Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Black Metal, Depressive Black Metal, Post Metal, Post Rock, Shoegaze
Labels: ATMF

The crushing beauty of shoegaze and post metal combined with the savagery of raw black metal make up the first track off of Everything, “Forever Never Fails”. It’s like a year of pure urgent emotion turned into a five minute and thirteen second long song. And it alone is worth the money for the album.

“Formlessness” comes next, with very My Bloody Valentine sounding music and Sargeist/Craft vocals. If this doesn’t get your heart moving, you’re probably dead. It differs from “Forever Never Fails” primarily in the bass work, lending it less of an urgency and more of a solemnity. Oddly enough, it is also exactly five minutes and thirteen seconds long.

“Absence of Contrast” contrasts nicely with “Formlessness”, it’s piano lines and bass setting off a nice throb to inhale opium to. “We All Fall” takes a more post rock feel despite the savagery of the vocals. Spoken words make an appearance as well, an interesting and nice change up. “Nothing/Everything” takes a more depressive black metal via shoegaze feel. The keyboard work here is exemplary, taking more of a lead then a coloring overlay.

“Her Dress as a Poem, Her Death as the Night” flows with a deep melancholy, deep bass carrying you through an ocean of keys with waves of guitar crushing you down, under. This is utter depression in musical form, and it’s beautiful and cathartic, another song worthy of being worth the album’s price. I just wish it was longer.

“I am the Veil” would feel like an indie rock song if it weren’t for the key drones in the back and the blackened vocals. The keys come forward as pianos and make it even less indie rock and more post metal/depressive black. “Cold Spring” is totally the opposite, going straight for post metal/shoegaze from the start, a heart stopping vocal performance that upon repeat listens continually drags you through varying emotional states.

Despite “Cold Spring” being a great song, the final track “Rain” trumps it easily, and is one of the best songs on the album. Guitar feedback and keyboards blend over a slower, higher pitched bass line, with sung vocals making a brief appearance. The song as a whole has a feeling of a triumphant ending, which it is for the album. Wonderful.

As a whole, Everything is a gorgeous album that takes the listener through many parts of the emotional spectrum. There is joy here, there is sadness, there is anger, and there is even love. But it all takes on a melancholic darkness that is hard to shake off after listening. I highly recommend getting this, especially if you’re a fan of My Bloody Valentine, Autumn’s Grey Solace, Jesu, Darkthrone, The Cure, or Cry.

10 out of 10.

An Autumn for Crippled Children on Facebook.

Genres: Black Metal, Doom, Post Rock
Label: A Sadness Song/ATMF

An Autumn for Crippled Children present a genre-bender of an album that is easy to get Lost in. And I mean it. It’s quite a beautiful sounding album full of post rock passages that flow into crushing doom, then kicks your face in with black metal gladiator boots.
Emotionally, this album is everywhere, just like the sound, but it’s not the type of everywhere that is like forced schizophrenic ideas, but a more genuine sense of the emotional spectrum. It’s got great riffs, spectacular drumming, and a voice that brings my spirits down and uplifts them simultaneously.
If you’re into depressive black metal, this might be your cup of tea. Doom and post rock fans will definitely find something here in AAFCC to bang their heads to. Traditional black metal purists might have some trouble with the album, but those with more open minds should enjoy it immensely. I know I love it, and recommend it totally.
8.5 out of 10.

An Autumn for Crippled Children on MySpace.

Genre: Post Rock, Shoegaze
Label: Conspiracy Records

I started listening to Ausserwelt not knowing what it was, or who Year of No Light are. I was immediately impressed with the cohesiveness of the music, how they seemed to be taking elements from several different musical directions, and putting them all together.
I think this falls under the Post Rock category of music, sounding like Wintersleep and My Bloody Valentine, with some drone doom elements and even some atmospheric black metal elements. Shoegaze also fits the description too.
I would love to see this band live, to bring this kind of big sounding music onto a stage. And it really is big. The drums aren’t LOUD, they sound HUGE. Like a five foot tall man playing drums built for a  twenty foot tall man and succeeding. The guitars are ungodly massive, a set of stacks reaching to the sky. Yeah, I’m full of metaphors today. But that’s how this music is.
And the song lengths themselves are epic. The shortest song is the second one, “Perséphone (Coré)”, sitting at 9:37, and it’s really just an extension to the first track “Perséphone (Enna)”, which is 11:56 long. The other two, “Hiérophante” and “Abbesse” are both clocking in at 13 minutes and change.
This came out late April, so it’s available now. I’d look in to getting a copy if you’re into post rock, shoegaze, doom, or just instrumental music. It’s awesome.
8 out of 10.

Year of No Light on MySpace.

Genres: Goth, Metal, Post Rock, Shoegaze
Label: Prophecy Productions

Here’s another French band I knew nothing about until now, and I’m enjoying it.
From what I can tell, Les Discrets is one man, Fursy Teyssier, who not only makes music, but is a painter and filmmaker, and he’s combined all of his passions into one, and (in English) called it The Final Thoughts of September.
It’s an odd listen though, because it’s a major amalgamation of various genres that works nicely. Touches of shoegaze, post rock, little bits of goth, and classic metal are being thrown together to create this, and just on that mix alone it’s a compelling listen. But the star of this show is, in the end, Teyssier’s voice, and man does he have some pipes.
I can’t even compare his style to anyone, he sounds so different from everyone else I know, and I have no real point of reference within the French art scene he’s in, other than Alcest, and there is no real comparison there as far as similarities go.
I can tell you, however, that Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées is a fucking cool album, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes any of the above mentioned genres, and I think fans of more atmospheric or experiemental black metal might find stuff here they’ll like.
7.5 out of 10.