[3] Holmes formed Paradise Lost in late 1988 when he and the other band members were barely out of secondary school.

Beginning with 1993's Icon, the death grunts were discarded entirely in favour of a raw but decipherable James Hetfield-like bellow.

When the band yet again transitioned stylistically with 1997's One Second, Holmes' vocals took on a more gothic rock croon, which remained his prevalent style for the next several albums that followed.

In September 2014, it was officially announced that Holmes had replaced Mikael Åkerfeldt as the vocalist in the Swedish death metal band Bloodbath, taking the moniker Old Nick.

He has thus far released three albums with the band, Grand Morbid Funeral (2014), The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn (2018) and Survival of the Sickest (2022).