AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN FILLS A NEED I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD

It’s slowly dawning on me that the Post-Black Metal scene is the most interesting part of Metal at the moment (apart from Sunbather that is, that is far from interesting.) While more traditional strains of Black Metal follow the well-trodden path of their Scandinavian fore-fathers, be it by choice or cultural pressure, this off-shoot genre seems happy to do whatever the hell it wants… and I am all for that. Mixing in different elements and external influences that the gauntleted hand of the traditionalists will not touch, and will rage about on-line, Post-Black Metal seems to be the refuge of those wanting to do something a little bit different.

And An Autumn For Crippled Children, are definitely a band wanting to do something a little bit different.

The latest from the interestingly named Netherlands Trio, The Long Goodbye, crafts its sound from the tried and tested Post-Black Metal formula; genre experimentation. The strong aesthetic nature of Black Metal makes it a perfect play thing for those willing to explore it’s relation to genres other than Metal. Whereas So Hideous dragged Black Metal kicking and screaming through Symphonic Screamo and A Pregnant Light flirtation with Indie and Punk has evolved more into a steady relationship with a dog and a kid, An Autumn For Crippled Children seem to have a thing for 80’s Goth Pop. Beneath the treble heavy guitars, thick layers of distortion and shrieking vocals, lie chord progressions seemingly lifted from the darker period of The Cure or Bauhaus. The bass tone too, sitting high in the mix, bares a strong resemblance to the tone found on The Cure tracks like Fascination Street. But despite all of the former, the over-all aesthetic remains entirely Black Metal.

It is the synth work however, as on previous An Autumn For Crippled Children albums that really stands out. They are unashamedly old school, adding to that 80’s Synth Pop vibe while creating an atmosphere entirely of its own. It harnesses that depressed darkness of 80’s Goth Music that is similar, yet far-detached, from the misery normally depicted in core Black Metal releases, mainly in the DSBM scene. When The Long Goodbye gets it right, it creates unique soundscapes that works well with the core themes of Black Metal, but does not convey them in the same way. It is a grandiose and lushly beautiful experience.

When it doesn't get it right however, this latest release from An Autumn For Crippled Children, becomes immensely frustrating, if for no other reason that its sections of brilliance are… well… brilliant. As the way with much music with a particularly unique goal in mind, the issues spring forth from the same source as the positive aspects. The key issue is that the best parts of The Long Goodbye suffer from repetition, and the worst suffer from being a mess. The merger of 80’s synth pop sounds and Black Metal is a tricky one. The synth tones themselves hold a breathy, upper register timbre that gets into dirty top-end fights with the treble boosted distorted guitar tone. When both instruments are trying to do separate things the result is a mix between white noise and a Kerry King solo. This is especially obvious when the guitars attempt to play Indie Goth Rock style guitar riffs within the context of a Black Metal track. The distorted guitars of the Nordic Export lack the staccato clarity that the start-stop, rhythmic playing style requires. Black Metal guitar tones fit much better with a long term melodic commitment than such overt rhythmic focus and it is these sections of drawn out grandiosity that suit An Autumn For Crippled Children down to a tee. The problem with THIS is that when only one kind of playing style suites a band, it can become very one note; that is where the problem of repetition comes in.

These issues aside however, I found it hard not to enjoy The Long Goodbye. While it has some pitfalls, the unique quality of An Autumn For Crippled Children’s style keeps me coming back, I don’t think any other band can fulfil my newly found addiction to Goth Rock influenced Black Metal and that’s certainly not something I can say about any other band.

 4/5

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FREE MUSIC MONDAY:19/01/2015

Free Music Monday does exactly what it says on the tin. Every Monday I will scour BandCamp for only the best free albums.

Free Music.

Every Monday!

Got that? Good.

Let's begin. 

Cowards - Rise To Infamy

There are some albums that are difficult to write about intelligently. Though I don’t mean that in a bad way. It is difficult to write intelligently about an album like Rise to Infamy, for example, because it has no interest in being intelligent itself. That is not Cowards’ intention.  What these Parisians would rather do is tear out your throat and stare into your eyes while you die.

Have I made it clear that this is one violent album yet?

Cold and heartless Cowards have built this album on a simple Philosophy of aural terrorism. From the off it’s clear that the Parisians are here to revel in Sludgy Blackened Hardcore, the slow stomping rhythms of Shame Along Shame acting as the introductory punch to a 10 track beating. The discordant riffing of Never To Shine shows of the more unhinged side of Cowards. No less aggressive, but infinitely more insane. The Black Metal influence perhaps comes through best on Bend The Knee with the huge slab of bleak atmosphere it forces down the listeners through in the last two minutes.  Ultimately it returns to my original point. Rise to Infamy is a heavy, brutally angry album. It feeds back as much as it riffs and doesn’t really give a damn about what you think.

This album could have easily been released on Deathwish Inc. For a band you may never have heard of Cowards are every bit as talented and bloodthirsty as Trap Them, Rise and Fall, The Secret and any other band you may care to mention that merges Black Metal evil with Hardcore Sludge groove. Perhaps even more so.

Entropia - Vesper

I feel I should make something clear to all those who believe Deafheaven were the first band to mix Shoegaze and Post-Rock with Black Metal.

They weren’t. Not even almost.

I could honestly write an entire article about how much about that album digs at many Post-Black Metal fans in small, niggling ways. Though, until I throw away regards for semi-decent journalism and do that, listening to an album with the quality of Vesper from Polish then-quartet Entropia is a good start.

Just in case the small rant relating to Sunbather wasn’t a giveaway, this Post-Black Metal release draws heavily from Shoegaze, mixing it with Black Metal to make something that is depressive and bleak, as Black Metal should be, but without sacrificing the ambience and atmosphere of Shoegaze and Post-Rock. With any Post-prefix style of Metal, or even Rock, there is a tendency to lose some core of what the style original was. Few bands manage to keep the intensity and darkness of their original genre, Alcest, for example, as great of a band as they are, would not fit the descriptor “intense.” Entropia manage to cling on to these aspects of Metal, making an album that is both aggressive, heavy, dark and beautiful all at the same time.

Perhaps the most impressive thing however, is the band’s ability to mix in Shoegaze and Post-Rock elements without feeling repetitive. Repetition is core to the Shoegaze sound, as Kerry McCoy, guitarist of that band I’ve mentioned so much that it’s even starting to annoy me, told d'Addario, it kind of works on a Kraut Rock principle. That repetition forces the listener to go through something akin to the 5 stages of grief, but for guitar riffs. Vesper certainly includes repetitive sections, without them there would be no Shoegaze influence, but somehow, it never feels repetitive. Call that a wishy-washy bit of analysis if you will, because it kind of is, but what I’m trying to get at is that this is a great album. Entropia, with Vesper, masterfully bring together separate elements to a coherent, wonderfully satisfying whole.

Snowmine - Laminate Pet Animal

Laminate Pet Animal is the best Psychedelic Indie Pop album I’ve ever heard. Well, to be fair it’s the ONLY Psychedelic Indie Pop album I’ve ever heard, but Snowmine have written an album that makes me wonder if I really have to check out any other bands in the genre; I get the feeling most other efforts would pale in comparison.

With all members having backgrounds is Classical and Jazz, it is no surprise that the Brooklyn quintet have the ability to write incredibly tight songs, nothing is superfluous and nothing seems over the top. While my focus on the band’s measured approach may put some in mind of a stilted or endlessly theoretical album with no enjoyment to be found beyond dusty analysis, this is not the case. While Snowmine know how to give you exactly enough and no more or less, the sonic pallet of the band is ever shifting and experimenting. All songs are related, but no songs sound the same. Songs are exciting and varied and wonderfully detailed without becoming over-complex; this is certainly a pop album, but a pop album written by people who have incredible song writing ability.

The one weak spot on Laminate Pet Animal are the vocals. Thematically the album deals with some interesting themes, according to an interview with NYC’s The Deli, the album is centred on the concepts of direction and preservation of comfort. It’s all very Camus and philosophical, but in practise, on a pop album, the vocals fall a little flat. They are pleasant enough and the music would be slightly worse off without them but they just can’t hold a candle to the wonderfully written instrumentations behind them.

If the other albums on this list are too heavy for you, or even if they aren’t, Laminate Pet Animal by Snowmine is a stand out Indie Pop record that is really worth your time. 

Interested in having your band featured on this weekly article? E-mail us at pyramidnoise@gmail.com with the subject line "Free Music Monday" with links to your Bandcamp page. 

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