#paradise-lost — Public Fediverse posts

Listening to the New Wave-ish Paradise Lost side-project HOST, after I was followed around by an earworm from the Ascension album earlier in the week.

HOST is a nice change after clearing out my desk with a HEALTH splurge this afternoon.

The first time I listened to HOST (at the suggestion of @Kitty ), I was procrastinating study for a Greek exam. It is nice to listen without the stress this time!

#NowListening #HostBand #ParadiseLost #NewWave

Roger Avary To Adapt & Direct Biblical Epic ‘Paradise Lost’ For AI-Oriented Producer Ex Machina Studios — Cannes Market
#News #Cannes #CannesMarket #ParadiseLost #RogerAvary

https://deadline.com/2026/04/roger-avary-direct-biblical-paradise-lost-ai-production-1236875688/

James Gunn Pauses ‘The Authority’ DC Movie: “Maybe Some Day. Not Soon”; ‘Booster Gold’ & ‘Paradise Lost’ Series Still In The Works
#News #BoosterGold #JamesGunn #ParadiseLost #TheAuthority

https://deadline.com/2026/04/james-gunn-the-authority-movie-1236873892/

Miguel Santos loves Edgar Allan Poe. He turned that love into a (sort of) one-man metal project called A Dream of Poe and uses a place called Tell-Tale Studios for mixing and mastering his records—Poe is clearly dear to his heart. The musical dream nearly crumbled, however, when a fire ravaged Santos’s home, destroying the music he’d written for his latest album—all but one song. This must have been devastating, yet from the ashes he resurrected the music and its tale about one character’s descent into the lowest of places: the underworld. Katabasis: A Marriage Among Ashes uses the symbolism of ashes as a parallel to Santos’s own personal tragedy in order to chronicle the agony of loss. The result is an album defined not by bleak darkness, but a sad beauty.

If you’re going to create a band inspired by Poe, there’s no genre more fitting than gothic doom mixed with the classical Romanticism of symphonic instruments. A Dream of Poe takes the form of My Dying Bride without its crushing brutality and the classicism of Tempestuous Fall without its opulence. Katabasis is a surprisingly tender and gentle piece of doom. The pianos and violins add a soft touch, and the guitars strum lovely melodies. The marriage of gentle and lightly brutal opens things on the poignant “The Wail of Gaea,” where the strings and pianos take turns setting a melancholic tone. “The Lament of Phaethon” begins with arpeggios and vocals that take on a folky Dolven vibe, and blaring horns late in the song tell of bad omens to come. Santos shows a knack for hooky choruses, particularly on the catchy “Lamia.” The hookiness returns on the finale, “À Medida de Damastes,” sung in what I assume is Santos’s native Portuguese. This tune kicks up the energy slightly, à la Paradise Lost, before descending into a chilling surge of terror that shatters the peace A Dream of Poe had previously maintained.

A Dream of Poe is technically a one-man project, yet Santos collaborates with a number of musicians who help shape Katabasis. Two of these collaborators split the bulk of the singing duties. Kaivan Saraei handles the first four tracks, with a voice that carries a gothic calm, evoking Dolven’s Jori Apedaile. João Melo, who closes the record out, has a more earthy tone that grows rawer when it increases in intensity. Santos himself contributes, briefly, with some growls that may be underpowered, but fit with the gentler nature of the album. Though Santos handles almost all instruments, other musicians aid in some small but important roles. Ruben Correia plays several guitar solos across Katabasis, providing some nice breaks from the gloom, notably on “Lamia” and “The Captivity of Hesperus.” Correia also plays violins on “The Lament of Phaethon” and “Lamia,” where he brings an organic and poignant touch to what are already terrific tunes. Regardless of who contributes, the musicians pour their hearts and souls into creating this emotionally striking work of art.

With funeral doom, lengthy slow burns are par for the course, yet writing a song that doesn’t overextend itself becomes a tricky balancing act. A majority of tracks on Katabasis fall in the seven-minute range and feel just right. The eleven-minute “Exhorting Nightmares” proves an exception. At seven minutes, it would have been fine, yet Santos keeps it going and even tacks on an ill-advised spoken word section towards the end. On the whole, Katabasis falls into a rather tight 45 minutes, so it’s only a minor complaint. The only other knock against the record is the lack of power behind the guitars and growls. A Dream of Poe is not aiming for the sort of power that My Dying Bride consistently delivers, but a little extra oomph here and there would have made a greater emotional impact.

It would have been so easy to give up in the midst of the loss Santos suffered. Yet he forged ahead and revived his lost music. While Katabasis presents a descent into a bleak place, there is something triumphant in the finished product. Santos, it seems, found himself at the edge of the pit, the imp within contemplating the fall, before the pendulum swung back and pulled him from the brink. He heard the beat of the Tell-Tale Studios and found himself driven not by madness, but by a desire to create his music and leave an indelible mark on the world of heavy metal.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Meuse Music
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026

Second run of #ParadiseLost available now! It’s the story of the 80s & 90s #punk scene in a small city with few visible reminders of its subcultural past, told through interviews. 1980s #hardcore and #skateboarding culture is heavily featured in the #zine, including an interview with Dan Destructo of the band No Fraud. https://shotgunseamstress.blogspot.com/2026/02/paradise-lost-sarasota-florida-hardcore.html #zines

Belial Speaks…

This is an excerpt from Book 2 of Paradise Lost by John Milton. Belial (a fallen angel) is speaking at a “Consultation” held in Pandemonium chaired by Satan (i.e. a meeting of the local Governing Authority):

I should be much for open war, O Peers,
As not behind in hate, if what was urged
Main reason to persuade immediate war
Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
When he who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counsels and in what excels
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled
With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable: oft on the bordering Deep
Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing
Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,
Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
With blackest insurrection to confound
Heaven’s purest light, yet our great Enemy,
All incorruptible, would on his throne
Sit unpolluted, and th’ ethereal mould,
Incapable of stain, would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope
Is flat despair: we must exasperate
Th’ Almighty Victor to spend all his rage;
And that must end us; that must be our cure—
To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
To perish rather, swallowed up and lost
In the wide womb of uncreated Night,
Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,
Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
Can give it, or will ever? How he can
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.
Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,
Belike through impotence or unaware,
To give his enemies their wish, and end
Them in his anger whom his anger saves
To punish endless? “Wherefore cease we, then?”
Say they who counsel war; “we are decreed,
Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,
What can we suffer worse?” Is this, then, worst—
Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?
What when we fled amain, pursued and struck
With Heaven’s afflicting thunder, and besought
The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed
A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay
Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames; or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us? What if all
Her stores were opened, and this firmament
Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps,
Designing or exhorting glorious war,
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
Or racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains,
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.
War, therefore, open or concealed, alike
My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
Views all things at one view? He from Heaven’s height
All these our motions vain sees and derides,
Not more almighty to resist our might
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.
Shall we, then, live thus vile—the race of Heaven
Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here
Chains and these torments? Better these than worse,
By my advice; since fate inevitable
Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,
The Victor’s will. To suffer, as to do,
Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust
That so ordains. This was at first resolved,
If we were wise, against so great a foe
Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
I laugh when those who at the spear are bold
And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear
What yet they know must follow—to endure
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,
The sentence of their Conqueror. This is now
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit
His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,
Not mind us not offending, satisfied
With what is punished; whence these raging fires
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.
Our purer essence then will overcome
Their noxious vapour; or, inured, not feel;
Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed
In temper and in nature, will receive
Familiar the fierce heat; and, void of pain,
This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;
Besides what hope the never-ending flight
Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting—since our present lot appears
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to ourselves more woe.

I’ve posted this here not only because it seems topical, but also because it contains a phrase associated with a TV drama series that I’ve been watching on DVD. Feel free to offer a guess of the name of the series through the comments box.

As a #zine maker, I can die happy now. Went and saw Aaron & Scott at a book event last week. They’re touring with their book “A Punk House in the Deep South: The Oral History of 309” and I gave them both copies of #ParadiseLost. Zine audiobook is funny 😆. Cometbus will always be a huge inspiration and it was lovely to catch up with Aaron. We hadn’t seen each other in 11 years! (Sorry not sorry for the IG screenshot. A friend just sent it to me.)

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy; will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure; and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell;
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven;
- John Milton, #ParadiseLost

#stoicism #atheism

Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
Can it be death? And do they only stand By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith? - John Milton, #ParadiseLost

#christianignorance #christianNationalism #nohatelikechristianlove

On the player-on-the-go today: Obsidian by Paradise Lost 🤘

Wish I had an Obsidian #stout to go with it 😁

#ParadiseLost #metal #rock #AlbumArt

A good time to listen to Paradise Lost - Ascension. Great combination of elements, and some nice old-school metal touches.

I love a song that drops into 6/8 (I think it was - on Tyrants Serenade).

https://paradiselostofficial.bandcamp.com/album/ascension

#ParadiseLost #GothicMetal #metal #NowListening

PARADISE LOST, eine der prägenden Bands des europäischen Doom- und Gothic-Metal, gastierten im Rahmen ihrer „Ascension of Europe Tour 2026" in der Hauptstadt. Was folgte, war ein Abend voller starker Musik und distanzierter ... Gleichgültigkeit? #paradiselost #doommetal

https://www.burnyourears.de/live/54820-paradise-lost-im-huxleys-neue-welt-konzertbericht-aus-berlin.html

I can barely imagine a time before MRR and Dischord but Dan Destructo lived it. In his interview, he describes the beginnings of his band NO FRAUD, the birth of a hardcore scene in 1980s SW #Florida, and the formation of underground networks of international distribution by and for youth at that time.

#ParadiseLost Zine: https://shotgunseamstress.blogspot.com/2026/02/paradise-lost-sarasota-florida-hardcore.html

No Fraud: http://nofraud.bandcamp.com

#punk #zines #DIY

#ParadiseLost is the most white-boy #zine I’ve ever made, but it’s just a reality of the hardcore #punk scene that most ppl involved were cis/het white guys. Still, I managed to include the perspectives and contributions of women & people of color as best I could. Queerness comes into play in terms of spaces. This zine is about reconstructing the memory of 80s & 90s Sarasota and it’s no surprise that some of the best places to hang out—the places with the best music & atmosphere—were #GayBars.

After reading through it for the first time, Jake approached me with tears in his eyes, telling me how much he loved the zine. He is one of the ppl I interviewed for #ParadiseLost who grew up here and got to witness the formation of the punk scene. What an honor. We’ve known each other for a couple of years now, but working on this together definitely deepened our friendship. #Zines are amazing for cultivating connection and #punk is magic.

It's grey and rainy outside. Perfect weather for this one:

https://paradiselostofficial.bandcamp.com/track/fearless-sky

#nowplaying #ParadiseLost