Paradise Lost are like an old memorial bench: always there, always reliable, always associated with death. The English metal crew have been putting out music for thirty five years at this point, dabbling in everything from doom to new wave and synth pop— when your discography is made from so many releases, it pays to mix things up once in a while. Now on their seventeenth studio album, Nick Holmes and company are playing things fairly safe, packing ‘Ascension’ full of all the ominous soundscapes and pounding riffs we’ve come to expect. It may not be the most adventurous project Paradise Lost have put their name to, but that doesn’t stop the record from bringing its fair share of heat.

In many ways, ‘Ascension’ feels like a crowd-pleaser (if ever a death doom band could be said to have made one): for all its lofty lyrical themes and grandiose imagery, the record takes a back-to-basics approach on the writing front. Holmes and company steer clear of too many progressive twists or electronic additions this time around, resting the album’s appeal on its sinister atmosphere and melodic guitar lines. Paradise Lost’s writing is clean and straightforward, leaving plenty of room for more haunting brass and creepy sound bytes than you can shake a stick at— ‘Ascension’ is not a simple record, steeped in such ominous dread as its ten tracks so often are. Holmes may vary his delivery between weary singing and grizzled growls, but the effect is always the same: he, like the rest of the band, sounds like he’s narrating the end of the world.

Many of the record’s best moments feel ripped straight out of a disaster movie, especially when Paradise Lost push the album’s menacing motifs to meet its biblical themes. ‘Lay A Wreath Upon The World’ is positively haunting, with its lonely acoustic guitar chords and melancholic vocal deliveries providing a welcome contrast to the bombast that preceded it— the track sounds like a folk song from a slasher movie, right up until a tidal wave of booming guitars and driving drum hits come crashing in. Even outside of its crescendos, ‘Ascension’ manages to seem heavy and imposing by the weight of its atmosphere alone: ‘Savage Days’ is not the most brutal or thunderous track in the collection, but its eery strings, solemn lyrics and overall air of despondency certainly don’t make for easy listening. Perhaps the greatest strength at Paradise Lost’s disposal is their ability to, for the most part, sidestep monotony, transforming their material into something darker and more menacing.

That qualifier of ‘for the most part’ plays a crucial role though: when Holmes and company fail to uphold the gloomy aesthetic, their new record’s central appeal vanishes in an instant. The closing suite of tracks on ‘Ascension’ are particularly safe inclusions, resting heavily on their Paradise Lost laurels without much of a spark to keep you engaged— the album thereby closes on some of its weakest material. ‘Deceivers’ makes an admirable effort to inject some urgency back into the record, bringing Guido Montanarini’s drumming to the forefront, but the song’s lacklustre melodic offerings and altogether uninspiring writing sell the track short. A certain level of tedium sets in that chokes closer ‘The Precipice’— at the end of the day, the band’s attempts to push their sound to a climax of grandiosity only weigh the song down. It’s such a shame that promising bonus tracks ‘This Stark Town’ and ‘A Life Unknown’ didn’t make the cut in place of these underwhelming inclusions: ‘Ascension’ would undoubtedly have been stronger for it.

If you’re looking for melodic death doom ripped straight from the Book of Revelation, the first half of ‘Ascension’ has you covered: it’s here that the strongest writing can be found, and also here that the record’s minor shortcomings are smoothed over by its extravagant presentation. ‘Serpent On The Cross’ is every bit as massive as you could hope for, bouncing between energetic verses and climactic choruses with a real, tangible momentum— once again, Paradise Lost are proving themselves to be ever-reliable. The seven-minute epic ‘Salvation’ and similarly bold ‘Diluvium’ keep that ball rolling, demonstrating just how overpowering Holmes and company’s latest work can be: if there’s one song to be celebrated though, it’s the gigantic guitar riffs and chilling appearance of standout cut ‘Silence Like The Grave,’ which sounds just as dominating as part of the record as it did as its lead single. Even after thirty five years, Paradise Lost can still craft doom metal as punishing as they every did.

No band should be reinventing themselves on their seventeenth studio album, and Paradise Lost have made no attempt to: rather, the group’s latest release is yet more evidence that they have death doom down to a science. Though ‘Ascension’ is not the boldest work you could hear this year, its worth checking out for that thick, suffocating atmosphere alone— there’s nothing quite like feeling judgement day approach while listening to ‘Silence Like The Grave’ and ‘Lay A Wreath Upon The World.’ It’s safe to say that Paradise Lost have done it— ‘it’ being another helping of dependable doom metal— yet again.