UK gothic metal legends Parasdise Lost are excited to welcome Guido Zima joining their ranks on the drums, completing the band's line-up.

Greg Mackintosh comments: "We welcome Guido as Paradise Lost's new drummer. He cut his teeth with us on our European tour at the end of 2022. Guido did such a good job that we have decided to make him our new drummer and he will be playing on all upcoming PL shows and working on new material with us for our next album due out next year."

Drummer Waltteri Väyrynen parted ways with the band in September 2022, issuing the following statement:

"Dear fans and friends, I'm sad to announce that I'm leaving my position as the drummer of Paradise Lost. It's been an incredible journey and I'm insanely proud to have been a part of this legendary band's history, playing hundreds of shows across the globe and recording the last two studio albums.

It needs to be emphasized that my decision involves absolutely no bad blood or drama whatsoever and I will forever consider the guys in the band my friends and I'm gonna miss them all dearly.

I'd like to express my gratitude to Nick, Greg, Steve, Aaron, the management and the crew for everything and making me feel like home for the past 7 and a half years. Last but not least; thanks to all the fans around the world for your support over the years, it means everything to me!

I wish the band all the best in their future endeavours and I'm looking forward to hearing which direction they are heading next. As for myself, I guess you'll hear from me soon so this is not a goodbye."

Paradise Lost's Greg Mackintosh and Nick Holmes recently revealed the latest single from their brand new dark wave project, Host, a pulsing electronic single titled "My Only Escape".

The third single from their debut album IX, which was released on February 24 via Nuclear Blast Records, "My Only Escape" is yet another display of lush nuance that showcases the band's vast range of influences.

Vocalist Nick Holmes commented, "Musically, this track has an intentional repetitive element that builds throughout the song, this is also mirrored in the lyric idea, as in the repetition of an everyday life held in such poor regard. The feeling of actually being physically scared, acts as an acceptable relief from day to day drudgery."

Watch the lyric video below. Stream "My Only Escape" on all platforms here.

In relation to the project itself, Greg Mackintosh comments: "Host is something that I had in mind for a few years but never had the time to do it justice until now. It’s taking the concept of what we attempted to do on the Paradise Lost album 'Host' but approaching it in a modern context. It’s part 80s goth, part electro , part rock but none of them specifically. The emphasis is on hooks and atmosphere. It’s quite a challenge to make miserable music catchy and hopefully we’ve achieved that to some degree."

Order IX on various formats here.

IX tracklisting:

"Wretched Soul"
"Tomorrow's Sky"
"Divine Emotion"
"Hiding From Tomorrow"
"A Troubled Mind"
"My Only Escape"
"Years of Suspicion"
"Inquistion"
"Instinct"
"I Ran" (A Flock Of Seagulls cover; Digipak bonus track)
"Hiding From Tomorrow" (Lustmord Remix; Digipak bonus track)
"Tomorrow's Sky" (GosT Remix; Digipak bonus track)

"Hiding From Tomorrow" video:

"Tomorrow's Sky" video:

The origins of Host do not trace back to the 1999 Paradise Lost album bearing the same name but instead to the West Yorkshire music clubs of the mid-to-late 1980s. WhileHolmes and Mackintosh were already certified heavy metal fanatics (“metal thrashing mad” as Holmes equates), they were equally drawn to the New Wave and Goth music scenes. The pounding rhythms, sublime melodies and undercurrent of darkness drew them in, creating immediate earworms and a desire to delve further.

Mackintosh finally put plans into motion during the pandemic for a venture that would merge his penchant for sound design with the moods and atmosphere of 1980s dance-pop and Goth. The project was originally a solo pursuit until he asked Holmes, his longtime Paradise Lost songwriting partner, to join. 'Host' was selected as the name as a tip of the hat to the aforementioned album that found Paradise Lost in an unprecedented period of experimentation that eschewed their metal roots and also challenged their fanbase in ways like never before.

“We always stood by 'Host' as an album,” says Mackintosh. “This project is not totally connected to that album, but some of the ideas are extrapolated. We’re taking the basic premise and trying it out now. And, really, it was something fun and interesting for us to do. We’ve been doing Paradise Lost for a long time and got an itch to try something different from where PL is now. I could take PL down this route again. Who knows? It may happen if we live long enough, but I thought, ‘Why not now?’ I had the time to do it.”

Host is:

Nick Holmes - Vocals
Greg Mackintosh - Guitars, Synths & Programming