Release date: 15th May 2020
Album number sixteen for Paradise Lost, and Obsidian is yet again another fine release from the band. It feels like no matter what route Paradise Lost takes with their music, it makes for excellent listening, and with Obsidian, there’s a good balance of both old and new elements of their sound.
Fall From Grace, which was the first taster given from the release, is an early highlight. Melodically driven with a really stunning guitar solo in the latter part of the track, it’s a song that really grabs your attention and the vocals in particular are very strong – there’s a lot of emotion to the performance and the chorus is one of those lines that will get stuck in your head.
Meanwhile, later track Hope Dies Young feels a little like a throwback to some of their earlier material thanks to the guitar tones and more aggressive-sounding moments, whilst at the same time having a fresh and invigorating feel due to the clean vocals.
When it comes to Paradise Lost, you can always expect great things from them, and once again they have delivered with their latest effort. Obsidian is absolutely fantastic, and one of those albums you’ll keep wanting to come back to. I’m already counting down the days until the album release show!
9/10
