Band:	Era Decay
Album:	Ashes
Style:	Melodic death metal, Doom metal
Release date:	December 2010

01. Ravaged Master
02. Ashes
03. Rise
04. In A Second
05. Lady Of The Lake
06. Monologue
07. Devastation
08. Follow The Moon
09. Stoned
10. Pure Water
11. Don't Be A Slave

This is a review about the album Ashes. No, it's not Tristania's release here but the second full-length album by Era Decay from Romania. This melodic death/doom act have already offered some nice and slow music a bit similar to Flowing Tears and the early The Gathering. As both these similar bands also recruited female vocalists at some point then I think this band could also experiment with some pretty girl to add some new colours to the music one day.

While the first album Silent Stories was more slow and gloomy then the new one has added some pace in several songs and even taken an approach similar to In Flames in quite many places on this album. In fact it could be claimed that this album is a transition away from the slower doom side to stress the melodic death style more. That is not a bad thing that the band experiments. This album might offer something especially for those who prefer upbeat and energetic atmosphere to a gloomy and slow one.

The good moments of this album come from different categories. The title track still bears the characteristics of the slower style while tracks such as "Lady Of The Lake", "Devastation" and "Stoned" represent the newer and catchier sound reminiscent of groups such as In Flames. A few profanities in the song "Don't Be A Slave" are left to be judged according to the taste of the listeners. It's a bit of a deviation from the otherwise poetical music. The strongest points of this particular album are the two very good and well composed instrumental tracks "Rise" and "Pure Water" which actually are the main highlights and form the axis for the entire album. The musicians do a grand job plus the production has also improved. All in all we have a nice melodic death work here.