In a new interview with the Czech outlet Metal & Rock Zone, Gregor Mackintosh — guitarist of British gothic metal pioneers Paradise Lost — was asked which three albums he would take to a desert island. His choices offer an insight into the early influences that shaped both his playing and the band's sound, reaching back to the music that first gripped him as a teenager. The picks reflect a doom and heavy metal lineage rather than the wider range of styles he says he enjoys today.

Mackintosh named Candlemass's debut "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" as his easiest choice, praising its lack of filler and crediting it as the source of his lead guitar tone, particularly the solo on "Crystal Ball". His second pick was Trouble's "Psalm 9", tied to his 18-year-old self, while his third was Carnivore's "Retaliation", which he and vocalist Nick Holmes played loudly while getting ready for Saturday nights out in their shared house at the band's start. The article also notes that Mackintosh revealed health issues and significant weight loss this past February, and that Paradise Lost — formed in Halifax in 1988, with over two million albums sold — are touring behind their 17th album "Ascension", released last September via Nuclear Blast Records.