An Autumn - The Long Goodbye - review
An Autumn - The Long Goodbye - review
Tracklist
01. The Long Goodbye02. Converging Towards The Light
03. A New Form Of Stillnes
04. Only Skin
05. When Night Leaves Again
06. She's Drawning Mountains
07. Endless Skies
08. Gleam
09. The Sleep Of Rust
A review by
tea[m]ster February 22, 2015
In 2013, I first discovered An Autumn For Crippled Children via their outstanding release Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love. They went toe to toe with everyone's new, favorite, juicy blackgaze fad of the moment Deafheaven's, Sunbather. Personally I feel Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love is a much better album than Sunbather but I digress. An Autumn For Crippled Children truly have one of the more unique sounds of any metalgaze band today and their new album, The Long Goodbye, uses the same formula from their last release but with a tad bit of enhancement.
The essense of The Long Goodbye is introvertive, ethereal compositions accompanied with surprisingly infectious melodies bluntly draped around a misty, hazy chassis. The songs are equally joyful and melancholic at the same time because of the harsh vocals of black metal and powerful, distorted layered guitars adapting extremely well with heavenly sounding synthesizers/electronics and simple but driving percussion. The contrast between light and dark is quite remarkable and somehow the packaging of all the musical elements is harmonious. Thorough listenings will unveil a hybrid playstyle consisting of black metal, post metal, ambient and shoegaze. Brooding, dreamy melodies create beautiful and lush sensations while the sandy and grainy lo-fi production indulges dynamic time changes done in a kind of luminous way.
The enhancements I spoke of earlier on The Long Goodbye aren't really all that mind-blowing but minor upgrades. First, the production is better; MXM's vocals are really buried beneath the wall of noise on their previous record. This time, his vocals are more articulated, gently layered below the forceful sound that's still emotional yet coherent. Lastly, as good as Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love is, the songs are a bit chaotic. The song writing on The Long Goodbye has improved to a point where it seems there is a purposeful stride within all of the tracks; a point A to point B basic mechanic. Predictions can be made when a chorus will appear or when a bridge or tempo change is in order. This structural integrity gives all the songs consequence, an easier way to remember each song. In summary, do I like this album better then the last? I would say yes.
I firmly believe An Autumn For Crippled Children are one of the bands at the apex of the foggy, icy covered black-gazed mountain top. With The Long Goodbye, they have elevated their game to the highest level by dumbing down their approach. A simple but effective maneuver, when euphoric atmosphere and blinding aura are smoothly ingested without much ado, music of this kind has fulfilled its purpose.
And I didn't even mention the term once...
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written on 22.02.2015 by
Written on 22.02.2015 by
Be gentle, I never said I was any good at this! Comments
Comments:
29
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 Posts: 5161 |
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Posts: 5826  |
Posts: 5826
Hmm? I don't get it You mentioned shoegaze, black metal and post metal... I don't have many terms apart from those that pop on my mind when I hear "An Autumn for Crippled Children" Internal joke, perhaps? Either way, it's tomorrow heh? Soon.
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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Posts: 5289 Written by Karlabos on 22.02.2015 at 23:15 you are missing one  think about deafheaven...specifically Sunbather...
---- rekt
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Posts: 5826 Written by tea[m]ster on 22.02.2015 at 23:17 Oh! xD
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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Posts: 18615
Was it screamo? Emo? ...The Bird?
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 5289 Written by X-Ray Rod on 22.02.2015 at 23:24 lmfao...I hope this doesn't take over my review - I thought I wrote a good one this time
---- rekt
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Posts: 108  |
Posts: 108
I honestly can't think of what the term is, and I know I'll probably feel silly once I realise it. I went on their last.fm tag page for some help working it out, only to be reminded of the fantastic range of tags the anti-deafheaven brigade have given them. "Ambient Dildocore" is definitely my favourite.
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Posts: 5289 Written by Feng on 22.02.2015 at 23:54 lol...that is NOT the term...
---- rekt
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Posts: 5289 Written by PocketMetal on 23.02.2015 at 00:03 you will not be disappointed...trust me.
---- rekt
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Posts: 5161
Yeah sorry Jay it's a really nice review there. Sorry, I just loved the little joke  .
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Posts: 18615
Good review nonetheless. I enjoyed their previous album a lot so by the looks of it, I'll be expecting something roughly as good.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 5989 Written by Feng on 22.02.2015 at 23:54 I laughed at that probably a lot longer than I should have
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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 Posts: 1127 |
Posts: 1127
I tend to really dislike blackgaze. Any chance this would sway me otherwise? Did not like Sunbatger pr really any of the 2014 candidates.
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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Posts: 2504
Wow this is awesome
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Posts: 756
Didn't knew these guys had a new album already. I was a little bored of their previous effort, I may gotta re-listen to it. Lost and Everything is really good IMO, so I'm going to give this a shot
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Posts: 242 Written by tea[m]ster on 23.02.2015 at 00:02 is it hipster black metal perhaps? 
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Posts: 3104
Great review. Now I'm even more eager to check this out. Glad they got this album streaming in its entirety on their Bandcamp page.
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Posts: 5826 Written by Hallford9000 on 23.02.2015 at 17:02 Noo. You spoke it
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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Posts: 242 Written by Karlabos on 23.02.2015 at 17:04 oh nooo. they're gonna get me now. xD there is a facebook page called hipster black metal. I am not a hipster myself, but i tend to like a great number of bands labeled as such.
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Posts: 6941
This review totally sold me. Cannot wait to listen
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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Posts: 540  |
Posts: 540
Pretty good stuff. Makes me think if 'God Is an Astronaut' was a blackgaze band. Maybe that's just me.
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| Posts: 756 |
Posts: 756
You're right about the vocals, much more audible now! Gotta listen a few more times before I'm giving a valid opinion I think
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| Posts: 1127 |
Posts: 1127
It's alright...for blackgaze. I often can't sit through a whole album in this style, but they managed to give me some mild enjoyment.
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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 Posts: 15359 |
Posts: 15359
Intigued. will check this out.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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Posts: 257
Didn't even know this was coming. Great review! Will be checking this out asap. Loved all of these guys' releases
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Posts: 5289 Written by hadriel on 28.02.2015 at 07:04 Agreed, snuck up on us! I admit I haven't listened to their earlier works but I really love TNTDETYL, and this album is a bit better because of accessibility.
---- rekt
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Posts: 1239  |
Posts: 1239
PINK METAL! Yeah, 'tis pretty good. But honestly, I find Deafhaven more interesting. Their last 2 albums have managed to be very diverse!
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