Obsidian

Obsidian is the sixteenth studio album by the British gothic metal band Paradise Lost, released on 15 May 2020 through Nuclear Blast Records. The line-up is Nick Holmes on vocals, Gregor Mackintosh on lead guitar, Aaron Aedy on rhythm guitar, Steve Edmondson on bass and Waltteri Vayrynen on drums. Alicia Nurho plays violin on "Darker Thoughts" and "Ending Days" and Heather Mackintosh sings backing vocals on "Hope Dies Young". Jaime Gomez Arellano recorded, mixed and mastered it and Adrian Baxter made the artwork. Videos were made for "Darker Thoughts" and "Fall from Grace". Metal Hammer named it the eleventh best metal album of 2020. It is the last Paradise Lost album with Vayrynen on drums; he joined Opeth in 2022. The order here is the nine tracks of the European CD (NB 5317-2) and the Japanese edition (GQCS-90891); the digipak and the digital edition carry eleven, adding "Hear the Night" and "Defiler".