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End of Hope (2014) is the debut full-length album by Bulgarian progressive metal act Abstraction. The band was previously known as Chronology but the members all have a history further than that through an act called Galaxis. End of Hope however seems to be the most major release the members have been involved in to date, with the exception of drummer Antonio Velkov who also played on the Mystica album Dreams in Real Forms (2008). Abstraction brand their style of music is as progressive power metal.
Well I'm going to say right from the off that such a description is downright misleading. End of Hope has some power metal elements but overall this music actually has very little to do with the genre. The music tends towards a mid-paced sound a bit too much to be considered power metal; the fast power metal style riffs are absent. The release is instead a typical modern sounding melodic progressive metal album that more than anything also draws on symphonic metal.
Instrumentally the band are a pretty impressive unit, and they also throw in a surprise folk section during opening song Wolf but overall I can't say I find myself overly impressed by this debut. The band certainly has the musicianship but I can't help but feel that the album never really goes anywhere with its potential. The vocalist is competent but doesn't provide as commanding of a performance as I'd have liked to have heard and despite the strong musicianship the songs tend to outstay their welcome, which is a bigger problem that it may sound, as Abstraction haven't written any particularly long tracks here. The longest is The Game at 7:41. Their writing is therefore relatively to the point yet not concise enough to work as well as it could.
Abstraction have shown that they have substantial potential to be a great act on End of Hope but it's clear to me that they still have a way to go yet. The musicianship is there. The songs not so much but it's certainly not a bad album. Something in the 3 stars rating area is fair.