Born from isolation and rekindled urgency, Portuguese mathcore trio Ablaze emerge with Slow Death, a cathartic EP forged in the crucible of the COVID years, due out on February 6. Alongside the EP, the band now premiere the striking new video for “Martyr”, a visual counterpart to the project’s raw emotional core.
Watch the video for “Martyr” here.
In 2020, as the world fell silent and everything familiar was put on hold, Hugo Martins of post-hardcore collective Pledge found time and space to reconnect with something essential: music. Confined at home during the uncertainty of the pandemic, he began writing guitar riffs slowly and deliberately, shaping songs that mirrored the atmosphere of the time: tense, inward-looking, and emotionally charged. Once the foundations were set, Hugo reached out to Igor Esteves of Larkin, whose drum performances gave the material its physical punch and pulse, anchoring the unease already present in the guitars. Though complete, the tracks were ultimately shelved, left untouched as life moved on.
The turning point came years later with an unexpected reconnection. Hugo crossed paths again with André Cardoso, a familiar voice from the Portuguese hardcore scene of the early 2000s. André hadn’t stepped behind a microphone in over a decade, but when he heard the tracks, something clicked immediately. The music echoed the urgent intensity of bands like Poison the Well, Norma Jean, Converge, and Botch, alongside the uncompromising ethos of labels such as Trustkill, Victory, and Revelation Records. André didn’t just add vocals, he gave the songs language. Screams, lyrics, and meaning poured in, transforming the material from instrumental reflection into something sharper, more confrontational, and deeply personal.
Ablaze was never planned as a band. It came together organically, out of necessity rather than ambition, a parallel project rooted in the past but unmistakably shaped by the present. Heavy, introspective, and unfiltered, Ablaze exists as both a statement and a release.
The result is Slow Death, an EP that brings years of writing, restraint, and buried emotion to the surface at last.
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/ablaze_music
https://ablazehcmusic.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@AblazeMusic2025
