It has been five years since Paradise Lost last graced us with an album (2023’s Icon 30 notwithstanding), even if the band have been teasing fans with the promise of new material for a good two years. The wait finally ended when, in the June of this year, the band announced the arrival of Ascension with lead single Silence Like The Grave, a slow-burning doom-metal monster that bridged the gap between the more melodic strains of Draconian Times and the death-laden fare of the band’s most recent albums.
Self-produced (with guitarist Gregor Mackintosh taking over from longtime collaborator Jaime Gomez Arellano), Ascension is notable for being the only album of new material to feature short-lived drummer Guido Montanarini, who took over from Walter Väyrynen in 2022. Lasting a scant three years before departing the fold in the May of this year, whatever led to Guido’s departure, there’s no sense of internal tension evident in his performance, with Ascension emerging as a strong contender for album of the year.
It kicks off with the recently released single Serpent On The Cross, a suitably atmospheric opener that grows from an initially expansive, elegant introduction to become a viscerally heavy, mid-tempo death-doom monster. A lengthy exploration of Paradise Lost’s heavier side, the track neatly juxtaposes Nick’s increasingly venomous rasp with Gregor’s ever-elegant lead work, evoking images of vast decaying halls, lit only by the inconstant light of guttering candles. It’s followed by the surprising Tyrants Serenade, which opens on an epic note, before edging towards a melancholic, chugging strand of doom metal that sits somewhere between Type O negative and Paradise Lost’s own One Second in terms of inspiration. An excellent track, it finds Nick neatly segueing between clean vocals and a deathly growl, the central melody proving incredibly catchy even as the guitars continue to pile up around him.
Following such a strong beginning, the band up the ante once more with the epic-length Salvation. The track slowly hauls itself from airy synths and layered lead guitar to become a funereal masterpiece that finds Paradise Lost drawing on all their experience to offer up an evocative, even cinematic, slab of crushingly heavy doom. Even set against the embarrassment of riches that is Paradise Lost’s catalogue, it’s a monumental work that slowly roams across the extreme metal landscape, Nick delivering one of his all-time great performances in the process. Additionally, the track acts as a showcase for the deft hand of Lawrence Mackrory at the mixing desk, as he works to ensure this tumultuous outpouring remains darkly dynamic throughout.
Providing something of a palate cleanser, Silence Like The Grave is ‘simply’ a great single, built around an incisive riff and nailed by Guido’s rock-solid performance behind the kit. Offering a welcome shift in tempo, it nods to both Icon and Draconian Times, and it’s guaranteed to set the pit off when the band take to the stage in October. Rather more surprising is the minor-key beauty of the acoustic-led Lay A Wreath Upon The World. A heart-broken requiem for a world engulfed in turmoil, it’s heartfelt and rather beautiful – providing a rare glimpse beneath the band’s normally impenetrable doom-metal armour.
Having thoroughly engrossed the listener, Paradise Lost pull a neat bait and switch with Diluvium. Initially mired in a descending doom riff, it suddenly explodes into thrash-infused life, a jackhammer riff clawing at the unprepared, before the track settles back into a memorable chorus as addictive as anything the band have ever penned. Arguably even better is the sumptuous Savage Days, which harks back to Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us. A stately, beautiful song, it only adds to the increasingly inescapable conclusion that Ascension may well be a career-best for Paradise Lost.
Heading back to the harder-edged sound that opened the album, Sirens pairs thunderous drums with a stabbing riff and proceeds to batter the listener into a state of blank acceptance. It’s followed by the rabid fury of Deceivers, which surely stands as one of the hardest, fastest tracks the band has unleashed since Icon dropped. However, the album’s high point has yet to be reached. As befits its title, The Precipice is a bleak piece that finds Nick heartbroken and gazing deep into the abyss of his own death. Replete with imagery both Miltonian and biblical, it’s a haunting track that weaves the aching melancholy of Host-era Paradise Lost with the high gothic drama of Draconian Times to remarkable effect.
As if to drive away the storm clouds that gathered during the preceding number, This Stark Town imagines what One Second might have sounded like had the band not frontloaded synths over guitars on that album, and the result is a pacy number with a strong driving rhythm that is impossible to ignore. The album remains in One Second territory for the more overtly goth-rock A Life Unknown. Taut, memorable, and brilliantly realised, it provides the album with a powerful closing number that leaves the listener somewhat in awe of what they’ve just witnessed.
Over the years, Paradise Lost have remained remarkably consistent in terms of the quality of their song writing. While not all fans have remained onboard all of the time (such is the price of progress), even the more maligned entries in the band’s catalogue have gained in stature over the years, making the argument that the band has become one of the UK’s most quietly brilliant acts. As a result, it is inevitable that fans will endlessly debate which albums are the best (often choosing the one that first drew them to the band in the first place), with perhaps only Draconian Times emerging as a common thread. Nevertheless, there is something to Ascension that is truly, truly exceptional. The depth of the arrangements, the performance of the band, the beautifully dynamic production – it all coalesces into an album that is near to flawless. The culmination of a lifetime dedicated to exploring the death/doom landscape, Ascension is a masterpiece and deserves to be feted as one of (if not the) finest albums yet to bear the Paradise Lost name. 10/10
