Host – IX (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 38:37 minutes | 483 MB | Genre: Gothic Rock, Industrial
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Nuclear Blast
Host’s IX is the surprising new album that is about to worm its way to the top of your playlist. Host is the project of Paradise Lost legends Greg Mackintosh and Nick Holmes. Named after Paradise Lost’s magnificent yet polarizing 1999 album, Host, the duo makes it immediately apparent that they are exploring new artistic horizons.If there are recent songs catchier than the ten morsels of bittersweet ear candy found on IX, I can’t recall hearing them. Repetition is intentionally used to craft an organic product that will effectively work its way under your skin. The individual tracks weave together beautifully to form a seamless whole. Host perfectly balances darkness and light while creating a variety of moods.
Mackintosh and Holmes hook you right away with “Wretched Soul.” This reflective track fills you with a sense of drive as it sends you on a weighty existential quest: “And I seek through convictions… And I hear the familiar, lasting hurt. And I sense with a mission as I seek with a thirst for the last intermission…” IX may seem like an intoxicating escapist triumph, but it’s actually quite sobering insofar as it leads you to a deeply meditative place.
Tracklist:
1-1. Host – Wretched Soul (04:22)
1-2. Host – Tomorrow’s Sky (04:30)
1-3. Host – Divine Emotion (04:17)
1-4. Host – Hiding From Tomorrow (03:45)
1-5. Host – A Troubled Mind (03:59)
1-6. Host – My Only Escape (04:21)
1-7. Host – Years of Suspicion (04:20)
1-8. Host – Inquisition (04:59)
1-9. Host – Instinct (04:00)
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