Autumnblaze
Perdition Diaries

This time, the German band Autumnblaze screwed up. It happens to everyone, of course... It happens to bands much more popular than them to make a mistake, to bet everything on an album as the turning point, or the great comeback, and then find themselves with something cold, perhaps what they truly wanted to do, but which I doubt will meet wide approval from the audience.

"Perdition Diaries" is somewhat like that, a product that’s halfway successful, a step backward (when one hoped to move forward) in every sense: let me explain better. The previous "Words Are Not What They Seem" was a masterful album, a mix of gothic, alternative rock that winked a lot at the more ethereal, dreamy, atmospheric, and melancholic Anathema, but which also knew how to bring out its claws when necessary: however, its main feature was its ability to move, something this album does only in parts. The warm and clean tones are mostly abandoned, and here they revive extreme vocals (from death and even black school, growl and scream, basically), violent and furious rhythms and dark and piercing melodies. The echo of Katatonia (especially from the early period) is strong, but also of Paradise Lost’s doom and, why not, early Anathema. The problem is the lack of personality: that is why I spoke of a step backward in every sense: chronologically (in the sense of a revival of certain extreme metal sounds typical of the early nineties) and qualitatively.

The first tracks flow by rather smoothly, without leaving any marks on the listener, indeed giving them a certain sense of déjà vu and confused mannerism. They are not poor, to be clear: the class of the band is there and crystal clear, but a bit too forced and lacking in personality. "Wir Sind War Wir Sind" is an example of this lack: the guitar lines often echo those of Katatonia's "Sulfur", while Eldron rants, screams, and suffers apparently without much conviction. The following "Who Are You" is better, where, for a moment, one can once again glimpse the romantically disillusioned aura perceived in "Words Are Not What They Seem".

Passing through the mediocre "I Had To Burn This Fucking Kingdom" and the almost sufficient "Haughtiness & Puerile Dream" and "Brudemord", we reach the first real peak of the album, "Empty House". Finally, we breathe the atmosphere beloved by fans of the previous work, that foggy atmosphere, not too dark, almost like a sunset with a partially veiled sky, a reflective track that grows and culminates in a desperate and exciting doomy coda, but never too violent or dramatic.

"Neugeburt" is the classic gothic rock piece from the band, and we like it for that: indeed, from track six onwards, it seems a new album has started, with tracks finally up to standard, loaded and finally capable of communicating something. Even the sunny piano-voice ballad "Ways", though its rhythm vaguely reminds me of "Nightswimming" by R.E.M., helps reveal the more exquisitely romantic and sweet side of Autumnblaze.

The closure is entrusted to two tracks that seem to follow in the footsteps of those placed at the beginning, but fortunately, it's just an appearance, as they can defend themselves more than commendably, guiding the listener towards the end of this 2009 work by the Germans.

I don’t feel like bashing "Perdition Diaries" at all. Out of ten tracks, five, maybe six manage to swim against a current that would otherwise have dragged the album to the shores of a mediocrity unworthy of Autumnblaze's quality. It's true that, except for some tracks, the ones that struck me the most are those that kept some ties with the previous work. That is the most suitable dimension for the band. Let's leave the ruthless and brutally flaunted violence to the earliest works: if being mean and edgy means coldly copying, then it's better to be themselves, do what they do best, and maintain their own style. The results are here to demonstrate it.