Upon its creation, Blaze of Sorrow was an Italian duo made of Peter (vocals, bass and guitars) and Rude on drums. After the departure of Rude, Peter took over the drum duties. L'Ultimo Respiro is the debut full length and a very nice one I shall add. Even if the production is slightly raw, it remains a pleasant listen from top to bottom. Besides, a little rawness never hurts when it comes time for some true black metal arts right?
L'Ultimo Respiro is a six tracks, thirty two minutes long (short) album. No epic (in time duration) songs but rather melodically dark and melancholic tunes to enjoy. The rasps are normally subdued, while clean chants and whispers are being involved too. On of the good news here is that a mid tempo beat was chosen in many instances. This coupled with heavy/distorted riffs, melancholic leads and tremolo pickings to form the darker palette of Peter's work. Then again, you can count on some wind, rain and thunder samplings to increase the melancholic atmosphere. Closing track, "Verso L'Eterno Tramonto"is a sad instrumental that include piano tones. The other very good news is that is that Blaze of Sorrow also uses acoustic arpeggios, leads in quite a few places, to my selfish pleasure. Needless to say that this instrument greatly serves the compositions. As a matter of fact, this organic sound is gracing single tracks besides the closer.
To sum up, L'Ultimo Respiro is yet another emotionally good piece of black metal.
Track listing:
1. Cercando il silenzio
2. Trasportato Dalle fredde Ali
3. L'ultimo Respiro
4. Forse un Giorno...
5. Avvolto Dalla Hebbia
6. Verso L' Eterno Tramonto