At Dawn of Abysmal Ruination

Well, I was hopeful that Desire for Sorrow could buckle the trend and make me enjoy black metal (albeit black metal of the melodic variety), but alas this is not entirely the case. And to be honest that's quite a shame because there's a great deal of good about this album. However, the one flaw is unfortunately quite a large one, and that comes courtesy of the vocals. Seriously, they're god-awful. I'm not fond of shrieks, but usually I'd be able to push them out of the way and focus on everything else. Here, there's no way that's possible, as the high pitch that they're at coupled with the mixing that puts it way above everything else makes sure that the listener has them shoved right in their face. It leaves my throat hoarse just listening to the guy and his voice gives me a headache. Guest vocalist Zdenka Ambruzkova who does cleans on the track 'Tainted Hopes' and in the background of 'In the Ruthless Wastelands' completely blows Ziky/Johny (both credited for vocal duties, one doing the shrieks and one doing some occasional growls of vastly better quality, although which one did what is a mystery) out of the water. It's bad that I'm left pining for her return after track four until the end of the album seven tracks later, but in all fairness that's not just due to how bad the harsh vocals are. She genuinely is a great singer, and she adds something to 'Tainted Hopes' that we don't get to see anywhere else on At Dawn of Abysmal Ruination. She reminds me heavily of ex-Draconian singer Lisa Johansson, which is by no means a bad thing, and she has this lovely floating voice that compliments the rest of the band perfectly. Had she been the lead vocalist rather than Ziky/Johny then I have no doubts Desire for Sorrow would be one of my new favourite bands.

However, this is not the case. We are left with some of the worst harsh vocals I've forced myself to sit through, and it's a great shame because the rest of the musicianship is excellent. The music is very dynamic, ranging from explosively fast verses to more melodic choruses to scorching solos to epic outros. The keyboard is largely responsible for the different moods created, as Johny showcases his ability to both lead the music and play second fiddle to the guitars. In the lighter sections the keyboard is particularly effective, combining with the choirs and occasionally some delicate guitar work to craft some interesting and rather intricate melodies that really help to forward the music from one section to the next. It's a technique that isn't always the easiest to do, so it's a credit to the band that it comes off as well as it does. But I can't just ignore the work of the two guitarists Ziky and Roman either, because they play incredibly well across the entirety of ADoAR. Just listen to the solo and outro on 'Heretic God' or the intro to 'Stay Primitive'. It's just stunning. And they do this kind of thing absolutely everywhere on this album. If it weren't for the fact that the vocals were so far forward, I probably wouldn't even notice how awful they are because I'd be too busy drooling over the guitar work.

Honestly, it makes me so sad to hear such an awesome act be ruined by sub-par vocals. If I had my way Zdenka would just take over the vocals all by herself and this project would be one of the strongest I'd ever come across. But as it stands I can't truly appreciate how fantastic Desire for Sorrow are because the only mistake on this record is just so massive.