PARADISE LOST - "Ascension"
Nuclear Blast Records, released on September 19, 2025
https://www.facebook.com/paradiselostofficial
https://www.nuclearblast.com/de
Paradise Lost – Ascension - Tracklist
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Serpent On The Cross
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Tyrants Serenade
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Salvation
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Silence Like The Grave
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Lay A Wreath Upon The World
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Diluvium
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Savage Days
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Sirens
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Deceivers
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The Precipice
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This Stark Town (Bonus Track)
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A Life Unknown (Bonus Track)
THE GOTHIC CATHEDRAL
If Doom and Gothic had architecture, Paradise Lost would be its master builders. "Ascension" would be its towering spires, which evoke something eternal, a cosmic design, an emotional resonance, a bombastic verticality of awe and contemplation.
Five years after the release of the critically acclaimed album "Obsidian", Paradise Lost return and surprise again and again and again. "Ascension" is their 17th studio album (published via Nuclear Blast), and, with this opus, PL show that they don't age into nostalgia: they simply don't age, they orchestrate ravenous force and amazing beauty AGAIN. There is a hybrid search for mighty force and elegiac beauty in Paradise Lost's career, and, in my opinion, this musical philosophy, which started with "Icon", has been fully and definitely embraced from their tenth album "Paradise Lost" on. Paradise Lost, while chasing beauty in despair, chase themselves and, in this way, they are able to hold their throne in the empyrean of dark Metal, they are able to remain at a height, which others can only dream of. Moreover, in the years between "Obsidian" and "Ascension" Nick Holmes and Greg Mackintosh have not stood idle: besides "Icon 30", which involved the whole band, the Strigoi and Host projects (albums "Viscera" and "IX") have just extremely sharpened their instincts.
The result is that Paradise Lost modulate between crushing despair and ethereal melancholy with surgical precision: Paradise Lost doesn’t just play their metal—they sculpt it, layer by layer.
"Ascension" leans heavily into religious imagery, into metaphors and into conjuring visions, and it's both grandiose and despairing, haunting and superb. But the sonic tapestry captures the listener with strong riffs too. The rhythm section anchors the compositions to force and fierceness with brooding weight, making no prisoners. Albums like The Plague Within and Medusa brought back growls and doom riffs, and now we have even a refined production and dynamic arrangements of those elements. Holmes’ vocals are indeed top of the top, finding their optimal way: versatile, commanding, capable of shifting from guttural to mournful within a single phrase, alternating between clean baritone vocals and death growls, often layered for dramatic effect.
if I am not wrong, in "Ascension" too, Paradise Lost work with minor keys, like D minor, E minor, and C# minor, which lend their music a naturally somber and melancholic tone. Anyway Greg Mackintosh’s lead guitar is reaching now new dimensions in all harmonic layerings and in the fierce solos *, giving even in the reiterated paths a paramount tone.
Aaron Aedy`s role remains foundational, but shows greater nuance because his rhythm work is able to span from being a protagonist to being more textural.
The lyrics on "Ascension" are steeped in religious symbolism and existential reflection, acting like evocative fragments, designed to perfectly resonate with the music.
Last but not least, "Ascension" features Guido Zima Montanarini on drums. He joined Paradise Lost officially in 2023, and although this year he departed the band, his playing will always be deeply embedded in the DNA of Ascension because Guido’s style brings the weight of doom metal as well as the lively and dynamic force of Death Metal.
Serpent On The Cross opens the album with a formidable ritualistic intensity and a diffuse yet menacing, almost Nordic atmosphere. A slow, crushing riff coils around Holmes’ vocals like a serpent—menacing yet sacred. The production is dense, evoking a sense of spiritual dread. Serpent On The Cross is a memorable song that, as the second single, propelled attention towards this album thanks to its groundbreaking essence. Very interesting here are the bass lines that compete with a relentless lead, with an imposing drumming, and with the compelling vocals.
Tyrants Serenade, which debuted as the third single in August 2025, is unmistakably influenced by Type O Negative in the verse, yet it soon develops an original and majestic chorus. Brutal yet melodic is another masterpiece of Ascension.. The guitars alternate between militant chugging and mournful leads, while the lyrics paint a portrait of corrupted divinity.
"Another winter again
Forlorn as memories torment
Hollow they seem, another daydream
But then, a silent lament
[Chorus]
So alone
Revealed the God of malevolence
Feel so cold alone
Through years, our destinies separate
Never let it show, never let it known"
Both songs Serpent On The Cross and Tyrants Serenade give a touch of icy, windy isolation. The instrumentation is perfect and cinematic, giving a three-dimensional perspective of mysterious landscapes.
Menacing and pounding is Silence Like The Grave, which has been the first single, published in June. It was already a triumph. This song pulses like a heartbeat and hits with its aggressive, paced iron rhythm. Drumming is excellent and acts as a counterweight to the majestic guitar signature of Greg Mackintosh.
Lay A Wreath Upon The World is able to have a cosmic breath supported by a young rhythmic guitar. It's an elegy without borders, enriched by the beautiful, ethereal vocals of Heather Thompson from Tapping The Vein. It's filmic, cinematographic, pictorial. And, as the fan-picked single, it has premiered its lyric video in "Ascension" `s release day.
Diluvium is a rhythmic apotheosis that reminds us of the first eras of the band, only more bombastic and intricately crafted.
The song Sirens has surprised me to the bone. It's the "summa summarum" of all Paradise Lost. It's an enjoyable contrast between Gothic despair and classic metal with just a drop of exotic taste. Sirens stands for Paradise Lost’s ability to fuse melodic elegance with metallic force. While vocals are mainly clear, the riffs are assertive and rhythmically tight. This track enchants with its harmonic grace while gripping the listener with metallic intensity. It’s gothic metal as it should be—where beauty is never soft, and heaviness never dull. Guido Zima's drums are outstanding: double-kick patterns, powerful tom-heavy fills, and intense cymbals elevate the song’s heaviness.
And as one of the typical Paradise Lost signatures, Sirens has an unmistakable, amazing introduction or 'call' with a pattern that will also be the brand of the song. Wonderful is the final layer with an almost abrupt stop that ends the song.
The smart use of a variety of instrumentation, which we can find in all songs, finds its peak in the sorrowful yet sharp The Precipice, maybe the album’s dramatic climax.
A Life Unknown, the second bonus track, closes the album with a savage midtempo that borders on uptempo, like Serpent On The Cross also does.
What am I feeling by listening to "Ascension"? I feel only perfection in this album. And I just feel the inevitability of the fact that in the midst of misery, ascension can happen for us all. If not today, then tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then one day.
Gothic metal as it was meant to be played. Leaning heavily on religious imagery and metaphor, it conjures up crisp Winter mornings and smoky Autumn evenings. Both bombastic and mournful. We hope you enjoy this, our 17th album.” Greg Mackintosh
10/10
dalia di giacomo