Ablaze in Hatred - Deceptive Awareness
Firebox Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
A fairly solid doom-death platter with some melodic overtones is what’s on offer here. It conjures up some fairly meek and down-trodden images, somewhat alike to what Agalloch are so effective at, but perhaps via a slightly more upbeat, melodic death-like approach akin to Draconian Times-era Paradise Lost, for example. They come across as relatively effective, but slightly monotonous in their methods, but relatively enjoyable regardless. The music is fairly layered and has a thick enough sound to make it somewhat enveloping. The vocals of Mika Ikonen are slightly lackluster compared to some of the better doom singers like Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost, but hold up decently to the music at hand anyways.
Overall a fairly decent mood is created, however it could be bolstered by more variation and experimentation as the band come across stale sounding to a certain degree. The music just doesn’t have quite the number of twists and interesting moments it could. Instead it sort of drags along rather than keeping you interested at every second and quickly fades from your memory. Ablaze in Hatred show promise, but could benefit from a little more ingenuity and variety. Instead, they come across as more like another doom-death band than what they could possibly aspire and achieve to be. Still, an entrancing enough effect is created by the band’s music that they are certainly worth checking out.
Deceptive Awareness isn’t an excellent album by any means, but it is a reasonably solid one. It’s also somewhat of a moody album, so those that are caught up by emotive bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Celestial Season might want to give these guys a listen.
Official Ablaze In Hatred Website
Official Firebox Records Website
6.5/10
Firebox Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
A fairly solid doom-death platter with some melodic overtones is what’s on offer here. It conjures up some fairly meek and down-trodden images, somewhat alike to what Agalloch are so effective at, but perhaps via a slightly more upbeat, melodic death-like approach akin to Draconian Times-era Paradise Lost, for example. They come across as relatively effective, but slightly monotonous in their methods, but relatively enjoyable regardless. The music is fairly layered and has a thick enough sound to make it somewhat enveloping. The vocals of Mika Ikonen are slightly lackluster compared to some of the better doom singers like Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost, but hold up decently to the music at hand anyways.
Overall a fairly decent mood is created, however it could be bolstered by more variation and experimentation as the band come across stale sounding to a certain degree. The music just doesn’t have quite the number of twists and interesting moments it could. Instead it sort of drags along rather than keeping you interested at every second and quickly fades from your memory. Ablaze in Hatred show promise, but could benefit from a little more ingenuity and variety. Instead, they come across as more like another doom-death band than what they could possibly aspire and achieve to be. Still, an entrancing enough effect is created by the band’s music that they are certainly worth checking out.
Deceptive Awareness isn’t an excellent album by any means, but it is a reasonably solid one. It’s also somewhat of a moody album, so those that are caught up by emotive bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Celestial Season might want to give these guys a listen.
Official Ablaze In Hatred Website
Official Firebox Records Website
6.5/10
