Ascension

On their seventeenth studio album 'Ascension', Paradise Lost deliver a masterclass in gothic doom metal that consolidates the various eras of their sound, from sludgy death-doom heaviness to the atmospheric, melodic sensibilities of their most acclaimed work. Produced with cold grandeur by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh, the songs are built on a foundation of crushing riffs and funereal elegance, with Nick Holmes's versatile vocals shifting between guttural growls and melancholic, clean-sung passages. The album's lyrical themes of misery and a cynical view of salvation are woven into ambitious compositions, solidifying the record as a modern culmination of the band's influential, decades-spanning career.