INTERVIEW: LOST PARADISE IN CONVERSATION WITH GREGOR MACKINTOSH

Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi

No Barriers caught up with guitarist and songwriter Gregor Mackintosh from the English gothic metal band Paradise Lost to talk about ‘Ascension’ and Escapism

“The album and especially music: you don’t need money or luxury – you can just go there and listen to it – in your mind and it can transport you to different times and places,” stated Gregor Mackintosh.

The new album ‘Ascension’ from the English heavy metal band Paradise Lost is about taking that out of body experience through their music. And, the new album does take you away. The songs like ‘The Stark Town’ take you visions of Umberto Eco’s medieval abbeys on crisp autumn nights as the cold sets in and medieval friars chant in the intro whereas the gothic sounding song ‘Lay A Wreath Upon The World’ with its beautiful vocals and acoustic guitar melodies transport you to another world with its sonic beauty.

Paradise Lost’s 17th studio album, ‘Ascension’ is a powerful return to form for the veteran gothic metal band. It showcases their signature blend of death, doom, and gothic styles all wrapped up in some sweet melodies and it hits you from the first song. ‘The Serpent On The Cross’ is an earworm of a tune. “I like to write the short melody line first and I often hum it in,” said Gregor Mackintosh. “It’s the melody line that glues the song together. In ‘The Serpent On The Cross’ I brought that little motif of a tune into the introduction, the chorus and the end. It ties everything together. I think that’s what people really like to hear”.

The album ‘Ascension’ is a mix of heavy and serrated guitar riffs with melodic atmospheres driven through the bassline and drums. The music then determines the lyricism which is sombre and wrapped in extended metaphors of religious and profane imagery. The metaphors of the cross, graves, wreaths and ‘Savage Days’ are laced through the lyricism and delves into the contrasts of darkness and light in humanity’s thought processes. It is a wicked brew. “We are all atheists. We use religious metaphors because they are powerful. It’s evocative stuff,” explained Gregor Mackintosh. “Religion and Catholicism – there’s some intelligence there – but they always draw or get to the wrong conclusion”.

The wonderful songs ‘Tyrant’s Serenade’ and the bombastic ‘Silence Like The Grave’ really bring heavy thoughts about the state of world with a military sound underscoring them. “Something’s gotta break,” exclaimed Gregor Mackintosh. “Humanity just seems doomed to repeat ourselves throughout history. We just can’t seem to help ourselves. We chase the path to enlightenment or nirvana – and all cultures do it – but what we really need is that break. There are no words for it. But music can help ease people and help them escape”.

Paradise Lost comprises of vocalist Nick Holmes, drummer Jeff Singer, bassist Steve Edmondson, guitarists Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy and they want to take you away to somewhere else when you listen to the out of body experience that is ‘Ascension’. “When Nick and I write we try and bring the vocals and guitars together. It’s the core of it all. We want the cinematic and sensory feel to our music. The themes that come through are big: the idea of striving, building empires and for what? Everything leads to death,” said Gregor Mackintosh. “The world is a wicked place of glorious triumph and pitiful tragedy”.

The music and lyricism of the album’s core message as delivered in ‘Salvation’, ‘Deceivers’ and ‘Savage Days’: “centuries of pain” and “memories of torment” under a “God of malevolence” where human “striving leads to death”. Even the cover art of ‘Ascension’ reflects the extended metaphor of disturbed religious ideas. The cover is a painting by British artist George Watts and its gothic scared art called ‘The Court Of Death’ with the dominant image being an angel holding a baby. Angels are not known to be forgiving or pleasant creatures – just what does it have planned for the baby? “Well,” mused Gregor Mackintosh. “Have you found God or have you fooled yourself? Good art and music were in the past written in the name of religion. It’s entrenched but do we need it?”

What you do need to do is to listen to this gorgeous heavy, but atmospheric album. It has much to say on the times were are living in now and how to face it. ‘Ascension’ offers an escape, a reprieve from the now, and a place to let your imagination go.

Paradise Lost’s new album ‘Ascension’ is out on September 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.