Three years removed from their second release, Illumine, Edge of Haze has returned for their third offering. Three years is a decent chunk of time between releases, and as expected the band has taken their sound and made some alterations to it. Unfortunately, not all of them seem all for the better.
Illumine worked best as an amalgamation between genres. Some gothic, progressive, doom, and death all wrapped up into an original package. Deluge sees some of said originality (in merging genres at least) lost with them furthering their music into a progressive/djent-y feel. The more extreme elements of the past are gone (most visibly any harsh vocals), with a much greater push to emphasize the melodic. With said push, it does work. There are some undeniably beautiful and catchy passages to be found in “Skydive” and “Perfume.” The vocal work continues to be top-notch as well – one of the strongest facets the band has are the soaring and expressive vocals of Markus Hentunen. The compelling vocal work is a clear highlight as “Until We Hit the Water” quickly shows as the gates open. That’s not to say that the progressive riffs and melodies don’t also play their part. Shiny melodies and leads in “Hallucine” serve to accentuate the progressive rhythms into some emotive moments.
The problem is that much of this type of material has been well-covered by many, and the uniqueness factor is diminished. They have a good foothold in place with Hentunen’s vocal approach, but the rest unfortunately can’t carry the necessary weight to give them a place among the genre’s elite. Deluge can hold it’s own, but it’s disappointing to think about what could be accomplished if they had continued in a more individualized path with this third effort.