Melodic Death Metal: Ablaze My Sorrow - The Lose of All Hope (2023)

75 / 100

A concise EP that shows Ablaze My Sorrow settling more comfortably into a melodic death/doom hybrid, but gradually drifting back toward conventional melodeath.

Okay, for the very last time with Ablaze My Sorrow, I’ll be reviewing their 2023 EP The Loss of All Hope, still released through Black Lion Records and featuring the same core lineup as the previous album.

“Transfiguration (The Way of the Strong)” opens the record effectively with a familiar hook and works especially well for me personally, as it leans into melodic death/doom metal and once again incorporates Jonas’ clean vocals. A similar atmosphere carries over into “Boundless”, which immediately made me think of Hinayana’s Order Divine that coincidentally released by the same label. Before listening to this EP, I was still somewhat doubtful about my ability to recognize stylistic similarities within melodeath, but when “Rotten to the Core” kicked in, there was a clear flash of Soilwork. Both the vocals and the music reminded me of The Ride Majestic, even though I’ve never fully gone through that album. As for the closing track, “Enclosed in Crystals of Ice”, the strongest association I can make is with the album artwork itself—snow-covered ground and a genuinely cold atmosphere that lingers.

All things considered, the gravitational pull toward straightforward melodeath grows stronger as the EP progresses downward, while I personally remain most attached to the first two tracks, with the third serving as an honourable mention. Therefore, The Loss of All Hope closes my journey with Ablaze My Sorrow on a fairly solid note, even if they ultimately can’t reach the iconic status of the Gothenburg giants in the ears of most listeners—perhaps.

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