It’s just a bit over a year that AAfCC released their last full-length, and here they are presenting us with another one, their second on Prosthetic Records and their ninth in total. Too much too soon? Maybe. But what is a collective of musicians to do confined to their houses during a pandemic? Surely getting creative and pouring your surplus energy into making new music isn’t the dumbest of ideas.

Fans of the mysterious Dutch trio certainly won’t mind. I can say that more often than not I’d choose the familiar low-key melancholia, the glimmers of light, the fine melodies and the subdued, raging vocals of an AAfCC album over something I’m less familiar with that’s aggressively demanding my attention.

As expected, the trio’s new release does not deviate from the sound template the band have built for themselves over the years. While they are always labelled as blackgaze and constantly compared to Deafhaven, they really have their very own sound and story, their own niche. What separates them from bands that dwell in the same vicinity is their low profile and a calm confidence in what they are doing. There is nothing in-your-face here.

The album’s eight tracks all clock in at around four minutes, resulting in a playtime of a bit over half an hour. Again, pleasing, often up-lifting melodies, played out on keyboards and guitars, are contrasted with the harsh ugliness of black metal vocals and with drumming that often appears to go against the flow. Song-writing, musicianship and production are at the expected high level; close listening is rewarded with intriguing details. And that offers you a choice: If, as a listener, you want to engage further with the music and the topics it touches you can do so, but you can just as well listen to the album in a less active way, while you are doing something else.

Since the lyrics are completely unintelligible figuring out what topics specifically are dealt with involves a bit of guess work and making use of your imagination. We are told that they include “love, life, death and eternal existential quandaries”, but one cannot help but feel that song titles like Carefully Breathing also comment on the global predicament that is the pandemic and its effects on the human psyche.

The albums stand-out track is the fittingly-named Melancholia featuring memorable drumming parts and guitar riffs. If you are new to the AAfCC universe, this would be the track to check out, preferably via the video available online since that will also introduce you to the band’s recognizable aesthetics. Murky, cold, black-and-white photography of winter landscapes devoid of people serves as an excellent accompaniment to the sound and enhances the feelings evoked by the music.

As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes does not constitute a revolution, neither for the band, nor for the glum, dark-tinged subgenres of metal, but it is not meant as such. A well-made, well-written album, and an enjoyable and rewarding listening experience, it is a good companion through the realities of life that are all captured and included in the music – the beauty, as well as the ugliness.

(7.5/10 Slavica)

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https://anautumnforcrippledchildren.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-morning-dawns-we-close-our-eyes