Band:	An Autumn
Album:	Everything
Style:	Post-rock, Shoegaze, Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	September 01, 2011
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Forever Never Fails
02. Formlessness
03. Absence Of Contrast
04. We All Fall
05. Nothing/Everything
06. Her Dress As A Poem, Her Death As The Night
07. I Am The Veil
08. Cold Spring
09. Rain

"But the last day of summer never felt so cold, the last day of summer never felt so old" Robert Smith sings in one of the most beautiful songs of the later The Cure; and here it is, the first rain has arrived after a long era of heat. It's a bittersweet feeling to say the least since you have to deal with the very end of a carefree period and all of a sudden "the season of the fall begins", like Lake Of Tears say in one of their most well-known compositions, and all your obligations come to the surface violently. But still, there's always a nostalgic sense omnipresent, not everything is lost, memories still linger. Hell, even the release date of the album, the 1st of September, I'm pretty sure it was intentional.

I was thinking of what to listen to and from my mind passed the idea of cherishing once again the latest effort of An Autumn For Crippled Children, Everything. And I'm really glad because it's Everything I'd like to listen to at this very moment. Last year they offered wholeheartedly to the world their debut album, Lost, a beautiful piece of highly atmospheric black metal with an experimental edge and an utterly melancholic aura. One year later they return with some kind of black metal flirting album which emphasizes way more than its predecessor in the atmospheric factor. The sonic production helps this attempt designate its devouring bittersweet aesthetic, forging a surrounding and ever-expanding wall of sound based on the heavy yet gentle keyboard melodies, the distortion of the guitars and the beautiful chords that float all over the place. Something worth mentioning is the fact that despite the somewhat blurry sense (which is of course something positive) the production leaves to the listener, you can more or less witness every single instrument's presence. Even the bass lines work as another atmosphere-evoking instrument and they're not just keeping the tempo, something always welcome, something you don't find that often.

I didn't mention The Cure for no reason in the beginning, there are intense references within the sound realms of Everything, especially from the Wish era and the incomplete dream essence it possessed. You can also witness some references to Echo And The Bunnymen's Ocean Rain which was a fragile release as well, with all those strings and orchestrations, and there are moments you can find a bit of Interpol in the heart-rending mid-paced chords and an Alcest-meets-Suede feeling at their most introvert moments. The black metal flirting vibe has to be the echoing harsh screams with MXM spitting his heart out, alongside the up tempo drumming and the misty riffing that appears whenever required. I shouldn't skip the fact that some few clean vocals enrich the overall atmosphere and I shouldn't forget to mention that there are moments the piano/keyboards paint on the sound canvas of Everything some utterly creative and quality passages, making the band's attempt more affected.

If you're willing to listen to highly sentimental and intense in its very own way music, then I presume you shouldn't skip checking An Autumn For Crippled Children's latest effort. Even the contrasting and beautiful black and white cover artwork is far too pleasing to the eye not to make your senses lead you to the album's nest. 43 minutes of bittersweet grandeur is Everything you need, now if you'll fly away with the birds in the open horizon or you'll stay and welcome the fall among the leafless branches is always your choice, it always has been, it always will be.