PARADISE LOST Is Planning To Release New Single This Month, Says NICK HOLMES

In a recent interview with El Cuartel Del Metal, vocalist Nick Holmes of British gothic metal pioneers PARADISE LOST spoke about the status of the follow-up to their latest album, “Obsidian”, which was released in May 2020 via Nuclear Blast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re just kind of leisurely recording our new album. We’ve been writing it for the last year. And then we’ve sort of been doing shows in between — festivals, summer festivals last year. I mean, I’m recording later on this month. I think most of the stuff’s recorded musically now, so I’ve gotta do the vocals. And then after that, we’re kind of busy now all year — the rest of the year we’re gonna be full on with plenty of things going on. So, yeah, it’s all starting to kind of build up.”

Asked if fans can expect the new PARADISE LOST album this year, Nick said: “Yeah. Well, the first single’s out around May the 16th, I believe. So, yeah, I’m guessing it’s kind of towards the end of the year [that the full album will arrive], I guess.”

In a previously published interview with Alejandrosis, PARADISE LOST guitarist Aaron Aedy stated about the band’s next LP: “It’s not fully mixed yet, but it’s recorded.” Asked if he could give fans some details about the musical direction of the new PARADISE LOST material, Aaron said: “No. It’s like opening your presents before Christmas. No, I don’t wanna go into the new album too much just yet, ’cause I’ll wait to see what it’s like when it’s mixed. It’s almost finished, but not quite.”

This past March, PARADISE LOST guitarist Greg Mackintosh told Chile’s PowerOfMetal.cl that the band’s new LP would likely be released “September time.” He added: “It’s been the longest time we’ve ever had between albums. But that’s kind of because of the pandemic as well… So shit happens. And, yeah, hopefully it’ll come out September, October time this year.”

As previously reported, PARADISE LOST will embark on “The Devil Embraced” North American tour later this month. The trek will kick off on May 16 at the Milwaukee Metal Fest and conclude on May 24 at Maryland Deathfest.

Earlier this month, PARADISE LOST announced the dates for the first leg of its “Ascension Of Europe Tour 2025”. Italian band MESSA will be direct support on all dates, with HIGH PARASITE opening on the U.K. dates and LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE on select mainland Europe shows.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their fourth album, “Icon”, PARADISE LOST re-recorded the LP for a special new release. There was also “an extra special vinyl” version of the album, both of which were made available in December 2023.

“Icon 30” was a totally re-recorded version of “Icon”, and PARADISE LOST once again worked with longtime collaborator and producer Jaime Gomez Arellano.

PARADISE LOST recorded the vocals and drums for “Icon 30” at Jaime‘s studio Arda Recorders in Porto, Portugal. The rest of the album was completed at Mackintosh‘s Black Planet Studios. “Icon 30” also featured brand new artwork created by Scott Robinson and new liner notes from Kerrang!‘s Nick Ruskell.

“Icon” marked a departure from the death-doom sound of PARADISE LOST‘s early work and was the last album to feature Matthew Archer on drums.

In February 2018, “Icon” was inducted into the Decibel “Hall Of Fame”, with the magazine naming it influential to the development of the gothic metal subgenre.

In March 2023, PARADISE LOST welcomed Guido Zima Montanarini as their official new drummer.

In September 2022, Finnish drummer Waltteri Väyrynen left PARADISE LOST to join OPETH. At the time, he issued a statement saying that his decision involved “absolutely no bad blood or drama whatsoever.”

Formed in Halifax, West Yorkshire, in 1988, PARADISE LOST were unlikely candidates for metal glory when they slithered from the shadows and infiltrated the U.K. underground. But not content with spawning an entire subgenre with early death/doom masterpiece “Gothic” nor with conquering the metal mainstream with the balls-out power of 1995’s “Draconian Times”, they have subsequently traversed multiple genre boundaries with skill and grace, evolving through the pitch-black alt-rock mastery of 1990s classics “One Second” and “Host” to the muscular but ornate grandeur of 2009’s “Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us” and “Tragic Idol” (2012),with the nonchalant finesse of grand masters. The band’s “The Plague Within” (2015) and “Medusa” (2017) albums saw a much-celebrated return to brutal, old-school thinking, via two crushing monoliths to slow-motion death and spiritual defeat.