Blaze of Perdition have been rather inconsistent in my enjoyment of their albums. The few albums before this one were hit and miss and the one after simply has not captured me to the same extent. Conscious Darkness though... this album gives me chills.
How do I even start with this album? What does it do that so few other albums are able to accomplish? Well there are a few things: the song structures are immaculate, the vocals are incredibly powerful, the riffs channel so much malevolence and melancholy effortlessly, and the lead guitar... it sounds like it's weeping over the music.
This is all over the album, but is most present in Ashes Remain. This 15 minute epic starts with a blast beat and an open chord minor riff. After a few bars the lead guitar comes in and wails a melody over the same chord. The riff itself was excellent, but with the single note lead playing the music takes on a completely different character: the malevolence of the rhythm guitar is complimented by the absolute melancholy of the lead.
The song continues to progress through different iterations of this combination until a few minutes in. It's here where the band begins to slow things down and explore silence to contrast the blasting that was found at the beginning. The song feels like a journey through hills and valleys and ultimately ends up with a slight variation of the same riff it started with. If you only ever listen to one song off this album, make it Ashes Remain.
I feel like Blaze of Perdition had lightning in a bottle with this album. Any of their other albums haven't struck me as this one has. I keep checking out their material though hoping that they recapture though hoping that they recapture this magic. But for the time being this is the only essential album the band has produced... it's a hell of a good one.
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