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Melodic Death Metal: Ablaze My Sorrow - Black (2016)

73 / 100
A well-crafted but somewhat familiar melodeath comeback album.
I honestly didn’t expect Ablaze My Sorrow to be one of those veteran melodeath bands whose name would never have crossed my radar if I hadn’t been digging around on Bandcamp. Their monthly Spotify listeners don’t even reach 5k—far from the numbers of Arch Enemy, At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, or In Flames, even though all five bands come from the same country.

I’d like to compare them or figure out what exactly makes Ablaze My Sorrow feel underrated, but I’m not yet well-versed enough in melodeath to make a confident judgment. So instead, I’ll just dissect the album as best as I can, based on the three releases I picked up from Black Lion Records.

The first one is the album Black, released in 2016—coincidentally the same year that marked big moments for In Flames with Battles and for Dark Tranquillity with Atoma. Back then, I only ever saw the covers for those two albums, and certainly never the name Ablaze My Sorrow. Now, aside from feeling a little bad for them, my first reaction when seeing this album cover after so many years was: feminine. How come? Maybe they wanted something “kvlt” with a title like Black and a goat head on the front, but the goat actually looks… handsome rather than menacing, even with the dark color palette. Lol :v

The first two tracks are already quite intense, but the one that really stuck with me is “Tvåenighet,” which also features clean vocals in the middle. Kristian Lönnsjö’s growl also deviated from my expectations—it’s slightly raspy rather than a deep growl, perhaps to match the black metal influences at work here. Other tracks that delivered a satisfying punch include “Send the Ninth Plague” and “Blood Heritage.” Meanwhile, “When All Is” and “My Blessing” lean toward the melodeath/doom border, making them more compatible with my current musical preferences.

Still, no matter how well-executed it all is, I can’t help thinking that melodeath—at least as presented by Ablaze My Sorrow on this album—isn’t all that far from its sibling genre, power metal, in the sense that both rely on repetitive melodies. That may also be influenced by the fact that I’m already in a fatigued listening mode.

So, the five standout tracks are: Tvåenighet, When All Is, Send the Ninth Plague, Blood Heritage, and My Blessing.
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