Paradise Lost - Icon [2LP Red UK Import]

Icon is the record where Paradise Lost walked out of the death-doom fog and into something grander. This limited UK import spreads the 1993 album across two red LPs.

The Halifax band's fourth studio album arrived on Music For Nations as they were outgrowing the crushing, guttural sound of their early records. Nick Holmes traded much of his growl for a harsher, more melodic bark, Gregor Mackintosh's lead lines took centre stage, and producer Simon Efemey gave everything a wide, cold polish. Holmes has said the band were among the first to use the phrase gothic metal, and Icon is a big reason the label stuck.

Embers Fire opens the record and sets its tone, heavy and mournful but built around melody, and Joys Of The Emptiness and Christendom carry that brooding grandeur deep into the album. True Belief remains one of their most recognisable songs, while guest female vocals and keyboards add a gothic sheen along the way.

It was also the last album with drummer Matthew Archer, closing a chapter just as the band found their signature sound.

Heavy, sorrowful and built on melody rather than brute force, Icon still sounds like the blueprint for a whole strand of British metal.