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PARADISE LOST
Ascension

Nuclear Blast (2025)
Rating: 8/10

With autumn now upon it seems only natural that a new Paradise Lost album should filter through the carpet of orange leaves and swirl into the air like wisps of early bonfire smoke. Ascension is the return to for a band I’ve always craved, especially as I was such a big fan of those early Paradise Lost albums.

Okay, this is no Gothic (1991), but at just over 50 minutes it goes a long way when painting the already leaden sky with streaks of melanin. I merely point you in the direction of the song ‘Serpent On The Cross’ as proof that vocalist Nick Holmes and his clan can still get doomy. Arguably one of the best Paradise Lost songs in years, ‘Serpent On The Cross’ is heavy doom metal, the sort of thunderous downpour the band hasn’t visited since those halcyon days. Nick Holmes returns as a man possessed, mournfully booming over the tumble of musty riffs which vibrate enough to wake the dead.

From here on in it’s not exactly more of the same, but it does remain riveting, something I’ve not said about Paradise Lost for decades. What does make this opus engrossing though is the UK band’s seamless marrying of eras past, scraping at the Gothic bellowing of Type O Negative with ‘Tyrants Serenade’, while in contrast tapping into their more commercial Draconian Times (1995) period on ‘Silence Like The Grave’.

After the ‘Serpent On The Cross’ offering though I was hoping the guys would revert back to some archaic, creaking doom and they deliver with morose plodder ‘Salvation’ with its funereal echoes of those sodden early times. Hearing Mr. Holmes moan and growl in equal measure is a joy to behold, and I remained focused even through the Depeche Mode-styled ‘Sirens’.

Maybe my attention remained steadfast simply due to taking so many long breaks from the band, and a song such as ‘Diluvium’ does remind me as to why my attention waned back during the Icon days of 1993. Even so, Ascension is a colossal opus at times, and one typically laced with Gothic grandeur as ‘Lay A Wreath Upon The World’ delivers further poetic misery. I’m also appreciative of the sublime guitar work throughout and more so the lack of stodge.

In spite of its stifling thick clouds at times, Ascension is a very easy listen due to its lack of self-indulgent gloom noodling, and it’s an album which proves that the band has still Goth it!

Neil Arnold

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