Word of Dante: If there's a portrayal of Hell and/or Satan in fiction that isn't based on The Divine Comedy, then it's likely taking cues from Paradise Lost. The same goes for Heaven (Milton likely canonized the idea of angels playing harps).
The Band
Breakthrough Hit: Draconian Times was released to universal acclaim with the album notably shedding away the Doom Metal influences from Icon and being a fully-fledged Gothic Metal album. It is also Paradise Lost's most commercially successful release having sold over one million copies worldwide. Because of this, Draconian Times is retrospectively considered to be the band's most celebrated album notably being on par with Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses for the title of the greatest Gothic Metal album of all time.
Creator Backlash: Greg Mackintosh said that Believe in Nothing "doesn't really exist for him". Having no creative control has something to do with this In 2018, after the band has remastered it and Host, Nick Holmes stated that though he doesn't consider those albums to be the band's best musical efforts, they were remastered to sound more like how they were meant to.
Troubled Production: Believe in Nothing was a mess for the band before release; From being postponed for six months (which they said was to avoid competition, but rumors say was due to recording issues), to having their label at the time take control over the production, to even contempt for the album art, which Holmes said "I think our drinks were spiked when we chose that". Not to mention that the members were heavily on prescribed drugs during the process and going through personal demons, which led to a release that the band's ultimately been trying to forget since. Thankfully in 2018, the band got to release a newly mixed version that was more to their liking.
