Paradise Lost are set to unleash their latest offering, Ascension, on Sept 19 via Nuclear Blast Records, marking their first new music since 2020. Guitarist Gregor Mackintosh shared insights into the creative journey behind the album, revealing a process that was both extended and ultimately transformative.
“It was a lot longer,” Mackintosh admits with a chuckle, referring to the gap between records. The pandemic significantly impacted their touring schedule for the previous album, consuming two years. In the interim, the band also engaged in a couple of side projects. When he eventually started writing for Ascension about three years ago, he found himself scrapping everything he had initially created. “I had about six or seven songs, and I just scratched the whole lot because I didn’t like it. It was the total wrong vibe for me.”
After waiting a year and completing a tour, Mackintosh revisited the songwriting process. This hiatus proved crucial. “I think it was the right thing to do, because my outlook had completely changed,” he reflects. This shift in perspective was partly influenced by the band’s re-recording of their Icon album, which, as Mackintosh notes, “changed my outlook on songwriting a little bit and guitar playing. It took me back to a style that I hadn’t really thought about in a long time, and I didn’t realize how much my style had changed over the years.” At a time when doom, trad-metal, and melodic metal are all coming back into fashion, revisiting the classic album gave him some great ideas for a brand-new, still classic-sounding, record. From that point, the creative flow was rapid, with the writing coming together in the fall and winter of last year.
Recording for Ascension began in January in the north of Sweden. “It was like two, three feet deep and freezing, but it was in the middle of nowhere in this old church converted into a studio that Watain and Mayhem recorded in.” They laid down the drums there, taking advantage of the fantastic live room. Mackintosh then recorded all guitars, bass, keyboards, backing vocals, and incidental parts at his own studio before moving to Uppsala, Sweden, for the main vocals. The album was then mixed and mastered, bringing it to its current finished state.
The thematic core of Ascension delves into profound concepts, a direct result of their decision to restart the writing process. “Because we scrapped the whole lot, and then went back to brass tacks, we actually went back in time and thought about the name Paradise Lost from the book,” Mackintosh explains. This led them to revisit religious imagery and themes of good versus evil, life and death, and the pursuit of enlightenment, ultimately inspiring the album’s title, Ascension.
Despite the band members being atheists, Mackintosh acknowledges their shared human curiosity: “We’re no different to anyone else in that we question a lot of things in the big picture.” He cites the first single as an example, noting it’s “about war, but not, not the specific war. It’s kind of the rise and fall of empires and why things repeat and why things fail and why some succeed.”
The imagery for Ascension also aligns with these weighty themes. The band sought out an image that resonated with their musical and lyrical direction, ultimately discovering George Frederick Watts’ Victorian-era painting, “The Court of Death.” Mackintosh found deep meaning in the artwork, describing it as featuring “this serene figure in the middle that seemed like they had achieved some kind of Nirvana, and the characters around seem all wrapped with grief and chaos, almost.” This perfectly fit the title Ascension and complemented the desired Baroque color palette of reds, greens, and golds. The experience of re-recording Icon was pivotal in shaping their current sound, making Mackintosh realize how much their playing style had incrementally changed over the years. “Revisiting that, it made me kind of rethink how we did things now and maybe incorporate some things that were forgotten from the past and brought into the music today.”
Looking ahead, Paradise Lost have an extensive touring schedule planned, particularly in Europe. Before the album’s release, a third single and accompanying performance video are due out in mid-August. Following the album’s debut and some in-store signings in the U.K., the band will embark on the first of what is anticipated to be three legs of a European tour, with the first leg kicking off in October.
For North American fans, there’s good news on the horizon. “In January next year, we’ve been confirmed for the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise,” Mackintosh says, “and we’re going to try and tie in a few East Coast shows in the States with that.” He also hopes for a full North American tour later in 2025, though plans are still being solidified.
Despite Ascension not yet being released, the topic of the next album inevitably arose. Mackintosh confirmed that there are no immediate plans, and the band intends to take their time. “Taking five years between records this time made us realize that’s actually a good thing,” he explains. “Having that breathing space where you don’t have a label saying you’ve got to bring a record out at this time or that time. It’s kind of nice to be able to take your time and think about how you want things to be.”
This unhurried approach allows for artistic evolution. “Your viewpoints change,” he notes, adding that rushing albums together can lead to them becoming “extensions of each other, if you know what I mean, which is kind of boring.” For now, the sole focus remains on Ascension.
Ascension is out today, and you can order it from Nuclear Blast Records. Follow Paradise Lost on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Ville Jurrikkala
