Album review: Paradise Lost – Ascension

Even in their unwrinkled youth, Paradise Lost sounded a lot like grumpy old bastards. As the Yorkshire death-doom icons have sunk further and further into the grey of elder-statesmanship, however, they seem to be transcending onto another plane of musical miserabilism. Beauty and nobility have always been hallmarks, but on this first album in five years there is an uncannily celebratory feel amongst even the most oppressive and funereal sounds, a diabolically nihilist playfulness that feels authentically fresh.

Stepping back from the gothier flourishes of 2020’s excellent Obsidian, Ascension marks a return to the stonier textures of old. Titanic opener Serpent On The Cross wreaths a gnashing death-metal core with Gregor Mackintosh’s gorgeous six-string melodies, like flowers on a crumbling war memorial, while Tyrant’s Serenade injects a lethal dose of classic Nick Holmes swagger: ‘Laughter, glances of second chances, but then / A darkness descends!’ Silence Like The Grave emerges from a brassy intro into a headbanging thrash riff at half speed before the gleefully punchy Sirens mixes in a cheesy dollop of mid-era Metallica.

Bolder moments are better still, across the board. Gregor’s cheeky appropriation of Chopin’s Marche Funèbre on the magnificent, seven-minute Salvation, for instance, is a standard of showboating that precious few other outfits could even dream of pulling off. The build from folky minimalism to wailing tragedy on Lay A Wreath Upon The World is so majestically proggy it takes the breath away. Adrenaline-spiking late highlight Deceivers hits like a midnight sprint through a cemetery then this Stark Town comes on as a compellingly claustrophobic ode to some callous municipality at the end of the world. Halifax, probably.

Burning out rather than fading away, stomping closer A Life Unknown is one of the shorter tracks on offer, but it packs its 250 seconds with razorblade shimmer and fist-pumping defiance. Even more striking is how quickly the record seems to get there. With 12 tracks clocking in at over an hour, Ascension is a truly substantial body of work, but it’s executed with an almost ghostly lightness of touch. Evidence of artists who have mastered their dark craft and another late-career triumph from one of metal’s most enduringly brilliant bands.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: My Dying Bride, Unto Others, Opeth

Ascension is released on September 19 via Nuclear Blast