Medusa

Nuclear Blast, 2017

Paradise Lost’s most recent album found the prodigal sons fully embracing the gnarled metal roots they had seemingly abandoned years before.

What could have been contrived instead felt natural on the roaring Gods Of Ancient and Until The Grave, the weight of experience lending them an unexpected gravitas. Nor had they completely straightened out their gothic leanings – The Longest Winter and Medusa possessed a graceful grandiosity amid the bleak atmospherics and lyrical nihilism.

Dark and compelling, Medusa was as much a tribute to their tenacity as to their not inconsiderable musical abilities.