A long five years after Obsidian graced our ears, these Yorkshiremen (and Italian drummer Guido Zima also of Strigoi, who has already left Paradise Lost in a continuation of their Spinal Tap-esque curse!) have returned, keeping busy in the meantime with a decently-received rerecording of 1993's Icon and no less than three live albums! And fans of recent releases will know it's no surprise that Paradise Lost's seventeenth full-length is as solid as it is, continuing the run of excellence that they've been on for over a decade now. Produced by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh, Ascension sounds tremendous from start to finish - the grandiose gloom of opener Serpent on the Cross sets the stage, infectious riffing with Mackintosh's now unmistakable guitar tone quickly staking its claim on your ears, something continued across much of the album.

The band are an expert hand at creating evocative, doomy melodies that are at once epic and melancholic, spiritually reminiscent of works as far back as Gothic, and Nick Holmes has rarely sounded better, too, ageing extremely well with both his dry growl and clean singing leading proceedings masterfully. On initial listens fans will probably just be revelling in the Paradise Lost morass, happily being sucked into their gothic swamp on the likes of Tyrants Serenade, the clean and harsh vocals working together especially well and little touches such as the ambient wind highly effective. Primordial frontman Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill provides a guest spot on the doomy Salvation, adding a touch of yearning hopefulness to the sludgy misery and helping it be an early standout.

Heather Thompson (High Parasite and others) similarly guests on Lay a Wreath Upon the World, a much subtler piece starting with acoustic strums and building into an almost Lacuna Coil-esque song that is nicely different from the surrounding tracks. One of the few criticisms you could make is that some of the catchier tracks such as Tyrants Serenade and Silence Like the Grave are a little frontloaded in the tracklisting, the latter's groovy, rockier take on the Paradise Lost sound coming in for some criticism for Holmes apparently trying to sound like James Hetfield! Certainly, grittier pieces such as Diluvium are less catchy on initial listens, although they're definite growers particularly once the instrumental section breaks in the latter part of the song.

A keener criticism might be that Paradise Lost are repeating past glories, or attempting to, rather than pushing the genre onwards at all, and maybe it is inferior to Obsidian so far yet nothing here can be counted as filler or skippable, the late-tracklisting likes of Sirens and Deceivers catchy numbers however safe they may be. The swelling grandiosity of album closer The Precipice is easier to defend, driven by the guitars and building well to a triumphant peak - ending the album well and suggesting more plays even though it's a fifty minute-plus undertaking as is. Perhaps the band allowed themselves a little more leeway to experiment on the bonus tracks, particularly the more goth rocking A Life Unknown, and it would have been perfectly fine for these to have been included on the main tracklisting as well. Yet Paradise Lost are at this stage an old, wise band and you can't begrudge them retaining their powers and releasing material that still sounds fresh nearly 40 years after forming, especially when the likes of Katatonia and My Dying Bride seem to be collapsing in on themselves with personnel issues. Long may the gods of gloom reign!