Album
Obsidian
Obsidian is the sixteenth studio album by British gothic metal band Paradise Lost, released on 15 May 2020 through Nuclear Blast. It follows Medusa from 2017 and sits between the doom, gothic and death-doom strands that have run through the band's work since Lost Paradise in 1990.
Music videos accompanied two of its songs, "Darker Thoughts" and "Fall from Grace", which makes them a good place to start. Metal Hammer placed the record eleventh in its list of the best metal albums of 2020. It also stands as the last album to feature Waltteri Väyrynen on drums before he joined Opeth in 2022, so it is worth hearing for that chapter of the band's story too.
Obsidian: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 45:32Tracklist
- 1Darker ThoughtsGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes5:46
- 2Fall From GraceGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes5:42
- 3GhostsGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes4:35
- 4The Devil EmbracedGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes6:08
- 5ForsakenGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes4:30
- 6SerenityGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes4:46
- 7Ending DaysGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes4:36
- 8Hope Dies YoungGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes4:02
- 9RavenghastGregor Mackintosh and Nick Holmes5:27
- Produced by
- Jaime Gomez Arellano, Paradise Lost
- Recorded at
- Orgone Studios
- Mixed by
- Jaime Gomez Arellano
- Mixed at
- Orgone Studios
- Engineered by
- Jaime Gomez Arellano
- Label
- Nuclear Blast
- Length
- 45:32
Line-up
- Aaron Aedy · guitar
- Steve Edmondson · bass guitar
- Gregor Mackintosh · guitar
- Alicia Nurho · violin · guest
- Waltteri Väyrynen · drums (drum set)
- Nick Holmes · lead vocals
- Heather Thompson · background vocals · guest
Singles
- “Fall from Grace” · 20 March 2020
- “Ghosts” · 24 April 2020
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 2020 | 32 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2020 | 1 |
| Finnish Albums · 2020 | 2 |
| German Albums · 2020 | 2 |
| Swiss Albums · 2020 | 4 |
| Austrian Albums · 2020 | 5 |
| Polish Albums · 2020 | 5 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2020 | 8 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2020 | 11 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2020 | 16 |
All 15 charts
| Dutch Albums · 2020 | 31 |
| Portuguese Albums · 2020 | 31 |
| Italian Albums · 2020 | 59 |
| French Albums (SNEP) · 2020 | 105 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2020 | 187 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
55.8
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
1.4k
ListenBrainz listeners
15k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
7.7k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Also released on 15 May
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More from Paradise Lost
Full discography →
Lost Paradise
1990
Gothic
1991
Shades of God
1992
Icon
1993
Seals the Sense
1994
Gothic EP
1994
Draconian Times
1995
One Second
1997
Host
1999
Believe in Nothing
2001
Symbol of Life
2002
Paradise Lost
2005
In Requiem
2007
The Anatomy of Melancholy
2008
Drown in Darkness – The Early Demos
2009
Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us
2009
Tragic Idol
2012
Tragic Illusion 25
2013
The Plague Within
2015
Medusa
2017
Icon 30
2023
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2025
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 15 May 2020 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 15 May 2020 | |
| Wikidata | 2020 | |
| Deezer | 15 May 2020 | |
| US release | 15 May 2020 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 15 May 2020 | earliest UK or European date |
7 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May 2020 | XW | Nuclear Blast | 0727361531768 | original |
| 15 May 2020 | JP | Chaos Reigns | 4582546591595 | original |
| 15 May 2020 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361531720 | original |
| 15 May 2020 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361531713 | original |
| 15 May 2020 | US | Nuclear Blast | 727361540104 | original |
| 15 May 2020 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361531706 | original |
| 26 June 2020 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361550295 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · native: native 1800x1800
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1800×1800 | native: native 1800x1800 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 800×800 | upscaled |