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Ignite
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Our Darkest Days
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Abacus Recordings
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It has been six long year since Ignite released their previous album “A Place Called Home” and it is a honest relief to hear the fine tunes of one of the best hardcore punk bands around. Though there is no need to say that a six-year gap between albums is not the best way to profile yourself as a band, it is still a lot better than releasing one mediocre album after another like many fellow punkrock bands are doing. But this hiatus made the band sound as sincere as ever, so I feel like I’m 16 years old again and full-time digging into the mid-90’s Epitaph roster (these times are goldworthy), but after a couple of spins of Ignite’s “Our Darkest Days” they proof themselves more worthy of the title I gave them earlier in this intro, to me they are the true kings of melodic hardcore punk.
If you liked “A Place Called Home” this will be an instant hit right in the face, as its follow-up is exactly in the same line as its predecessor but they have been perfecting their style and have a more balanced sound then ever before. The whole package is presented in a crystal clear production that gives Zoli Teglas’ vocals a perfect place in the band – and finally gets the right position. The production was done by no-one else than Cameron Webb who is also known for his works in Motörhead and Social Distortion for instance, so almost a veteran in melting a great punk album together. Musically there is not much of a difference with the well-known Ignite-formula, which means as much very melodic hardcore punk clearly from an American background, though it reminds me more than often to the early- to mid-period Satanic Surfers from Sweden. And for those who are not familiar with these terms or the earlier works of Ignite, imagine yourself a healthy mix of up-tempo kind of punk which has got a melodic and rather happy intent, all in all this results in not the most original kind of punkrock, yet the vocals of Zoli makes the band truly one of a kind. You either love it or hate it, high pitched and totally clean without going out of key at any point which is actually seldomnly seen. Though I have not much to complain about “Our Darkest Days”, the end is rather peculiar. Ending with a U2 cover (‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’) and an acoustic track is not the right way to close an album this massive. Other than this Ignite proofs to be pure class and hard to beat!
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Felix Schoonen
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Pantheon I
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Worlds I Create
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Tenet
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Sovereign
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Arkaea
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Years In The Darkness
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Rape Pillage and Burn
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Songs Of Death...Songs Of Hell
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Cruciamentum
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Convocation of Crawling Chaos
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Bloodsin
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Tales from the Dissecting Table
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The Darkest Red
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Destroy & Rebuild
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Killswitch Engage
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Killswitch Engage
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Obituary
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Darkest Day
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