51:02 // September 19, 2025 // Nuclear Blast
Paradise Lost are mainstays of metal, no doubt about it. Well over three decades after bursting out of the gate alongside their “Peaceville Three” brethren as doom metal luminaries (doominaries???) and pioneers of the Gothic metal scene, they’ve trod a whole lot of sonic ground, but given their sprawling body of work, true misses are impressively rare. At this point, a release from the band can be expected to be at least solid, and more often than not, downright excellent.
My confidence in these expectations wavers a bit more than usual with Ascension - this isn’t because the aging group has been falling into diminishing returns over the last decade (indeed, the retro doom crunch of 2015’s The Plague Within saw the group revitalized, and 2017’s Medusa, if less immediately fantastic, is also a deeply satisfying record), and certainly not because their immediately previous offering was a dud - 2020’s Obsidian could well be the band’s greatest LP ever. Any trepidation I do feel really comes from that fact - Obsidian wrapped up the band’s career in a near-perfect bow, incorporating tasteful elements of every era within the Paradise Lost oeuvre while combining them gracefully into something which felt distinct and new. It would’ve been a perfect swan song, but a whole five years later, Paradise Lost have vowed not to rest on laurels and keep pushing on. Good for them, but the decision seems primed for disappointment.
Ascension does suffer a bit in comparison to Obsidian, as it turns out. This is another album which amply borrows from previous epochs of the Paradise Lost sonic evolution - some gritty death-doom here, some melodic balladry there, some oh-so-close to James Hetfield vocals over there - but it feels like less of a coherent and unique statement when taken as a whole. This isn’t to say that it’s not a rock-solid release - there’s some absurdly strong tracks here which at least deserve consideration against the band’s best, and the lows are still well above the flood zone, but ultimately this basically feels like a conventional “Paradise Lost album” - a very good thing, but not exactly a standout within a laudable discography either.
The first half of the tracklist is very impressive. The pummeling “Serpent on the Cross” is a deliciously satisfying opener, “Tyrants Serenade” is a moody anthem, “Salvation” is a brilliant ripper, and “Silence Like The Grave” has serious groove. “Lay a Wreath Upon the World” might stall the momentum a bit with its more emotional and lighter arrangement, but is ultimately a strong track, while leading into a bit more faltering second half of the record. “Diluvium” and “Deceivers”, in particular, fail to stand out, although this run is bolstered by the sorrowful “Savage Days” and the faster “Sirens”, which hews back towards the posture of Draconian Times. Closer “The Precipice” is one of the strongest tracks, the relatively stately vibe of its heaviness proving a suitable end point.
Unsurprisingly for a band that have fairly consistently functioned as apostles of gloom for decades, Ascension isn’t really a cheery listen, but for all its intoning of decay and catastrophe, it still manages to be a pretty fun time - the guitar solos, in particular, are widespread and enjoyable, while tariffs haven’t interrupted the riff supply, and Nick Holmes’ vocals sound as good as ever. It’s hard to imagine any fans of the band not being satisfied by the results here - Paradise Lost certainly demonstrated that they still have gas in the tank. When assessed against the higher bar of their previous top releases (for this reviewer, Icon, The Plague Within, and Obsidian), it’s clear this one isn’t quite on the same level, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable stuff from a band which refuses to be reduced to nostalgia act status. I, for one, won’t ask for more.
8.0/10