Edge Of Haze – Illumine

Although the bands history and roots lie deep in the Doom Metal genre, Edge Of Haze have evolved and transformed into something much more melodic and progressive orientated, culminating in this glorious yet dark affair. Based loosely on the novel ’Escape From Camp 14’, the album has a connecting theme of  oppression in a ‘big brother’ type scenario, which in turn, adds a great deal of atmosphere and substance to the overall vibe.

Having an extremely well balanced and complimenting vocal performance of clean and growl, the album is able to flow and progress very smoothly from masterful progressive and melodic hooks and riffs, through to hauntingly soft and evocative tracks such as ’Urban Reverie’, all backed by some really top notch musicianship.

Finland and Metal go hand in hand, and in Edge Of Haze, we have one of the country’s best exponents of it. Just listening to the crushing, machine gun riffs and gutteral growling on one of my personal album highlights, ’Crushed’, you get a very clear picture and understanding of what the band are all about, and indeed what they are attempting to achieve with this release. Yes, in places, you can liken the performance to certain aspects of bands such as Katatonia, Swallow The Sun and a few others but believe me, this is real stand alone stuff. Tracks like the gloriously atmospheric ’Into The Red Sun’, have moments of pure genius and bliss, alternate soothing and battering of the soul passages, that are simply fantastic.

The album seems to build towards its majestic conclusion though, in the form of the epic closer ’The Newfound Horizon’, ten minutes of sumptuous, inspiring, bewildering music, that had me continuously reaching for the replay button. A track that just shifts between tempos and styles with unerring ease, testament indeed to the seriously good song writing skills on display.

This is an album that everyone should listen to, dark enough for the Doom fraternity, Prog enough for the Progressive fans, and most certainly melodic enough for the masses. If Edge Of Haze can build on this incredibly strong foundation, they surely will become a major force very soon.

Track Listing;

1. Drawn
2. The Pyre
3. Urban Reverie
4. Crushed
5. 3.30am
6. Into The Red Sun
7. Unlearn
8. A Storm At The River
9. Rainfall
10. A Newfound Horizon

Edge Of Haze are;

Markus Hentunen – Lead Vocals and Guitars
Eeero Maijala – Growl Vocals, Bass and Guitars
Janne Meiskonen – Drums
Lenno Linjama – Guitars
Akseli Savola – Keyboards

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