Paradise lost

The group was founded in 1988 in the city of Halifax in the UK . The name for the group was the poem of the same name by John Milton . The group needed to record only two demo tapes in order to get a contract for a full album. At the end of 1989, the group locked itself in the now legendary Academy Studios , which resulted in the 1990 debut album Lost Paradise , which was notable for its heavy sounding, slow pace of compositions, gloomy atmosphere and growling vocalist Nick Holmes. It instantly became Peaceville Records' best-selling release, and the band went on a European tour to open up with the death metal band Autopsy . Gothic's next 1991 album , recorded in the same style, sounded more melodic, in part due to the keyboard and soprano parts that appeared. Gothic brought the group wide fame. With this album, the group got to the pages of all music magazines and offers from various record companies followed. The company Music For Nations turned out to be the quickest of all, which took over the hands of the rising stars of heavy music. It was followed by the album Shades of God (1992). Nick Holmes's vocals became somewhat softer, and musically, the group rather moved towards the classical doom of the type Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus , only with a more extreme sound.

The next album, Icon , released in 1993, continued the stylistic changes begun in Shades of God . Compositions became more melodic and simple in structure, and Holmes growling gave way to raucous vocals. The resulting style did not fit into the framework of doom / death metal and was subsequently called Gothic metal . After the release of the album, the group was entrusted with leading the famous Dutch festival Dynamo Open Air , at which Paradise Lost performed before 100,000 fans. In the same year, two videos of the group appeared on the market at once, Music For Nations recorded one of the group’s last concerts, “finished” it with clips and released a cassette called Harmony Breaks (an excerpt from the concert can be seen here ). And Peaceville Records dug up a 1989 concert record in their archives and released it under the name Live Death . By the way, this cassette is not indicated on the official website and is currently a rarity. In 1994, the Gothic EP mini-album was released , which included re-recorded versions of two songs from Lost Paradise and two more from Gothic .

The group continued its active concert activity. In addition to conquering traditional metal markets, that is, Europe and the United States (in 1995 they were out of competition and won both the recognition of Metallica , who noticed them in 1992, and Pantera ), Paradise Lost managed to perform in countries such as Israel and South Africa . The intense tour had a heavy impact on drummer Matthew Archer, he left the band and was replaced by Lee Morris from the heavy / power band Marshal Law . The 1995 album , the Draconian Times, continued the tendency for sound to change, with more complex arrangements and the complete disappearance of death metal elements. This album brought the group to the list of the most popular English heavy bands. One of the ideas for creating the famous album was the desire of the musicians to experiment with Holmes' voice, which in some compositions from this release reminds of James Hetfield in the manner of singing. Here is how Gregor Mackintosh described this album in 2015:

“... The point is the right time and place, sometimes it is. As I said, you cannot get ahead of the audience. Our most successful sales album was the Draconian Times. Just because I went out at the right time in the right place. That's all. Everything happened before Internet downloads, in those days it was good to publish shitty metal of this kind. And yes, I suppose these are high-quality albums that still sound good, but at the same time, we are very lucky ”(a full interview in the author’s translation in Russian is available for reading at https://new.vk.com/plostukdoom ? w = wall-85309475_5450% 252Fall ).

In 1997, the album One Second was released , which was characterized by a sharp change in style even against the background of the fact that not a single album of the group was like the others. Now the sound of Paradise Lost could be described as gothic rock with the active use of keyboard and electronic effects. According to Greg, One Second is called so because it’s about that stage,

“... when you worry about your mortality. When you get older, you start to wonder 'where did this time go?' and it seems that 5 minutes have passed since we founded this group, and here we are all 60 years old doing our garbage. And when you are really old, you probably feel the same way, think about where the time has gone ... So, this old woman on the cover looks back at her life and thinks that everything happened in one second. ”

The guitarist explained the stylistic changes by the fact that with the release of the Dragon Times, people expected more changes in the sound of the group, but in fact it turned out to be changes relative to Icon (1993). With a second, the guys wanted to develop their ideas independently and independently of the listeners.

Nick Holmes sang in a clear voice. Many hits from the album, especially the eponymous One second, as well as Say just words and Mercy are still performed at concerts. There were changes in the appearance of the group - the musicians all, as one, replaced lush haire for short hairstyles. The live version of the album ( One Second Live ) was released on videotapes and subsequently reissued on DVD. The album was followed by a global tour, during which the musicians peered into Russia. On March 6, 1998, they played their concert in Moscow. The contract with Music For Nations ended in 1998 and the group was signed by one of the largest record companies - EMI . “Goodbye” Music For Nations decided to release a collection of the best things - Reflection , supplemented by three concert items. In the pauses between the tour, Nick Holmes took part in recording the solo album of singer Liv Christine Deus Ex Machina . He recorded part of the vocal parts for the song “3 A. M.”. Meanwhile, the French company Holy Records has prepared a tribute to Paradise Lost As We Die For ....

The next album - Host ( 1999 ) - went even further, samples and arpeggiators are actively used in the album, and the guitar sound on almost the entire album is processed so that it is often difficult to recognize the guitar in the sounding part, however, the group did not lose their signature melancholic atmosphere. Hits such as Nothing Sacred, Behind the Gray , So Much Is Lost, Made the Same, deserve the title of one of the best songs written by Paradise Lost. Host , like the subsequent Believe In Nothing (2001), was released on the EMI label major.

It should be noted that the group’s experiments, starting with the One Second album, did not appeal to all fans, from that moment the famous conversations and disputes about Paradise Lost started - for the album “Host” the group was called the new Depeche Mode for the eyes . Paradoxical or not, the sales of Host and Believe in Nothing, which seemed to be more accessible to the general public, were noticeably less than the best-selling Draconian Times. Believe In Nothing was the second and final album of Paradise Lost on the EMI label. This work stylistically gravitates to the previous release, but contains less electronics and more guitar (altrok and grunge) sound.

The 2002 album Symbol of Life was produced by Rhys Fulber ( Front Line Assembly , Fear Factory ) and was released on GUN, a division of BMG. The sound on the album is even heavier than on Believe In Nothing , but it hardly has much in common with the previous and old material of the group. Symbol Of Life makes extensive use of industrial electronic effects, tough modern nu-metal ( Isolate ) riffs and sampled drums. One thing remains unchanged: the signature melancholy atmosphere and Holmes texts. The tracks Erased and No Celebration are often present in modern concert set lists of the group. Very informative review about this and previous albums of the group on the Internet.

The self-titled album Paradise Lost (2005) marked a partial return to the “roots”, stylistically it can be described as a kind of fusion of old art ( Draconian times ) and later releases. The guitar sound again became prevailing in the music of the group, electronics almost went into oblivion. Holmes and Mackintosh again acquired long hair, as if hinting that the return to the old had taken place seriously and for a long time. The guys responded positively about their tenth full-length format, calling it “unifying” past and future work.

In Requiem (2007) is characterized by an even more obvious return to the sound of the period “Icon”, “Draconian Times”, only in the modern version and with some preservation of the achievements of the period 1997-2002. At the same time, In Requiem has become the best-selling since the Draconian Times. Musicians described it as "the beginning of something new."

In August 2008, drummer Jeff Singer announced his decision to leave the group due to the fact that his musical career has become burdensome for him and does not allow him to devote time to communicating with his family. Some time later, Adrian Erlandsson ( Cradle Of Filth , The Haunted ) became the new drummer of the group.

In September-October 2009, the group released the twelfth studio album, called Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us . Guitarists Greg Mackintosh and Aron Aady first picked up seven-string guitars, and the producer of the disc was Jens Bogren . The sound of Paradise Lost has become even harder than on the In Requiem album - at least the musicians themselves admit that they have not written such aggressive songs for a long time. Gothic Metal is still the main and integral component of the style of the group, but on Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, elements of Doom Metal and even Heavy Metal are clearly visible in separate songs.

Nick Holmes: “As for the heavy sound of the last two albums, it is primarily a matter of studio implementation, and not the features of songs and compositions. On the three albums that preceded In Requiem , the vocals were in the spotlight - he was brought forward, and the guitars and drums, on the contrary, were muffled. At In Requiem, we turned to a distinctive metallic sound, with emphasis on guitars and a loud rhythm section. And on Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us went even further by unscrewing the handles to the full. With each album you strive to express yourself most fully, to achieve perfection - and sometimes it works. Sometimes not. But we really tried to record one of the most extreme discs in the history of Paradise Lost. ” ^[5]

In early 2010, Paradise Lost was forced to temporarily change the lead guitar player due to family problems Greg Mackintosh , who was unable to continue the concert tour in support of the new album. Milli Evans (part-time keyboardist in the Terrorvision group) became the temporary guitarist of the band.

The year 2011 was marked for the group and its fans by the re-release of the Draconian Times album, flavored with the release of the live DVD “Draconian Times MMXI” (2011). The public’s positive reaction to the mini-tour in support of the band’s classic album on reviews by the musicians themselves “exceeded all our expectations”, and also allowed Gregor Mackintosh to remember how and why he played in the old days this way and not otherwise. It is worth adding that the Dragon Times after the re-release sound really cleaner: remastered the album to the benefit, and early unreleased songs will please any connoisseur of PL.

As a result of all this, on April 23, 2012, the release of the band's next full-length album, Tragic Idol , became the 13th in a row for the musical group. Most music reviews, reviews and interviews with the group about the new work indicate that this album is one of the strongest in the history of the group. Aaron Aedi has already called Tragic Idol “best” and “beloved,” and Greg Mackintosh feels it as a continuation of Icon (1993) - Tragic Idol is so close to him in style and atmosphere. In addition, anyone who knows the work of these natives of the United Kingdom will agree that the Fear Of Impending Hell is strikingly similar in structure to the Hallowed Land from the Draconian Times mentioned above, and the epic The Glorious End resembles Jaded. which ends the Draconian Times. In general, the album turned out to be tougher and more melodic than its predecessor. Key samples in the body of the song are present only in the old school Doom Metal track “Solitary One”, with which the Tragic Idol starts, and Doom elements combined with the classic heavy metal (listen to the same “In This We Dwell”) this release carries a lot more. So, for example, the second song called “Crucify” was written under the influence of musicians of the hard rock grandfathers (as well as the founders of the pre-doom) Black Sabbath under the undisguised musicians.

In April 2012, the group began a large-scale tour in the UK with the support of Insomnium, and also for the first time since 1995, came to Australia where it was a great success. According to Decibel magazine, which dedicated Paradise Lost to a special issue of the issue, the only thing the band’s leader and vocalist Nick Holmes regrets is that the musicians “didn’t have time to orient themselves and prepare the audience in order to be known in the States.” "It's a shame. You can’t always give concerts to thousands of halls, but when you are known about you in the country, you can take a tour, ”the musician admitted in an interview with Decibel Magazine for April-May 2012 in North America . A little later, the group gave a series of concerts in the States as part of “Barge To Hell”, and also acted as a special guest with Katatonia and Devin Townsend Project during the tour “Epic Kings and Idols tour in the USA” . An attentive observer undoubtedly noticed a number of comments on You Tube and foreign Internet portals about heavy music left by people who attended those concerts.

Their meaning is reduced mainly to the following:

a) Paradise Lost is still a band barely known in the States (and, nevertheless, already has its own audience)

b) Many Americans say that “this vocalist would have smashed James Hetfield from Metallica to the stage if they performed on the same stage. But the music is impressive, yes ” , etc.

One way or another, this semblance of an analysis of the group’s creative activity in the United States cannot be called fully objective, and therefore, let us draw the reader’s attention to the fact that the group’s live performances in 2012-2013 became

a) Tougher and more aggressive (for example, As I Die on one of the metal fest sounds perfectly by today's standards, in comparison with the original composition from the 1992 album)

b) Nick Holmes, at the same time, began to lose his voice more often, explaining this by lack of sleep and fatigue. In addition, it is known that frequent flights from country to country lead to a "restructuring" of the human body systems (or rather, a speedy and by no means always qualitatively positive attempt to adapt it to changing conditions) amid frequent changes in time zones and violation of an individual's biorhythms. Simply put, constant stress leads to exhaustion, which becomes harder and harder to compensate for with a dense rhythm of life (concert schedule).

A quarter century of the group's existence

On March 26, 2013, Nick Holmes in his Twitter account announced that on this day PL will be 25 years old ! In parallel with this news, another appeared: the vocalist of the illustrious team registered for “ jastwing ” in order to collect £ 1000 (in fact, the amount of fees quickly exceeded one thousand) and make a donation in favor of children with deep mental, emotional and other psychological limitations. The performer promised to transfer the collected donations to an organization engaged in art and music therapy with such children. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Russia did not have the technical ability to help the vocalist, but foreign fans of the group and many many others (including Jeff Singer and Adrian Erlandsson) were able to help the singer.

The performer, who decided to take part in a charity cycling cross-race, said that Century Media Records will release a large-scale compilation of the most notable albums of the label of recent times, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the label. As part of this collection, the 2007 Paradise Lost album will be re-released. Thus, Century Media gives a gift to both itself and the group with its listeners, so that they can celebrate the quarter-century existence of the collective. It is known that In Requiem will be re-released along with 8 live tracks.

“I remember our first rehearsal at Studio X at Dean Clough, Halifax. It was on Saturday, March 26th, between the 13th and the 16th hours of the day. We had several ideas floating in the air, and we decided to arrange everything by writing our first opus, “Blood Filled Eyes”, and starting to write the second, “Plans Of Desolation”, and I can only call these songs unique. After all this we went to the pub to celebrate. Three and a half months later, we played live, supporting Re-Animator at the legendary Bratford Frog and Toad Night Club. We had half an hour, and we played 15 minutes, with one song twice, as well as a cover of Sodom, which we did not really learn, and Nick Holmes did everything so that we could survive the remaining time. ”

- Aaron Aedi recalls the first days of musical formation ...

On June 17, 2013, a big show was held as part of the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards with the support of Christina Scabbia ( Lacuna Coil ) and Gus G (Firewind, Ozzy Osbourne), so the set list will be very special. In addition, Paradise Lost will play 4 holiday concerts as part of the anniversary mini-tour " Tragic Illusion " in their UK. Nick himself says the following about this:

“25 years is a long time, and outwardly we can look like falling apart, but playing music for so many years keeps us young in our hearts, and I really believe that a young / youthful spirit is that thing I can’t buy in the pub. We have written many albums, played many concerts; we are older, but no wiser, and there is a really serious possibility that we can play a song that you would never expect from us [hear]. So, please join the celebrations with us, including our largest UK headliner show on this date. ”

The Plague Within (2015) Album

On June 1, 2015, Paradise Lost released a new studio album, titled "The Plague Inside." Comments Nick Holmes, who wanted to achieve greater vocal diversity on this record.

“It has a lot of death metal, a lot of gothic metal, and even songs similar to themes from the 2000s. This is a real mess from a diverse PL, and it works. There are several songs that could be written in 1989, several really old doom-and-death songs that will surprise a couple of people when they hear them. ”

Indeed, the track "Beneath Broken Earth" is the slowest in the history of the group, while "Flesh From Bone", on the contrary, is the fastest of all that the musicians wrote in their career. In these songs, Nick sings in a completely deathly voice, while in the rest he also brings clean or hoarse vocals. Another interesting fact about PL’s work on TPW is that the musicians went over 15 different versions of the song “An Eternity Of Lies” before settling on the final one. A beautiful orchestral introduction makes this song a multi-instrumental anthem, as it has with songs like “Fear Of Impending Hell” and “Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us”. When asked why the group chose an even darker and heavier musical course, the lead guitarist replied:

“They just felt it was time. Of course, we are still asked, “Is it because of the Bloodbath ? Is it because of Vallenfyre ? ” No. I founded Wallenfire in 2010, we could not approach this until today. With Bludbaz, he only agreed to do the vocals after we started writing this record. So, none of them is directly responsible for any of these moves. ”

The theme of the album revolves around what is symbolically depicted on the cover of the new record - insanity. Looking at the picture, we see the collapse of the personality, its futile struggle against the disease, the fear of death of the tormented person and his attempt to postpone his own death, choosing to stay in illusions ... In general, the release received enthusiastic assessments by both the audience and music critics. As a result of such a warm welcome, a 7-week concert race in Europe was organized. In the summer of next year, the group emphasized performances in the framework of the festival season, having visited many large festivals and open-airs. Significant events of that period were two unique performances, during which Paradise Lost performed their whole and completely their second album of 1991 release ( Roadburn 2016 and Hellfest 2016 festivals ). Incidentally, the PL concert numbers since 2015 are no worse than many studio tracks of that time, thanks to Holmes for the work. It is also remarkable that such an old hit as the aforementioned “As I Die” began to be performed again in growling at concerts. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXGt7Kbgg5s )

The British song “Victim Of The Past” from the album “Plague Inside” was first presented to the public in September 2014, playing a concert with the support of a symphony orchestra and choir in the ancient theater of Plovdiv , Bulgaria. Such an experience was amazing for musicians, and the composition itself in the final version that got on the album was finalized: for example, the lyrical component of the studio recording is different from the concert one. The concert was filmed and released on DVD titled Symphony for the Lost a year later.

In the summer of 2016, Adrian Erlandsson announced his departure from the group. As follows from a short statement posted on his page on FB, when PL released The Plague Within he was in the middle of a tour with At the gates and The Haunted . He thanks everyone, both management and the group for all the time and excellent performances together, is proud of the common work, but rightly believes that since he cannot devote all his time to one of his favorite groups, then it makes sense to find someone who is capable of this . It turned out to be Finn Walteri Vairianen, who replaced Adrian at concerts after the release of "Plague" in the world. At the same time, I must say, Erlandsson warned Nick and Greg in advance of his excessive concert work, so they managed to find a replacement for him.

Interesting Facts

In the early 90s, during a tour of Norway, several black metal fans , in particular, the Burzum group, launched an attack on the group’s bus, considering it to be “pro-Christian”. According to Paradise Lost vocalist Nick Holmes, they “drew a couple of flipped stars on the dirty side of the bus and knocked out the windshield, that's all. We talked about this a million times, but people want to believe that it was something grand. In fact, nothing special happened ” ^[6] .

And here is how Mr. Holmes commented on the musical development of his brainchild in one of the video interviews :

“A couple of years ago, Greg began to play death metal again, so we can say that we - Paradise Lost and Vallenfyre - went through a full circle and closed it. When we started, we can say that there were 6 heavy metal groups, and then their number grew more and more. We still return to Black Sabbath in music because they remain the best. Now it’s hard for young students to find a really good group, because there are a lot of “heavy” teams. This is the biggest difference between how it was and how it is now. We never pay too much attention to the direction of the music we play. If you do not do what you like, then the output will be nonsense. Life is a constant change, that’s what I think. Bands that play the same thing for 20 years are boring. ”

Paradise Lost Music Preferences

In their young years, the future legends of English metal fans from the first wave of Death Metal, were fond of punk rock and heavy metal bands.

The most authoritative vocalist from the whole sea of ​​metal music performers for Holmes is the great and terrible Ozzy Osbourne (for the first time, PL performed with the legendary singer of the Black Sabbat at one of the festivals in 1995, and later he invited them to Ozzfest). Mr. Holmes also appreciates the voice of no less famous than Ozzy, but, unfortunately, the late Ronnie James Dio . The artist respects the work of Iron Maiden , however, as well as the album of Metallica - Ride the Lightning . Macintosh described the contemporary work of musicians from Metallica evasively, noting that the current Metallica “has long since lost touch with reality” ^[7] .

Greg and Nick love the early albums of Celtic Frost (now disbanded), as well as the album of the group that died with Peter Steele (leader and vocalist of the gothic metal band from the USA) Type O Negative called October Rust . Both teams intersected several times as part of their concert events, and in 2007 TON performed with the support of HIM on the same stage with eminent British. "Paradise" is also friends with participants in the stoner-doom \ rock of the Cathedral team that has sunk into oblivion .

• Nick Holmes - vocalist
• Greg Mackintosh - lead guitarist, keyboard player
• Aaron Aedy (Aaron Aedy) - rhythm guitarist
• Steve Edmonson - bass player
• Walteri Vayrynen (Waltteri Vayrynen, since 2016) - drummer

Former Group Members

• Lee Morris (1995-2004) - drummer , backing vocalist
• Matthew Archer (1988-1995) - drummer
• Jeff Singer (2004-2008) - drummer , session drummer (2009, 2012, 2013, 2014)
• Adrian Erlandsson (Adrian Erlandsson, 2009—2016)

Session Musicians

• Peter Damen - studio drummer for Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
• Millie Evans - temporary guitarist in concerts in 1999, 2005, 2010, keyboardist and backing vocalist at a concert and DVD Draconian Times MMXI (2011)

• Lost Paradise ( 1990 )
• Gothic ( 1991 )
• Shades of God ( 1992 )
• Icon ( 1993 )
• Draconian Times ( 1995 )
• One Second ( 1997 )
• Host ( 1999 )
• Believe in Nothing ( 2001 )
• Symbol of Life ( 2002 )
• Paradise Lost ( 2005 )
• In Requiem ( 2007 )
• Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us ( 2009 )
• Tragic Idol ( 2012 )
• The Plague Within ( 2015 )
• Medusa ( 2017 )

• Małgorzata Gołębiewska. Raj dla cyników (Polish) . - Polska : Print Group, 2012 .-- S. 476. - ISBN 9788393526147 .

• The official Paradise Lost Myspace page
• Paradise Lost on Encyclopaedia Metallum
• Paradise Lost Profile at Last.fm