Paradise Lost has a few good reasons as to why it took five years between Obsidian in 2020 and Ascension in 2025. According to Paradise Lost guitarist Greg Mackintosh in an interview with New Noise Magazine, he had a handful of new material prior to the record that went into the trash: "I had about six or seven songs, and I just scratched the whole lot because I didn't like it. It was the total wrong vibe for me," he recalls.
A year later, after completing a tour, he returned to the writing process with a fresh perspective. That break, he says, was essential. "I think it was the right thing to do, because my outlook had completely changed," he said, later added: "Because we scrapped the whole lot, and then went back to brass tacks, we actually went back in time and thought about the name Paradise Lost from the book."
Part of that shift came from Paradise Lost's decision to re-record their classic Icon album, a project that unexpectedly reshaped how Mackintosh thought about music. "I think it was the right thing to do, because my outlook had completely changed," said Mackintosh. "[It] changed my outlook on songwriting a little bit and guitar playing. It took me back to a style that I hadn't really thought about in a long time, and I didn't realize how much my style had changed over the years."
9/20 Sheffield, UK Bear Tree
9/21 Birmingham, UK HMV
9/22 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club
9/24 London, UK Rough Trade East
10/9 Manchester, UK New Century Hall
10/10 Wolverhampton, UK KK’s Steel Mill
10/11 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Newcastle University
10/12 Glasgow, UK Glasgow Garage
10/14 Nottingham, UK Rescue Rooms
10/15 Bristol, UK The Electric
10/16 Southampton, UK The 1865
10/17 London, UK Islington Assembly Hall
10/19 Oignies, FR Tyrant Fest 2025
10/20 Paris, FR Élysée Montmartre
10/21 Lyon, FR La Rayonne
10/23 Köln, DE Live Music Hall
10/24 Esch-sur-Alzette, LU Rockhal
10/25 Dornbirn, AT Conrad Sohm
10/26 Padova, IT Hall
10/28 Munich, DE Backstage Werk
10/29 Prague, CZ Palác Akropolis
10/30 Zagreb, HR Boogaloo Zagreb
10/31 Vienna, AT Simm City
11/1 Budapest, HU Dürer Kert
11/3 Geneva, CH PTR/L’Usine
11/4 Nürnberg, DE Z-Bau Biergarten
11/5 Utrecht, NL Pandora
11/6 Antwerp, BE Trix Hall
12/13 Bradford, UK Bradford Live
