an approach which continued to develop until there was nearly nothing left of the Paradise Lost I once adored. I won’t now spend paragraphs bemoaning how this masterful band fell into decline… just listen to ‘One Second’, ‘Host’ and ‘Believe in Nothing’. Actually, don’t, you’ll regret it. Thankfully though, 2005’s ‘Paradise Lost’ heralded a return to old values and vibes, a return which in my opinion really started to bear fruit on 2009’s ‘Faith Divides Us…’ got better on 2012’s ‘Tragic Idol’, and reached old, demonic, heights on 2015’s ‘The Plague Within’. Thank the dark ones for the homecoming of our wayward sons!

So, what about “Obsidian?” Well, it’s actually pretty good. ‘Darker Thoughts’ opens up the album gently. In a way the opening reminds me of ‘The Wall’-era Pink Floyd but when the beat kicks in it sounds more like early Within Temptation. Odd how a band can end up sounding like a band they influenced. Not really! Despite Holmes gutteral voice sounding fantastic, I don’t really like the song though, it’s too sameish throughout, too chorusey. ‘Fall From Grace’ opens up like old Paradise Lost… goosebumps… and has a syncopated verse which grooves nicely. Uncharacteristically the chorus doesn’t seem to be the driving force behind this song. At the 3m mark we get the first glimpse of interwoven single-note guitar pieces which so characterised their sound in the early days. This song starts well but seems to get lost along the way. ‘Ghosts’ could easily have been plugged into a Sisters Of Mercy album. I actually really like it’s up-tempo nature and the guitar play, although a few of the melodies and riffs promise more than they actually deliver.

‘The Devil Embraced’… the opening of this song is pure, unadulterated, brilliance… it sucks you in, it builds, it promises and it delivers, and when Holmes opens his voice up you just know this song is going to go to dark, cold places, and it does. I’m not a big fan of Holmes’ clean voice but he nails it on this track. The church organ at 3:40 is simple genius. ‘Forsaken’ exemplifies one of the things that I’ve always loved about PL, namely the way that notes seem to hide in their riffs and then surface unexpectedly. It’s an art and you won’t hear them unless you listen closely. This song is also very mid-80’s goth-sounding. I like it though, for it’s simplicty of structure. ‘Serenity’ is not really my cup of tea although the intermezzo at 3m and subsequent build is typically brilliant. I really like ‘Ending Days’. It starts off very calmly with Heather Mackintosh accompanying Nick Holmes, very atmospheric. ‘Hope Dies Young’ reminds me of The Cult in places. This is a candidate for the best song on the album. ‘Ravenghast’ opens brilliantly and I love it’s vibe, I love the twin guitars. It’s definitely my favourite song and it’s riff is ‘dirty, mean and mighty unclean’, to quote Mr. Scott and the way Holmes growls ‘Dead’ and ‘Die’ just make me shiver. Yeah baby!

There are two bonus tracks on the deluxe edition: ‘Hear The Night’ has everything that’s best about PL… those riffs, heaven! The build up, demonic! Listen at 2:40, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! It would have been the best song on the album and should have been, but it’s only on the deluxe edition. This is the shit if you’re a fan of the early work. ‘Defiler’ starts off a bit oddly with vox that sound like they don’t really fit the riff. Don’t like this song at all, except for the chorus.

All in all, this album is another pretty good outing from my erstwhile favourite band. It doesn’t reach the heights of their 2015 release (imho, the best since ‘Draconian Times’) but it’s clearly a Paradise Lost album and it delivers what you expect from them, largely, and that is always a good thing. I’m not sure about the production. The drums sound a bit thin to my (fucked up) ears and sometimes I get the impression that they’re not really doing anything for the dynamics of the songs. The guitars may, in places be too forward in the mix too. These are choices though, choices made by the band, and that is their prerogative. This is how they wanted the album to sound. I love the bass sound, slightly distorted in places, buzzing like a saw in others, and Holme’s voice is really very, very good on this album. Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy’s guitar work is, as always, brilliant. It’s so well thought out! Over the years this band has meant so much to me and been a huge influence on my own musical life. I am so happy that they are once more walking the path that they were destined to be on. ‘Obsidian’ was released on May 15th, 2020.