Paradise Lost - The lost paradise of gothic metal

For years I'd been waiting for Paradise Lost to become less brutal and more melodic again, as in the days of “Draconian Times” and “One Second”. I have to say “Obsidian”, the new effort from the English gothic metal legends, satisfies those expectations in full: at last we get to hear Nick Holmes's clean voice again, as expressive as few others, and in my opinion too long confined in recent years within the “cage” of death metal growling — a fine facet in itself, but only a partial side of a voice with a thousand shades. From the Paradise Lost of Milton's memory to the pages of OndaRock: mr. Nick Holmes!

So, dear Nick, how are you experiencing this bizarre health emergency over there?

Oh, I'm doing more or less what I usually do, because when I'm not travelling or on tour, I normally stay home. It's pretty normal for me, though I understand it's very different for people who have to go out to work: both my kids are working from home now, so there's nothing in the fridge, no food in sight (laughs, ed.), so I go to the supermarket more often than I usually would. But it's definitely strange to go out and see the social distancing between people, it's bizarre, but that's how it is, you have to get used to it and get through it.

Speaking of the new album, “variety” might be the key word to describe “Obsidian”. After two brutal albums that went back to your roots, was this variety a shared decision within the band, or did someone push for it more than others?

I think that, when we started writing, all of this basically came out spontaneously. The last record was a specific death-doom album, that's what we wanted for “Medusa”. With this one we wanted to vary things a bit, it's still very much Paradise Lost, heavy and dark, but it's less one-dimensional than the last album… There are tracks that could easily have been on the previous record, but there's definitely more variety: faster tracks, slower tracks, softer, harder, but it's still very much Paradise Lost, I think.

How would you describe the process of writing, recording and producing “Obsidian”?

It was written and recorded more or less the same way as our last few records, I think we started writing in January of last year and went into the studio in November, towards the end of last year, to finish it in December. Yes, more or less like last time: Greg Mackintosh and I worked on the writing, we'd send each other bounces of ideas, Greg wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics. That's how it's always been since the early days of the band as far as the writing process goes, but with today's technology we can use file sharing, we don't need to be in the same room to write music anymore, it's really easy to share ideas... it's really a perfect way to write songs, you know?

As a fan of Eighties gothic music, I immediately fell in love with the track “Ghosts”...

Yes, it's a tribute to that period, we grew up in the Eighties, we were teenagers and that music was very popular. Nobody seems to make that kind of music anymore, it seems to have stayed confined to the Eighties, nobody seems to have taken that place, so it's a way of tipping our hat to that era... You know, I've always been a metalhead but I really liked Cult, Siouxsie And The Banshees and the early goth scene. Yes, it really recalls those days...

What's it like working today with a label like Nuclear Blast, and what do you remember about the days with Music For Nations in the Nineties?

Nuclear Blast is great, everyone who works for that label follows the bands closely and is a fan of the artists they work with, so it's nice to interact with them. They're people who are really hungry for this kind of music, the same was true when we started out with Music For Nations, the people who worked with the bands were genuinely fans of their music. I think that helps, a lot of labels don't necessarily employ people who follow the music they work with, especially the big labels, the majors. But I think metal labels like Century Media or Nuclear Blast can rely on good people who work hard for the artists.

Do you have good or bad memories of the Nineties? Do you miss anything, or is there nothing you miss about those days?

I don't know, I can't think of anything, let's say, bad about the band (laughs, ed.)... all sorts of things happened, good and bad, but that's part of life, right? There was nothing horrendous! If I think about record labels, that's an area where we've been very lucky, we've always been able to do what we wanted and I know a lot of bands haven't been as lucky as us in that regard. Yeah, I honestly can't think of any horror stories.

Once this emergency is over, what can we expect from your live activity? I saw a single show where you'll play “Obsidian” in full, in Leeds, if I remember correctly...

Yes, yes... we set that up for September 17th, and I'm reading now that there won't be any major social events until 2021, but that's just speculation: how can we know? I think it's better to be positive than negative, either way we don't know the facts. At least let's try to plan for the future and for shows this year, there's nothing wrong with that: if it doesn't work out, at least we'll have tried to be optimistic, since people normally expect me to be pessimistic!

Talking about the lyrics, Greg has said that you have a cryptic way of writing them, and that you created, in particular, an aura of mystery for “Obsidian”. How did you approach the lyric-writing process for the new album?

I talk about a lot of similar subjects, like faith, any kind of faith, something I find really fascinating: faith in people, in religion, in any field, has always fascinated me. On this record I talk a lot about the consequences of making the wrong choices in life. I usually deal with subjects about life, but I like to be ambiguous, I think that's a nice thing when you're writing lyrics. I find tying songs to specific subjects fairly boring from a writing standpoint, but there are always things to talk about in the world, every day.

I've always been fascinated by some of your older, let's say less symbolic lyrics. “Sweetness”, “I See Your Face”, “Say Just Words”, for example; did those come from more direct personal experiences?

Yes, probably. I mean, sometimes you can go through some huge event in your life that triggers something, naturally. That's a fact, I think. But there can also be small things and interactions with people. I could be somewhere and suddenly something happens that completely changes the situation, all of a sudden small things can turn into big things and I think that's a really interesting concept. But yeah, lyrics can come from anywhere, and the smallest events can inspire the writing.

Will you be working on side projects like Bloodbath in the future?

Yes, we were supposed to play quite a few festivals this year, but of course they've all been cancelled. We were supposed to go to America this year… I'll be out on the road with Bloodbath again as soon as possible, hopefully, and we'll see what happens. But right now everything else has been put on hold.

What music do you listen to at home when you're free from Paradise Lost duties?

Right now I'm not even listening to music, I'm listening to the radio (laughs, ed.) and news stations, that's what I'm hearing right now. If I'm listening to music, it means my mood is incredibly good, and in that case I'd probably listen to a lot of the stuff I grew up with as a kid — I still love the original bands I grew up listening to a lot. Yes, there are new bands I listen to occasionally, but basically I still love the classic stuff.

And which bands did you grow up with?

Early death metal and black metal, bands like Bathory, Death, the first death metal bands, old school stuff, because I'm a bit of an old-school guy and I stick firmly to that world.

And apart from metal?

I don't know… right now I'd tell you, and I've been saying this for 25 years, Dead Can Dance. You know, if I made a playlist it would be consistent with the one I would have made at 18: same playlist! (laughs, ed.)

Have you read any books or seen any films recently that inspired you?

I watch a ton of films, I'm a huge film fan, I even forget the ones I've seen, considering how many I watch… an insane amount! As for reading, I'm still reading old Stephen King books because now I see them from a different perspective — I read the old ones as a kid and now I read them as an adult, they feel like completely different books. It's really exciting to read King's old books.

What memories do you have — if any — of playing shows in Italy?

Mmh… yes, I remember shows in Italy, we haven't played many: Rome, Milan and maybe a couple of other places. Yes, I remember a show in Milan, and it was the coldest gig I've ever played. It was freezing in an absurd way, I couldn't warm up. I walked around the room to warm myself up but I couldn't manage it. It was a few years back, the room looked like something out of the film "La Cosa" (laughs, ed.)! So cold… obviously the crowd was fantastic, but it's these little things that end up sticking in your mind.

Even though you were in Italy, the freezing cold!

Yes, it was in the north, but yes… God, it was cold (laughs, ed.)!

Do you have a final message and greeting for Paradise Lost's Italian fans?

Yes: take care of yourselves, I hope things get back to normal soon, as much as possible. Our album comes out on May 15th, so please go get it! Enjoy it, and hopefully we'll manage to play some warmer shows in Italy… hopefully this year. If not, then definitely next year.

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