Blind Ambitions

Breaking Free

Written by: PP on 30/07/2012 23:47:39

Here's another example of a band with great intentions and unquestionable passion for their goal in music, but without the required know-how and ability to push it all the way to the next level. I'm of course speaking about Blind Ambitions, who might be the most blatant The Ghost Inside rip off I've heard despite having listened to bands like Hundredth, Envy The Fallen, and Stick To Your Guns among others, and consequently suffer on their debut album "Breaking Free" from the immediate contrast to The Ghost Inside's latest masterpiece "Get What You Give", which was released only a couple of months after this release.

Basically, Blind Ambitions fall comfortably within the group of hardcore/metalcore hybrids like the bands mentioned who were all considerably influenced by "Returners" and "Fury And The Fallen Ones". They are unafraid of using heavy dosages of lingering melody for uplifting soundscapes that create ideal conditions for harshly screamed power messages like "READ BETWEEN THE LINES" on "Headlines", followed by more ambient guitar trickery to further cement the importance of key lyrics in their songs. And because the style is still relatively new, it's not surprising to also find moments where Blind Ambitions are truly brilliant, too.

"Silver And Gold" is one of these with its sparkling lead riff, muscular rhythm section, and a beautiful chorus that pushes the heavy elements to the background in favour of a more melodic and spacious approach to their sound. But it is on "Break Free", where Blind Ambitions live up to their name and write undeniably the best song on the album and one that gives them a platform to build from in the future. Sublime guitar melodies lead a fast paced onslaught which also features the very first moment where their vocalist feels comfortable in his shoes and delivers a little bit more varied and technically sound expression than is the case elsewhere on the album. It sounds so much like The Ghost Inside lite, but it doesn't matter as long as the band are able to fire more tracks in this vein on future albums.

Basically "Breaking Free" is essentially the same album as The Ghost Inside wrote, but it lacks a vocalist with similar charisma and a few more distinct guitar leads and well-executed breakdowns to compete on a similarly high level. They need to develop the screaming and concentrate on more ambient melodies along the lines of those mentioned in this review, and less so on the more chugga-chugga oriented songs that unfortunately also are found on the record. That being said, for a self-released debut record, this is pretty damn impressive. Keep an eye on this band.

7

Download: Break Free, Headlines, Silver And Gold,
For the fans of: The Ghost Inside, Hundredth, Counterparts, Stick To Your Guns, Misery Signals
Listen: Facebook

Release date 07.04.2012
Self-Released

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