These days I’m not surprised when another funeral doom band I don’t know crosses my path. They secrete themselves in quiet corners and like ghosts they vanish when you search for them. Publicity shy often, deeply personal invariably, they can be simply music created for the pleasure of it. This slice of the art is Canadian and their second full length and comes in a pleasant, gloomy cover that nicely sets the scene.
With the acoustic opening of piano and subtle low strings the first thing that hits you is the clarity of the recording; pin sharp it exudes class and the classical and the slow heavy fall of the first riff of ‘Haunted’ slides down like a slo-mo landslide. It is a rich in traditional sounds; deep with longing and introspection and full death vocals rising with the riff. Eleven minutes pass nicely enough and showcase a good band with quality and vision. ‘Black Night Silent’ is a tad more up tempo and if splitting hairs more the melodic doom/death the band relate their sound to. The clean vocals here, I have to say, are a bit weak and I wonder if the band knows this as the riff seemingly seeks to bury them. Despite that, with some Paradise Lost style lead melodies playing heavily on the riff it is a rousing song on the whole and begs to be wrapped up inside it. ‘These Doleful Shades’ however leads me nowhere; not bad and with a nice driven section it briefly roused me but a bit shapeless sometimes, a little undecided.
It is the problem and the art with music like this: Some bands decide that each song is a piece composed of multiple movements, an ep of their own but connected through theme to the others. Other bands decide that the album is a vast soundscape where subtle shifts over time lead you on a journey. Both approaches are equally valid, perfectly sound and to me this album feels like the former. The problem really being that some places it just fails to enthral me like it should. This is not due to a lack of quality, far from it, more a song-writing approach that misses me as much as it hits. ‘The Light Which No Longer Shines’ asked me to drift away from them but the heavier, more direct ‘Darkness Reflected’ with its echoing guitar runs redolent of some earlier Katatonia and again Paradise Lost with the funeral touch once more deep in its bones works to bring me back. ‘Darkness Confined ‘, a mellow mostly semi acoustic song of introspection and thought oddly slips me by but the finale ‘Darkness Everlasting’ is a fine song indeed, my favourite here in fact with a driving and deep emotional hook.
I guess the band will be as nonplussed as me by my reaction but the true and honest answer is that this is an album that is never below par, more that the more mellow moments and songs too often leave me emotionally detached. It’s in the small spaces of the composition where they lose me. Still, doom/death fans should certainly give As Autumn Calls a listen as they are good and worth the time. I’m sure things will coalesce in time as when they are good, they are very good indeed.
In the meantime, check them out and enjoy.
(6. 5/10 Gizmo)
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