DAWN OF SOLACE is a two man band from Finland who play melodic doom. The idea was formed by the ever prolific Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart, among others) in 2005. Joining Tuomas is Mikko Heikkilä ( KAUNIS KUOLEMATON) who also sang on last year's "Waves." Much like that aforementioned album, "Flames Of Perdition," is a melancholic and melodic doom album with Gothic layers. It is drenched in the famous Finnish atmosphere that few other countries can come close too. The success of "Flames Of Perdition," lies in the strength of the relationship between Tuomas and Mikko. Each of them compliments the other, resulting in an iron glad partner ship.

It also helps that duties are divided: Tuomas plays all the instruments and Mikko provides vocals. With each person having a singular and purposeful task, the music flows outward as smoothly as anything I have heard this year. With that being said, this album is very much in the same vein as "Waves," which means it is a guaranteed great album if you're a fan. If you didn't care for waves, "Flames Of Perdition" won't change your mind. For me, that isn't too terrible of a problem. Listening to this album feels like coming home toa place you've been away from far too long.

Mikko's voice is damn near perfect—sorrowful yet warm and full. His consistency is key and he continues to show why he has some of the beast cleans in doom. "White Noise," opens the album with clean/acoustic tones. These elements are more prevalent on the album as a whole, thus making it a more dynamic experience than the previous effort. The stone heavy riffs work great as a counterweight to the clean notes, and it ensure no matter how melodic the song gets, that doom heaviness isn't far behind. The chorus is super catchy, Mikko molds the lyrics to fit his voice and make everything work for him. Clean piano starts the title track off on a tragic and somber tone. From here, the song grows in an organic way with each new element building upon what came before. Mikko's words fall off the piano and then acoustic guitars build from that. At 2:13 the song explodes with big riffs, complete with intertwined harmonies and subtle but epic keys. At the 4:34 mark, the drums pick up and bring the entire song together as it ends in a wall of melancholic doom.

"Event Horizon" is an interesting track. The deep bass tones rule the song—it sounds full yet ominous. The structure of the song alternates between clean and heavy passages but doesn't feel disjointed. The heavier parts build up as a Crescendo to push the story being told by the clean sections into the amazing chorus, which pulls on the heart strings while being one of those moments that isn't easy to get out of your head. I love the drums on "Skyline" because they are attention grabbing and pull the focus evenly around the song. The atmosphere is bass heavy, not only in the drums but also in the guitar and it makes the song into a massive, impenetrable dirge. The guitar leads adds in a touch of melody that rises against the heavy riffs and the drums that shower it all with nuance and force.

"Flames Of Perdition," is just as good, if better than, "Waves."  Any fan of Tuomas' output will find little to disagree with here and doom fans will get a melodic and somber ride out of it too.