Band:	Year Of No Light
Album:	Ausserwelt
Style:	Atmospheric sludge metal
Release date:	April 26, 2010
A review by:	Thryce

01. Perséphone I
02. Perséphone II
03. Hiérophante
04. Abbesse

Post-metal
Recorded: Cadillac Studio, France 2010
Label: Conspiracy Records
Total Running Time: 48:00


Year Of No Light - Ausserwelt: one of 2010's little treasures you might have missed.

These French post-metal dudes spent an awful lot of time making their sophomore release, the follow-up to 2006's Nord - another album you might want to add to your Do-Want!-list while you're at it. But all the hard work during their long absence really pays off (ya hear that Korpiklaani?) as Ausserwelt is a clear step-up from their already superb debut record.

Another essential bit of info you'll need. The band went from a quintet to a quartet after the vocalist's departure, back to a sextet after enlisting a new drummer and a new guitarist (who also plays in the French doom band Monarch - another band you might want to add to your Must-Listen!-list while you're at it). In case you're not keeping score, Year Of No Light is now an instrumental outfit with three guitarists and two drummers.

And thus ends the paved road for this review. What follows is only an attempt to describe the sweet indescribableness that is Year Of No Light. Cheat tip: the album is awesome.

Above all, this album presents itself as a dark, dense and heavy record - and exactly how a year with no light would sound like (yes, I'm cheap). What you get here is the formation of one massive black hole that is blending together metalgaze, droning noises and even doomy passages, interwoven with layers and layers of swelling melodies, slowly sucking the listener right in. One of the absolute strengths of this band is creating somber and surprisingly hostile soundscapes without ever getting dreamy or boring.

...Only to leave your ears smoldering in your headphones, craving for yet another listen that'll probably sound different than the previous one. Recommended!