More Info
The origins of Host, the new project featuring Paradise Lost vocalist Nick Holmes and guitarist Greg Mackintosh, do not trace back to their 1999 album bearing the same name but instead to the West Yorkshire music clubs of the mid-to-late 1980s. While Holmes 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. Holmes and Mackintosh’s soon-to-be burgeoning career as pioneering Gothic doom metallers in Paradise Lost may have cast this fix to the side, but the sounds and aura never left them. In fact, it only grew stronger with each passing decade.
Their debut foray, IX, is an eclectic, stirring collection of songs that forges a unified front of darkness that is interwoven with orchestration and textures. Complemented by carefully placed guitar lines, the album is yet another realization of Mackintosh’s songwriting intuitiveness and restless creative spirit. To create the songs on IX, Mackintosh relied on the approach of starting with a piano line. His self-described “simple” chord sequences or piano lines were then volleyed to Holmes for vocal ideas. Once the pair found a direction, Mackintosh embellished each song with lavish but haunting soundscapes — often blurring the distinction between guitar and keyboards.
Holmes and Mackintosh are joined by Paradise Lost producer/engineer Jaime Gomez Arellano, who provided drums to three of the album’s songs and reprised his production role. The absence of traditional drums and PL’s trademark wall of guitars afforded the pair newfound flexibility when composing. The songs revolve around a programmed beat, a keyboard line or even a volume swell — all with the purpose of bringing about a central idea within a familiar, streamlined format, whether it’s the poppy “Tomorrow’s Sky,” arching, melody-laden “Hiding from Tomorrow” or the synth-drenched “Years of Suspicion.”
The IX running order concludes with a cover of A Flock of Seagulls’ seminal 1982 hit, “I Ran.” The Host version, of course, flips the original on its head and transforms it into a dark, restless number that feels cold and barren. Holmes came up with the idea — Mackintosh admits to not hearing the song since the ’80s despite its popularity. He then cut the tempo in half, dropped in new guitar lines and added some synth flourishes, thus transforming one of the most identifiable New Wave songs. “I finally listened to the song and thought we could do something really good to it,” says Mackintosh. “I wanted to make it more cinematic and darken it up.”
Their debut foray, IX, is an eclectic, stirring collection of songs that forges a unified front of darkness that is interwoven with orchestration and textures. Complemented by carefully placed guitar lines, the album is yet another realization of Mackintosh’s songwriting intuitiveness and restless creative spirit. To create the songs on IX, Mackintosh relied on the approach of starting with a piano line. His self-described “simple” chord sequences or piano lines were then volleyed to Holmes for vocal ideas. Once the pair found a direction, Mackintosh embellished each song with lavish but haunting soundscapes — often blurring the distinction between guitar and keyboards.
Holmes and Mackintosh are joined by Paradise Lost producer/engineer Jaime Gomez Arellano, who provided drums to three of the album’s songs and reprised his production role. The absence of traditional drums and PL’s trademark wall of guitars afforded the pair newfound flexibility when composing. The songs revolve around a programmed beat, a keyboard line or even a volume swell — all with the purpose of bringing about a central idea within a familiar, streamlined format, whether it’s the poppy “Tomorrow’s Sky,” arching, melody-laden “Hiding from Tomorrow” or the synth-drenched “Years of Suspicion.”
The IX running order concludes with a cover of A Flock of Seagulls’ seminal 1982 hit, “I Ran.” The Host version, of course, flips the original on its head and transforms it into a dark, restless number that feels cold and barren. Holmes came up with the idea — Mackintosh admits to not hearing the song since the ’80s despite its popularity. He then cut the tempo in half, dropped in new guitar lines and added some synth flourishes, thus transforming one of the most identifiable New Wave songs. “I finally listened to the song and thought we could do something really good to it,” says Mackintosh. “I wanted to make it more cinematic and darken it up.”