of heaviness intertwined with shadowy melody and atmosphere.
Never a group to remain creatively static, across their career they’ve explored a myriad of avenues of dark music, from sludgy doom-death roots, to conquering the metal mainstream with the enormous, lush sounds of 1995’s “Draconian Times”, to more experimental, electronic leanings, leaving an influence on a trail of artists as varied as CRADLE OF FILTH, HIM, GATECREEPER and CHELSEA WOLFE.
Now, in 2025, the Yorkshire quintet return with their staggering 17th album, “Ascension”, a record that sees their crown continue to gleam as it underlines just how they attained their position. Produced by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh at Black Planet studios in East Yorkshire, with drums and vocals captured at NBS and Wasteland studios in Sweden, its 10 tracks traverse the multitude of sounds in the band’s arsenal, from full-bore heavy metal to sky-high melody, all the while keeping a minor-key melancholy that remains irresistible.
Photo credit: Ville Jurrikkala
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