Band:	Autolatry
Album:	Native
Style:	Melodic black metal, Progressive black metal
Release date:	June 18, 2013
A review by:	X-Ray Rod

01. Colony
02. Waning Moon
03. Unrest With The Tide
04. Pale Dishonor
05. Setting Of The Sun
06. Native

Some of you may recognize Autolatry from one of our Clandestine Cuts articles of the past year, where one of my colleagues reviewed their Of The Land EP. I decided to take my time and listen to the previous album and EP of this young black metal band before diving into the depths of their sophomore album. That's when I met an inconsistency... Of the good kind! Man, they threw me a curve ball.

You see folks, it's not like any previous elements where erased. Hell no! All that can be heard in their debut and EP is still here: Loads of energy and aggression which reminds me a little bit of their countrymen Krallice, a more than confident approach to their instruments, great riff-fests together with intense and melodic leads, nice pulsing bass, and varied drums. They also still have that slight folk element to keep things extra fun for the listener. But with Native they turned those elements up to 11, reinforced their sound both in songwriting and production, got more technical (although never overdoing it) and threw a sax once or twice... You know, for good measure and all. At some points it does get a bit more proggy than I was expecting and it ended up as a more than a pleasant surprise. The instrumental "Waning Moon" is a good example of that since it sounds like a well structured jam session where things get slightly space-like and psychedelic which brought to mind sounds that wouldn't be too out of place in a band like Oranssi Pazuzu.

Native is certainly an exciting journey as you can hear a band that not only is expanding and solidifying their sound... They are also having fun while doing it. Just listen to the track "Pale Dishonor" (the personal favorite of yours truly) and you will hear just that. The section near the 5 minute mark in particular sounds fun, catchy and just hella cool. How many black metal bands really sound like they are having a great time? Not as many as there should be if you ask me.

You can pre-order Native (or buy other cool items) here or get a taste of their album on their bandcamp!