PARADISE LOST reveals cover artwork for new album, 'The Plague Within'

Returning with opus number fourteen, The Plague Within (set to be released June 1st in Europe, June 2nd in North America), PARADISE LOST has once again refined the chemical equation to their sonic alchemy with the kind of creative invincibility few can afford. It's a collection of songs that will surprise even the most seasoned of fans in its ambition: a monochrome miasma of morbidly uplifting anthems and heart-aching melancholia. Theirs is a pain born of the human condition itself as our fragile minds struggle to cope in a world overrun by demons...

Produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano (GHOST, ULVER, CATHEDRAL) at London's Orgone Studios, the frostbitten riffs thunder beneath the bittersweet euphoria of Nick's vocals, drifting between rich melodic soars and icy snarls. It's an organic body of work that confronts the trials and tribulations of struggling alone in darkness, but also one that treads incredibly exciting and genuinely "new" sonic ground in the process.

The cover artwork was created by the polish artist, illustrator and architect Zbigniew M. Bielak, best known in the musical realm for his record cover illustrations, which among others include meticulously handcrafted artworks of WATAIN, GHOST and ENTOMBED A.D. albums. Zbigniew comments:

"Since their late 80's inception, through somber abrasiveness of their debut and harrowing tristesse of groundbreaking 'Gothic', the unparalleled icons of gloom, PARADISE LOST grew deep into all things murky and dreadful in modern music. Let alone Duncan Fergado's artwork for their 'Lost Paradise' debut remains one of my fave covers, so having heard that with 'The Plague Within' the band harks back to days of old, was - to say the least - a thrilling incentive to pick up the commission.

It was also a rare joy to see how preliminarily calm and reflective Arcimboldian artwork, kept becoming ever darker and more sinister past each of  Nick's and Greg's scrutinies, to finally become what one can see on the actual cover. A portrait of hopeless decrepitude of mental illness  - which is what 'The Plague Within' deals with thematically - where the tormented Sisyphus struggles to push his burden back up the slippery walls of a long frozen illusion."