Gothic metal pioneers and arguably one of the best and most influential rock bands Britain has ever produced, 2007 marks Yorkshire's kings of gloom Paradise Lost's nineteenth year, and heralds the coming of their eleventh album, 'In Requiem', on May 21st.

In 1991 the band released 'Gothic', not so much an album title as the definition for an entire genre, while the influence 1995's huge-selling masterpiece 'Draconian Times' – the missing link between Metallica and the Sisters of Mercy - echoes loudly in today's scene, with the likes of Cradle of Filth, Nightwish and HIM owing a huge debt to their knack for injecting heavy rock with their trademark dark sheen.

Recorded at both Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire with producer Rhys Fulber, and also in Canada and was mixed by Mike Fraser (Metallica, AC/DC, Van Halen), 'In Requiem' sees the band taking a slight step away from the moodier leanings of their last few records into more stripped down territory, and continuing to push the envelope of what can be done with the dark side of heavy metal, while remaining as anthemic and recognisable as ever in their shadowy art.

"We wanted to make a heavier, darker Paradise Lost album," says singer Nick Holmes. “But it was also important to write songs that encompass the melody that has become very much an integral part of our music over the last 10 years."

"More raw, organic, less polished," is how guitarist Gregor Mackintosh puts it. “Musically, it is about finding the balance between brutality and empathy, between horror and beauty. Neither a celebration nor a lamentation, simply the emotions that arise, being surrounded by life and death."

'In Requiem' is preceeded by the awesome single 'The Enemy' on April 13th, accompanied by a stunning video filmed on the Crimean peninsula in Yalta with acclaimed Ukrainian director Edward 209, famed for his bizarre take on making videos.