The new project from Paradise Lost singer Nick Holmes and guitarist Greg Mackintosh. 'Host' is the concept initiated on the PARADISE LOST album "Host", but approached in a modern context. It is partly 80s gothic, partly electro and rock. A real challenge that puts the emphasis on atmosphere and melody. The origins of HOST do not go back to their 1999 album of the same name, but rather to the music clubs of West Yorkshire in the mid to late 1980s. While Holmes and Mackintosh were already certified heavy metal fanatics ("metal thrashing mad" as Holmes puts it), they were also drawn to the New Wave and Goth music scenes. The pounding rhythms, sublime melodies and undercurrent of darkness drew them in, creating immediate hooks and a desire to delve deeper. Holmes and Mackintosh's budding career as pioneers of gothic doom metal in PARADISE LOST may have put this solution aside, but the sounds and aura never left them. In fact, they only grew stronger over the decades. Their first foray, 'IX', is an eclectic and moving collection of songs that forges a unified front of darkness intertwined with orchestration and textures. Completed by carefully placed guitar lines, the album is another achievement of Mackintosh's songwriting intuition and his bubbling creative spirit. To create the songs on 'IX', Mackintosh relied on the approach of starting with a piano line. His "simple" chord sequences or self-styled piano lines were then passed on to Holmes for vocal ideas. Once the pair found a direction, Mackintosh embellished each song with sumptuous yet haunting soundscapes, often blurring the distinction between guitar and keyboards.