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Melodic Death Metal: Ablaze My Sorrow - Among Ashes and Monoliths (2021)

75 / 100
A surprisingly solid return that shows Ablaze My Sorrow experimenting with texture and pacing rather than trying to reclaim past melodic death metal glory.

Ah, we finally arrive at the last main chamber of Ablaze My Sorrow: Among Ashes and Monoliths, which I obtained through Black Lion Records. For their 2021 release, they faced rivals just as heavy—if not heavier—namely The Nightmare of Being by At The Gates, Torn Arteries by Carcass, and Coherence by Be’lakor. On top of that, there’s another vocalist change! This time: Jonas Udd.

I won’t touch on the album cover and will head straight into the music.

On the very first spin, “My Sorrow”—the opener that carries the band’s very name—was the only track that managed to lodge itself in my head, largely because of the synth that amplifies the atmosphere of anguish. Only after listening to “Black Waters” again to write this review did I start thinking that Ablaze My Sorrow would do extremely well shifting toward melodic death/doom, since it’s slower and combines two contrasting vocal styles typical of the genre. This suggestion is strengthened by “Her Cold Embrace,” which also features female clean vocals from Jonna Enckell, although Jonas’ harsh vocals do feel somewhat ill-fitting in a few other tracks, such as “At the Graves of Giants.” Then “The Cavernous Deep” breaks the monotony of the previous two songs with a flute-like intro and clean singing in its opening section.

Once my listening session concluded, I came to feel that this album is quite good, even though its score on AOTY.org is rather dismal—or at least, compared to Ablaze My Sorrow’s other releases. The lowest points for me are “At the Graves of Giants,” “Dark Chasms,” and “March of the Eldritch Spawn.” Now, does this automatically surpass Anger, Hate and Fury? For the umpteenth time, I’m not sure, as I’m no longer standing firmly on the pure melodeath side but on doom metal territory instead. So, I think you know the conclusion. Hahaha...

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