Paradise Lost - Ascension
Paradise Lost are an iconic band with a sprawling discography that encompasses various stylistic eras. It seems that ranking and dissecting their albums is a full-time online hobby for so many (though there never seems to be consensus on which era wins). Whether it was gothic doom, polished rock metal or lighter poppier electronic rock, this band’s consistent high quality output has been top tier melancholia. In recent years there was a risk PL could recline into familiar gothic doom formula that, while well received by critics and heavy die-hards, was less adventurous. Ascension is, however, easily and triumphantly one of the band’s strongest releases to date.
Ascension is an ambitious work with more majestic heft and windswept gothic opulence than its predecessors. Still bathing in morose gothic death metal, the album borrows from across PL’s varied canon. Thematically and aesthetically, the record has a pained and saturnine religious, liturgical overtone. The record has parts that are unapologetically funereal, with engulfing, slow doom crawls such as Salvation and the ominous, lurching epic grandiosity of The Precipice. Mercifully, though, PL’s long-standing tendency to meddle with leftfield flourishes makes this record a varied listening experience by breaking up the grinding nihilism. The closest they get to the Host era is Lay a Wreath Upon the World, with clean vocals and distantly Spanish style acoustic plucks that ascends with unexpected female shamanistic vocals. PL’s clean vocal era included some of their best work and the down-trodden, moody cinema of Savage Days which could have been lifted from the In Requiem era shows how restraint can impact as much as intensity. The singles, Serpent on the Cross, Tyrants Serenade, and Silence Like the Grave are among the strongest tracks both heavy, intense and sorrowfully melodic with powerful riffs and soaring hooklines.
On Ascension, Nick Holmes delivers his most convincing vocal performance in years. Executed with emotional conviction and a variety of styles ranging from death metal to James Hetfield-esue gravel through to hushed, reflective cleans sometimes within the same song. His vocal transitions have occasionally drawn criticism for deploying styles incongruously within a song, but that cannot be said on Ascension where these interplays are on point. This band have a stunning, original signature sound hinging around Greg Mackintosh’s weeping, sweeping melancholic leads and melodies allied to clever interplays. It’s sumptuously produced and textured with a cavernous but detailed sound that compliments the religious imagery and spiritual allegories. At an hour’s runtime, the record is right on the borderline of bloating but this is offset by the variance of shading and pace. It’s a compelling triumph that has come late in their careers of one of the most original metal bands.
Ascension is released via Nuclear Blast