Ascension

Seventeen albums into their storied career, UK death-doom pioneers Paradise Lost have written some of their finest material. Anyone who finds that difficult to believe needs only to hear *Ascension*. Powerful tracks like “Tyrants Serenade,” “Silence Like the Grave,” and opener “Serpent on the Cross” stand up to the beloved songs on PL’s classic ’90s trifecta of *Gothic*, *Icon*, and *Draconian Times*. “We had quite a bit of time to write it, so I think that helped,” singer Nick Holmes tells Apple Music. “We usually do albums in three-year cycles, but this time we had two years extra because of the pandemic. That helped make the songs more varied because we had space to tweak them again and again.” Melodic, mournful, and fully steeped in guitarist Greg Mackintosh’s icy tone, *Ascension* explores both the idea of going to a better place when we pass and the process of striving to better ourselves while we’re here. “As we’re getting a bit older now, you go through life and you don’t know what’s around the corner,” Holmes says. “Some of the nicest people in the world have the worst luck, and some of the nastiest people in the world have the best luck. So I guess the album is really about trying to do the best you can.” Below, Holmes comments on each song, including the two bonus tracks, “This Stark Town” and “A Life Unknown.” **“Serpent on the Cross”** “As soon as it starts, it’s undeniably a PL track. And it’s the most PL song on the album. It’s got the hallmark sound of Greg’s guitar, ‘the chilling lead,’ as we used to call it back in the day. I just think it’s great. It wasn’t originally going to open the album, but I managed to convince everyone that it should, so that was a little triumph for me. When we’re trying to choose a track listing, we always think about songs as side A and B for the vinyl, even though most people probably just put it on shuffle. But we’re old-school; we still think like that.” **“Tyrants Serenade”** “The first few years after a very close bereavement is a weird state to be in. Nothing prepares you for it, and everyone’s different with it. Everyone has their own experience of it. The original title of the song was ‘The God of Malevolence,’ which refers to an internal voice that reminds you that someone is actually dead, and it brings back the sadness you felt initially. We changed it to ‘Tyrants Serenade’ because we just thought it was a bit more poetic-sounding. But lyrically it’s about when that sadness and pain comes back with a melancholic vengeance.” **“Salvation”** “When we wrote the song ‘Beneath Broken Earth’ \[released in 2015\], we found our footing in the massive doom song. I mean, we’ve been doing these kinds of songs since the ’90s, when we did ‘Rotting Misery,’ but ‘Beneath Broken Earth’ was one that we felt really worked. So we wanted to do an even more over-the-top version of that. We’ve also got Alan Averill from Primordial singing in the middle of this one. People thought it was me, like, ‘I’m surprised Nick has this range. He should sing like that more often.’ But I fucking can’t, which is why I asked Alan to do it. And he’s done a really good job with it.” **“Silence Like the Grave”** “When we rerecorded the *Icon* album \[for its 30th anniversary in 2023\], it was interesting to revisit those songs. Some of these songs are off the back of that in a way, because I wanted to get that kind of vibey singing that I did around that mid-’90s era. I think it helps break up the album a bit and put more variety in there. So, this song has a really nice old-school PL feel, which I really think people picked up on when we released it as the first single. It actually ended up being quite beneficial for us because we wrote songs very differently back then. To look back on what you did in the past can be very inspirational.” **“Lay a Wreath Upon the World”** “I think this is the first song we wrote for the album, almost five years ago now. I came up with the title—it’s so grim, I just loved it. I love dour titles, like when something’s so miserable it’s almost laughable. Lyrically, it’s about man destroying the world and not listening to nature’s warning. I’m not going on about global warming—it’s a bit more about man destroying himself.” **“Diluvium”** “This song is very reminiscent of something we would’ve done in ’92 around the *Shades of God* album. We’ve always felt that album was a little bit overlooked, and it’s probably one of our heaviest albums as well. At that time, we were experimenting with coming out of the growling into a cleaner voice, and I was doing a strange hybrid growl/clean voice that I can’t even do anymore. But the kind of phrasing I do on this song is very reminiscent of how I used to write on that album. Lyrically, it’s about a flood wiping everything out so we have to start over again.” **“Savage Days”** “When you experience loss or any kind of significant event in your life that’s tragic, you never really get over it. It’s about living with that and realizing you’re not going to heal. It’s just another knock on the head that’s going to make you who you are, basically.” **“Sirens”** “It’s about watching someone fade away and not be themselves anymore. I remember my grandfather often forgot who I was towards the end of his years, and a lot of friends have relatives they just don’t recognize anymore. You remember how they were, and then they’re gone—the siren being something that reminds you of the past.” **“Deceivers”** “I always find false prophets fascinating. I also find cults fascinating—and how anyone can be sucked in. Obviously, they get people at the lowest ebb of life, and they rebuild them.” **“The Precipice”** “For this, I just wanted a song that made me feel like crying. The piano with the singing is really sad, and I can easily cry if I’m in the right mood or I’ve got a hangover. The song is about how you’re born alone and you die alone. Life is your own personal journey, and there’s only so much anyone can do for you once you get to the end of it—the precipice being the edge of death. It’s a nice cheery finish to side B.” **“This Stark Town”** “It’s about a town that’s changed significantly. I’m not saying which because I don’t want it to be specific. If you live long enough, you see places change. Some of them change to a point where you don’t recognize them anymore. That could be because of an economic reason or whatever. I remember when I was a young guy and old men would say, ‘Oh, this place isn’t like it used to be, blah blah blah…’ And now I’m that guy.” **“A Life Unknown”** “This is one of the first two or three songs we wrote for the album. But the chord change that happens at the end is one of the last things we did for the album. There were years between the initial writing and that chord change, but that change really makes the song. I’ve been watching a lot of these TV shows where people go off the grid to live off the land, no internet, and they don’t use money. I find that fascinating, to drop off the map and be completely unknown like that.”

Through thunderous skies, Paradise Lost continue to soar on scintillating seventeenth album Ascension...

When there is a broad consensus that a band has achieved legendary status, it can often lead to the slow death of their creativity. There are worse ways to embrace middle age than trotting out the greatest hits, but PARADISE LOST have been stoic and impressive in their refusal to grow old gracefully...

Phil Cooper reviews the new album by gothic doom legends Paradise Lost. Read his review of 'Ascension' here on Distorted Sound!

A double review of Ascension by Paradise Lost, available worldwide September 19th via Nuclear Blast.

Paradise Lost - Ascension review: Despite a couple issues with pacing and some weaker tracks, Ascension provides the same high-quality songwriting we've come to expect from the band.