Icon  by Paradise Lost

The British Paradise Lost released their fourth album, titled Icon, in 1993. Until then, with their previous works, they had managed to lay the foundations for the branch of metal music that would be called gothic metal, but with Icon, they would establish it. Naturally, all this happens under the veil of doom metal.

A significant role in the success of the album would be played by the contribution of producer Simon Efemey, with whom they had started their collaboration from their previous record and would complete it on the next one. The major change that occurs in the album is the fact that singer Nick Holmes abandons the death metal way he used to perform the songs and seems to adopt the singing style of James Hetfield of Metallica. The entirety of the songs belongs to him and guitarist Gregor Mackintosh. The album will also be marked by the departure of drummer Matthew Archer, who was one of the founding members of the band.

Icon was recorded in June and July of 1993 and by September of the same year it was on the market, becoming for Paradise Lost the album with the first notable sales both in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world, where its sales exceeded 300,000 copies in total.