Paradise Lost's fifth studio album, Draconian Times was released in 1995 and is considered to be the band's most critically and commercially successful release, having notably sold over one million copies worldwide.
In 1997, they changed their look and style, and they began to experiment with synthrock and electronica. This direction, started with the album One Second, continued with their next two albums, Host and Believe in Nothing, the latter having more rock elements. The band appeared to be shedding their metal roots for good until Symbol of Life was released, signifying Paradise Lost's return to metal, albeit with a different sound to Icon. This return to their roots was codified by their next album, which was self-titled and sounded closer to their "classic" era. They have primarily been a gothic metal band ever since.
Starting from The Plague Within, Paradise Lost's style has shifted to a mix between their early and current eras, combining the death/doom sound of Lost Paradise, Gothic, and Shades of God with the gothic metal they later innovated.
Since 2013, Nick Holmes has returned to his death metal roots as lead singer for the band Bloodbath, and is currently their longest serving vocalist yet. Holmes and Greg Mackintosh also have a synthrock side project, Host, which is meant to better capture the sound they intended for Host. Host put out its first album, IX, in 2023.
Current Lineup:
- Nick Holmes - vocals
- Greg Mackintosh - lead guitar
- Aaron Aedy - rhythm guitar
- Steve Edmondson - bass
- Guido Zima - drums
Former members:
- Matthew Archer - drums
- Lee Morris - drums
- Jeff Singer - drums
- Adrian Erlandsson - drums
- Waltteri Väyrynen - drums
Discography:
- Lost Paradise - 1990
- Gothic - 1991
- Shades of God - 1992
- Icon - 1993
- Draconian Times - 1995
- One Second - 1997
- Host - 1999
- Believe in Nothing - 2001
- Symbol of Life - 2002
- Paradise Lost - 2005
- In Requiem - 2007
- Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us - 2009
- Tragic Idol - 2012
- The Plague Within - 2015
- Medusa - 2017
- Obsidian - 2020
Tropes that apply to this band:
- Death Metal: Their early stuff. Reintroduced into their sound on The Plague Within
- Doom Metal: Once again, their early stuff. Also reintroduced on The Plague Within
- Genre Shift: In chronological order: death/doom, gothic metal, synthrock, (vaguely) industrial metal, gothic metal, gothic/death/doom.
- Gothic Metal: One of the Trope Makers along with My Dying Bride and Anathema.
- Industrial Metal: During the synthrock era of their career, anyways.
- Long-Runner Line-up: Paradise Lost's line up is largely stable, consisting of Nick Holmes, Greg Mackintosh, Aaron Aedy, and Stephen Edmondson, with the band only changing drummers. They were a Type 2 with Lee Morris, who was their drummer from 1994-2004.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Nick has quite the range, having recorded music with deep, guttural death growls, James Hetfield-style snarling barks, a Perishing Alt-Rock Voice, and everything in between.
- New Sound Album: Pretty much every album they've ever done.
- Especially Gothic, which toned down the Death Metal and began to include Gothic influences (appropriately enough), Icon, which saw them dropping the Death Metal side entirely, One Second, which inaugurated their synthrock phase, Symbol Of Life, which saw them get noticeably heavier (while keeping the synthrock) and then the self-titled album, which saw them return to their Icon-era sound. The Plague Within marks a return to the death/doom of their early days mixed with their Icon-Draconian Times and post-S/T sound.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Gregor Mackintosh being more involved with keyboards on Host was reportedly due to sustaining an injury that affected his guitar playing.
- Revisiting the Roots: Starting with The Plague Within, they have returned to their death metal roots with the reincorporation of death/doom into their sound after having moved away from it following Shades of God.
- Self-Titled Album: Technically two: their first album was called Lost Paradise, their tenth Paradise Lost. What's more, Lost Paradise contains a song called "Lost Paradise" and another called "Paradise Lost".
- Soprano and Gravel: One of the bands to use the technique before Theatre of Tragedy made it popular. Their material between Icon and Tragic Idol largely dropped it ("Erased" being one of the notable exceptions), for this to come back with The Plague Within.
- Traumatic Haircut: The music video for "Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us".
- Trope Makers: One of them for Gothic Metal.
