Paradise Lost (band)
Encyclopedia
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band that formed in 1988 in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...

, England.

History

Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes writes as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal...

 style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements. However, with the release of the seminal albums Icon (1993) and Draconian Times (1995), Paradise Lost also became known as pioneers of the gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...

 subgenre. In accordance with the change in musical approach, vocalist Nick Holmes changed his singing style. He used a death grunt on the band's first three albums, but on Icon refined his voice to have a cleaner tone. Later (circa 1997), the band began experimenting with electronic styles but after four albums reverted again to gothic metal.

Their line-up has remained stable for such a long-standing heavy metal band, consisting of singer Nick Holmes, guitarists Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy, and bassist Steve Edmondson. Holmes and Mackintosh are the principal composers, with almost all of the band's songs credited to them. During the years, the band has only changed drummers, with original member Matthew Archer replaced in 1994 by ex-Marshall Law drummer Lee Morris
Lee Morris (musician)
Born in 1970 in Wolverhampton, Lee came from a musical family and started playing the drums at six years of age. He learnt his instrument from his dad and spent many hours during his early years playing along with various records from the family record collection...

 In March 2004, Morris left the band. Jeff Singer
Jeff Singer
Jeff Singer is a British musician and former drummer of Paradise Lost.Singer has recorded three albums with Blaze...

 took Morris' place and has played on all subsequent releases, though he was not listed as a permanent band member until the release of the single "The Enemy
The Enemy (single)
"The Enemy" is a single by Paradise Lost from their 2007 album In Requiem.-Music video:The music video for the song, filmed on the Crimean peninsula in Yalta by Ukrainian director Edward 209, features the band, among other men, executed by a firing squad on a muddy field...

" in 2007. In a recent video interview, Mackintosh and Holmes revealed that Singer had already auditioned for the band when Archer left, but they chose Morris instead because "[Singer] had a pink drumkit".

Early on, Paradise Lost were inspired by Kreator
Kreator
Kreator is a thrash metal band from Essen, Germany, formed in 1978, but formalized in 1982 under the name Tormentor. They originally performed a speed metal style with Venom influences. Their style of music is similar to their compatriots Destruction and Sodom, the other two big German thrash metal...

, Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost was a metal band from Zürich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal genres. The group was first active from 1984 to 1993, and re-formed in 2001. Following Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008, Celtic Frost decided to break up again...

, Candlemass
Candlemass
Candlemass are an influential Swedish doom metal band established in 1984 by Leif Edling , their leader and songwriter. The band is originally from Stockholm. After releasing five full-length albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Candlemass disbanded in 1994, but...

, Death, Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...

, and Repulsion
Repulsion (band)
Repulsion is an early grindcore / death metal band from Flint, Michigan. They have been called the "most influential grindcore band of all time".-History:...

. Up to 1989, the band recorded demo cassettes, then signed with Peaceville Records
Peaceville Records
Peaceville Records is a British independent metal-oriented record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw in 1987, in Dewsbury, England...

 for their first album (recorded at The Academy), Lost Paradise. Their debut was well received by press and fans alike. In November 1990, Paradise Lost went back to The Academy to work on the second album. 1991's Gothic (also on Peaceville) was the band's stylistic breakthrough, eventually becoming an influential album within the extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...

 circles. The album was labeled a "classic" and was rated highly by both fans and critics. The album expanded beyond the original death/doom
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes writes as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal...

 format by being more melodic and featuring symphonic orchestra and female vocals by Sarah Marrion. With this album the band pushed "gothic" into the metal scene and started a new genre - gothic metal. Paradise Lost was signed to the Music for Nations label, and in July 1992 released Shades Of God. The album contained the song "As I Die," later released as a single/EP. In summer 1993, the band commenced work on their fourth full-length record, Icon which was released on September in the same year. The album hit the German charts at number 31, It solidified the band's position in the mainstream metal scene. Draconian Times, one of the band's most successful albums came in June 1995; a limited edition digipack offered a second disc, dubbed "Live Tracks, Demos & B-Sides," with five live recordings as well as demos and outtakes. To promote the album, Paradise Lost went on a tour through Europe, South America, Australia, and Japan.

On the album One Second (1997), the band began to experiment with Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

-esque synth pop and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

. The album turned out to be one of the band's most important releases, cracking the German and Swedish top ten charts and giving the band a boost in popularity everywhere, it seemed — except the UK. The band later contracted EMI Electrola in Germany for its next album, Host, released in 1999, on which they continued to experiment with new sounds, appearing to shed their metal roots. On the next album, Believe in Nothing (2001), Paradise Lost continued the synth direction, but adding rock elements to the music. In May 2002, the band signed to GUN records, and on the album that followed, Symbol of Life, the metallic roots of the band began to resurface.

Paradise Lost released their 10th, eponymous album in 2005 on GUN records. The eleventh album, In Requiem, was released in Spring 2007 on Century Media; it was generally well-accepted and highly rated by both critics and fans, pleased to see the band returning to their heavier, gothic metal sound similar to that of earlier albums like Draconian Times. The full-length was preceded by a single, "The Enemy."

In November 2007, Century Media released the DVD Over The Madness, which documents the impact Paradise Lost has had on gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...

 and provides insight into the mindset and workings of Paradise Lost. Disc 2 includes further interviews, rehearsal footage, plus backstage and memorabilia sections.

On 13 August 2008, drummer Jeff Singer
Jeff Singer
Jeff Singer is a British musician and former drummer of Paradise Lost.Singer has recorded three albums with Blaze...

 announced his departure from the band on the Paradise Lost official website. He wanted to be with his family, had an upcoming job, and the then-upcoming South American tour would interfere with that. As a result, Paradise Lost had to cancel the South American tour dates that they had planned. Soon after, on 28 August 2008, the Paradise Lost official website announced that the cancelled South American tour has been reconfirmed and that Mark Heron from Oceansize
Oceansize
Oceansize were a British rock band, formed in Manchester, England on 19th October 1998. The band consisted of Mike Vennart , Steve Durose , Richard "Gambler" Ingram , Mark Heron and Jon Ellis for the majority of its career, with Steve Hodson replacing Ellis on bass in 2006...

 would take over on drums.

At the beginning of 2009, Paradise Lost recorded their new album with producer Jens Bogren in Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden. At the time there was no full-time replacement for Jeff Singer and drums were played by Swedish drummer Peter Damin. On 16 March 2009, when the album was already finished with being recorded, the band recruited Adrian Erlandsson
Adrian Erlandsson
Adrian Erlandsson is a prolific Swedish heavy metal drummer, who currently plays in Brujeria, Netherbird, with his wife in Nemhain and in Yorkshire doom metal band Paradise Lost...

 (ex-At the Gates
At the Gates
At the Gates is an extreme metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden, and a major progenitor of the Gothenburg death-metal sound. Their early albums lean towards a death metal sound, but later albums sound more like melodic death metal.Initially active from 1990 to 1996, the band reformed in 2007 for a...

, ex-Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...

) as a full-time drummer for the band.

On 18 June 2009, Paradise Lost officially announced Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us is the twelfth studio album by British gothic metal band Paradise Lost, released through Century Media in September 2009.-Track listing:All songs written by Nick Holmes and Gregor Mackintosh.-Charts:-Personnel:...

as the title of their upcoming new album, to be released on Century Media Records on 25 September 2009 in Germany, on 28 September 2009 in the rest of Europe and on 6 October 2009 in the US.

Paradise Lost headlined the Jägermeister Stage at Ozzfest 2010 on 18 September 2010.

In late 2011, Paradise Lost began recording it's 13th studio album "Tragic Idol" in The Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire. The release date is April 23rd 2012.

Current members

  • Nick Holmes - vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

     (1988–present)
  • Greg Mackintosh - lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

     (1988–present)
  • Aaron Aedy - rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

     (1988–present)
  • Steve Edmondson - bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

     (1988–present)
  • Adrian Erlandsson
    Adrian Erlandsson
    Adrian Erlandsson is a prolific Swedish heavy metal drummer, who currently plays in Brujeria, Netherbird, with his wife in Nemhain and in Yorkshire doom metal band Paradise Lost...

     - drums (2009–present)

Former members

  • Matthew Archer – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

     (1988–1994)
  • Lee Morris
    Lee Morris (musician)
    Born in 1970 in Wolverhampton, Lee came from a musical family and started playing the drums at six years of age. He learnt his instrument from his dad and spent many hours during his early years playing along with various records from the family record collection...

     - drums (1994–2004)
  • Jeff Singer
    Jeff Singer
    Jeff Singer is a British musician and former drummer of Paradise Lost.Singer has recorded three albums with Blaze...

     - drums (2004–2008)

Session members

  • Mark Heron - touring drums (2008)
  • Peter Damin – studio drums (2009)
  • Milly Evans - touring guitar (2009–2010), touring keyboards and backing vocals (2011)

Studio albums

  • Lost Paradise (1990)
  • Gothic
    Gothic (album)
    Gothic is the second full-length album released by British heavy metal band Paradise Lost.This album has been re-released twice, both of which contain remastered sound. The 2003 re-release of this album appended two remixes of songs from Lost Paradise, bringing the total running time to 49 minutes...

    (1991)
  • Shades of God
    Shades of God
    Shades Of God is the third album by Paradise Lost. It features the use of growling noticeable in the band's previous efforts although shows the beginning of the transition to more 'clean' vocals seen on the album 'Icon'.-Track listing:...

    (1992)
  • Icon
    Icon (Paradise Lost album)
    Icon is the fourth studio album recorded by British doom metal/gothic band Paradise Lost in 1993. This marked the end of their early death/doom sound.-Track listing:#"Embers Fire" – 4:44#"Remembrance" – 3:26#"Forging Sympathy" – 4:43...

    (1993)
  • Draconian Times
    Draconian Times
    Draconian Times is the fifth album released by British metal act Paradise Lost.Two tracks from the album, "The Last Time" and "Forever Failure," were released as singles...

    (1995)
  • One Second
    One Second (Paradise Lost album)
    One Second is the sixth album release by Paradise Lost. Following Draconian Times, the album reflected the group's first complete departure from death/doom in favour of a more gothic rock and synthpop direction...

    (1997)
  • Host (1999)
  • Believe in Nothing
    Believe in Nothing
    Believe In Nothing is the eighth studio album by the British band Paradise Lost.Main songwriter Gregor Mackintosh has stated that this album "doesn't really exist for him", as it was an album in which the band was out of creative control; the album went under strict instructions from the label...

    (2001)
  • Symbol of Life
    Symbol of Life
    Symbol of Life is the ninth studio album recorded by British band Paradise Lost. It marks a departure by the band from their synth-based approach and returning to a much heavier sound, although not abandoning the keyboards altogether.-Track listing:...

    (2002)
  • Paradise Lost (2005)
  • In Requiem
    In Requiem
    In Requiem is Paradise Lost's eleventh studio album, again with Rhys Fulber on production duties. Greek artist Seth Siro Anton was responsible for the artwork.The first single to be released from the album was The Enemy....

    (2007)
  • Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us (2009)
  • Tragic Idol (2012)

Live recordings

  • At the BBC (2003)
  • The Anatomy of Melancholy
    The Anatomy of Melancholy (album)
    The Anatomy of Melancholy is a live album by the British death / doom / gothic metal band Paradise Lost. It was recorded on April 12, 2007 at the Koko . The album was released on double DVD and double CD. There is also a deluxe 4-disc edition containing both aforementioned releases...

    (2008) (Live double-DVD set, and Live double-CD set)
  • Draconian Times MMXI (2011)

External links

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