In a new interview with Jerry Kurunen of Rauta, guitarist Gregor Mackintosh of British gothic metal pioneers PARADISE LOST spoke about the band’s long-awaited 17th album, “Ascension”, due on September 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. PARADISE LOST‘s first album in five years, following 2020’s critically acclaimed “Obsidian”, was produced by Mackintosh and mixed/mastered by Lawrence Mackrory. Gregor said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, there’s been two singles so far, but if you haven’t heard those, something that really changed the approach to this record was… It was 30 years since our ‘Icon’ album a year or two ago, and we had to do a re-recording. But having to do that, re-learn those songs in such depth and re-record it put me in the headspace of ’92, ’93, ‘Shades Of God’, ‘Icon’ era, and that kind of influenced the songwriting for this record a a little bit. So probably half over half the album is very much in that vein.”
After Kurunen noted that PARADISE LOST has come “full circle” by returning to the band’s “death/doom” roots on some of its recent albums, Mackintosh said: “Well, when you say full circle, the first time that was mentioned to me was when we did ‘The Plague Within’ [2015] album, which is — I don’t know what year; it was 2014 or something — and I’d say that’s true. That’s pretty true. But since then we have been trying to maneuver around it, all our influences from all the past in different ways. Like ‘Medusa’ [2017] was far more of kind of sludgy record, and then the last one before this one, ‘Obsidian’ [2020], kind of has more gothy influences again, and this one, because of the ‘Icon’ re-recording, like I said, is kind of traveling somewhere between the ‘Shades Of God’, ‘Icon’ era-ish, but with a twist of now.”
Asked what it felt for him and his PARADISE LOST bandmates to be inspired by their own music while making “Ascension”, Gregor said: “It wasn’t inspired by our own music. It was kind of — I said this before — it is kind of puts you in the headspace of where you were at that time, what your influences were at that time, how you felt. And at that time, around ‘Shades Of God’ and ‘Icon’, we were very much into the… Even the name ‘Paradise Lost’. We even went back to that, It’s from the book. What does the book mean? What’s it about? What are the themes? This religious imagery, over-the-top religious imagery, even though we’re all atheists. So we kind of went down that path. And with the music, it was just a case of… I never used to play the same thing as any of the other… It was, like, we were all playing our different bits and there wasn’t too much riffage. It was there, but I was more of this harmony guy all the time. So we delved into that on this record. So it was more like the headspace. It wasn’t really being influenced by our own stuff. It was just, like, ‘Huh, this is interesting.’ ‘Cause over the years, incrementally, your style of playing changes, your style of songwriting changes, and you forget certain things. And then just revisiting it makes you think, ‘Ah, okay.’ … I mean, you try not to repeat yourself, obviously, but it gives you a warm feeling… So if you’re getting that, it must be a good thing.”
Mackintosh added: “I had half this album written three years ago. I had six or seven songs written, and I scrapped the whole lot because I wasn’t happy with it. And then I just gave up for a year. And then we did the ‘Icon’ [re-recording] thing, and I was, like, ‘Ah, okay. This is what it should be about. This is how it should go.’ And so I’ve never used anything from those six or seven songs. If you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. And we’re in a lucky position that we haven’t got a label saying, ‘You’ve got to release this.’ We do it in our own time. So if you’re gonna live with something, it’s better that you’re comfortable with it.”
In celebration of the new album, PARADISE LOST has announced a handful of intimate signing sessions and a record release show in Leeds, U.K.
Sep. 20 – Sheffield, UK @ Bear Tree (4 p.m. BST) – Signing Session
Sep. 21 – Birmingham, UK @ HMV (2 p.m. BST) – Signing Session
Sep. 22 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club (7 p.m. BST) – Record Release Show
Sep. 24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East (12 p.m. BST) – Signing Session
“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.
PARADISE LOST singer Nick Holmes previously stated about the LP: “‘Ascension’ is a cavalcade of molten misery, a vigorous sorrow filled stroll through a wicked world of glorious triumph and pitiful tragedy.”
“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
PARADISE LOST performed alongside KING DIAMOND and at festivals in Europe this summer before embarking on the first part its “Ascension Of Europe” tour this fall.
Photo credit: Ville Jurrikkala
