58. Paradise Lost - "Ascension"

The extraordinary thing about Paradise Lost is that (aside from a never-ending revolving door of drummers) it has remained the same four lads that gathered in Halifax in 1988 to create music that combined their loves of Iron Maiden and Sisters of Mercy. That thirst to create new music has never left them, and while other heritage acts put less and less emphasis on crafting new music, Paradise Lost have remained doggedly focused on expanding and refining their repertoire. This is album seventeen and continues their recent trend of focusing on the metal side of their persona. “Ascension” is chock full of seriously chunky riffs. Heavy, meticulously grating and pulsatingly pulverising. It would not be Paradise Lost without the despairing gloom, and it is a wonderfully downbeat album that is thick with desolation and hopelessness. Nobody does misery with such panache and whilst every bunch of Scandinavians and their pet husky are now doing goth metal, Paradise Lost remain the masters of the craft.