Dark Metal, that’s how AUTUMNBLAZE label themselves for Perdition Diaries. Yes, the music is dark, that's for sure. On Perdition Diaries German band AUTUMNBLAZE pick ingredients from nearly every subgenre, vaguely labeled Dark Metal in greater terms. Be it dark heavy rocking with pressed vocals like in the opener Wir sind was wir sind or using more quiet sounds like on Who Are You?. Who Are You? starting very melancholic and melodic with vocals similar to those of newer Anathema or Katatonia but then surprisingly changing to some hard grooving mid tempo song using growling vocals. I Had To Burn This Fucking Kingdom then comes along as a fast Black Metal reminding one and as such presenting a further facet of AUTUMNBLAZE. As mentioned in the beginning on Perdition Diaries AUTUMNBLAZE take a little bit of everything, just as they like to but also just a the song needs it. The Black Metal elements then can be found again on Brudermord which has some very mean, screaming Black Metal vocals (great!). After that Empty House sounds even more quiet and nearly relaxing with it's strong touch of Anathema.

But also doomy Death Metal parts just like older My Dying Bride stuff can be found on Perdition Diaries. Haughtiness And Puerile Dreams starts very heavy, forcing but then makes use of the mentioned doomy touch, only to take on speed again after this really tough break. It's quite astonishing how seemingly easy AUTUMNBLAZE combine all these elements of the darker side of metal. Despite all obvious inspirations nothing sounds dull, boring or even stolen. These guys can't and won't choose a single direction and just play how- and whatever they like. Variation is definitely held high on Perdition Diaries. What I personally miss though is some kind of reminding song. It's fun to listen to Perdition Diaries - that's not the point. The point is that even after many listens there just is no song to be found, which really stands out and hardly leaves your ears and mind for some time. Perdition Diaries is really well done and flawlessly played Dark Metal and fans of the mentioned inspirational bands should definitely check this out - it's just not a milestone but has a lot to offer.