Prosthetic Records? More like Prolific records when it comes to AAFCC. Since their inception in 2010 this mysterious Dutch trio have released 10 albums – the latest Closure coming out on 4th August 2023, 5 E.P.s and 2 compilations. Ridiculous rate of release (ooh the alliteration felt rad) although folks could argue being a studio only band frees up some time without any pesky live shows getting in the way of the writin’ and recordin’ process.

I have been a big fan of An Autumn For Crippled Children since the first time I heard the album “Everything “back in 2011 and have poured their bleakly beautiful offerings in my ears on a regular basis ever since.  If you are unaware of them what MCHL – Guitars, vocals keys, TD- Bass, keys and CHR Drums and keys offer is a delightfully textured sound collage which heaps melancholy and sadness over sugary pastel rice paper.

Post Black Metal – the now thankfully less used Hipster black metal and my preference Black Gaze are all epithets for the bands output.  Harsh screamed vocals layered atop a mix of gleefully distorted riffs and soaring guitar lines backed by a drum tattoo that switches from blasts to gentle swing beats depending on the whim of the song.  Swathes of keyboards offer the white highlights to the tattoo and accentuate both despair and hope in equal measure.

Speaking of highlights I had better give you mine when it comes to Closure.  Now, first off I gotta say I love this album but will try and keep as objective as I can without fan-boying all over the gaff.

First things absolutely nowhere near first as we are several paragraphs into this review, the tracklisting reads like un undergraduates foray into the poetry of the Great Romantics, creating a poem themselves when read together.

Missed.
I see you…but never clearly.
Where pain begins.
This feels like dying.
As the void.
Closure
For tomorrow.
Unable to feel you .
Culpable.
Here comes sorrow.

I mean come on now. If this doesn’t make you hanker for cold coffee out of a chipped mug and a roll up made from dog ends in a bedsit I don’t know what will!

I am gonna give a special shout out to three tracks at the centre of the album –  As the Void, Closure and For Tomorrow. The first is frenetically paced orange squeezer of a track filled with urgency and chaos that makes the use of the word “gaze” anywhere near it redundant until some gorgeous string parts swoop in like angels for a moment. The title track is a 180 degree turn. Sumptuous keys sit atop a throbbing Peter Hook style bassline with MCHL’s tortured vocals offering the only harshness whilst the drums bring back memories of Inspiral Carpets of all bands.

For Tomorrow has a modern punk drum beat and a quirky indie air that brings to mind Bloc Party with some sweeping moments that took my breath away.

I am unable to resist the urge to briefly mention the following track “Unable to feel you” and its mournfully resplendent wiles but now I have, I will end with Closure’s ending.

“Here Comes Sorrow” has a dancey infectious beat and the feel of modern synthwave but funnelled through Joy Division and mid period Cure. This song is simply a marvel – a tour de force in a genre that is often dismissed as understated and effete – this is like a pastel brick to the chops.  It makes me wanna leap about with mad Ian Curtis arms.

Closure shows that AAFCC still got all the right ingredients to make deliriously delicious sugar sweet and arsenic bitter music to torture and soothe in equal measure.

Love it!

(9/10 Matt Mason)

https://www.facebook.com/aafcc2009

https://anautumnforcrippledchildren.bandcamp.com/album/closure