Ablaze My Sorrow is yet another one of those melodo-deathy Swedish metal bands who dwell in the same territory as In Flames, older Dark Tranquillity and countless others who decided playing nice snappy leads over crunchy riffs with a screaming young lad on vocals was musically the way to go in life. This is not to say Ablaze My Sorrow is lacking in talent or enthusiasm, but if you have happened to have heard at least ten other bands who fall into this style, chances are Ablaze My Sorrow is going to sound redundant. You are guaranteed to hear dozens of neat little guitar riffs in this album but at the same time you'll be thinking to yourself, "My stars, didn't someone else already do this?" Meanwhile, the vocalist screams and howls on like the second stringer for At the Gates throughout the entire album, not giving into the notion that dynamics could be interesting in the vocal department. In the end, what you get is a commonplace, everyday metal album that could be construed as good, at least technically, but considering the absolute abundance of bands playing this style, comes off as just another enthusiastic but unnecessary practitioner of an already overcrowded style. Maybe you can't get enough of this sound. I certainly can.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 06/2000

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