• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

PARADISE LOST Guitarist GREG MACKINTOSH Launches STRIGOI

August 21, 2019

When PARADISE LOST guitarist Greg Mackintosh put to rest his VALLENFYRE side project in 2018, he closed a difficult but an ultimately cathartic period in his life. Created as a tribute to his father John, who passed away in 2009, VALLENFYRE originally served as a sounding board for Greg's grief, but then delved into his nihilistic take on the world. VALLENFYRE's brief existence was intentional — the band always knew they could go no further than the three studio albums that bore their name. A mere few days after VALLENFYRE played its last live show in September 2018, Mackintosh announced the formation of a brand-new band, STRIGOI. Freshly signed to Nuclear Blast, the English twosome will release its debut album, "Abandon All Faith", on November 22 and the first single will soon see the light of day.

Named after the troubled spirits in Romanian mythology who could rise from the grave and assume an entirely different form, STRIGOI's lineup is rounded out by former EXTREME NOISE TERROR and VALLENFYRE bass player Chris Casket. (PARADISE LOST drummer Waltteri Väyrynen provided studio drums but will not be a full-time member.) Recorded at Mackintosh's Black Planet studio between January and March 2019, the resultant 12-song LP finds Greg culling from his love of old-school death metal, grindcore and punk for a visceral, but cinematic offering of extreme metal. Whereas VALLENFYRE was down-and-dirty, crusty and often "in the gutter," STRIGOI conjures feelings of both dread and hostility, laced with Mackintosh's trademark lead guitar lines and biting death metal roar.

"With VALLENFYRE, we went down this path where it got more and more crusty," Mackintosh explains. "I thought we couldn't take it any further, so I needed to put in some new elements. With STRIGOI, there's a bit of spookiness, even some subtle elements of industrial and even black metal. The goal was to switch it up a bit. I was perfectly content with what I was doing in VALLENFYRE, but for STRIGOI to stand on its own, I wanted to try new things to separate ourselves from the pack."

STRIGOI is:

Greg Mackintosh - Vocals, Guitars
Chris Casket - Bass
Waltteri Väyrynen - Drums (studio only)

Find more on Paradise lost
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).