Autumnblaze
Bleak
Prophecy, 2000

Germany’s Autumnblaze are experts in the art of melancholic expression through minimalist music. Having learned well from Katatonia and The Cure, two of this band’s primary musical influences, Autumnblaze understand how to effectively transmit emotional desolation through the sonic medium: simplistic rhythms, sparse implementation of melody, subtle atmospheric shifts, and, most essentially, unflinching dedication to the seriousness of the emotional theme explored. Any excess musicality, compositional embellishments, or wavering from pitch black emotion in favor of hopeful gratification in the form of uplifting melody, contradicts the intent: to utterly paralyze the listener with the painful truth of a sad reality. Autumnblaze paints a truly forlorn and dejected picture of existence, not for a moment daring to entertain the dream of a happy finale.

"There is someone who stays in the plain house
Like a pale weathered shade behind windows"

Evoking similar lyrical and visual imagery as that explored by Katatonia on Discouraged Ones and Tonight’s Decision, namely melancholy solitude presented as safe haven from social alienation and accompanying intensification of existential despair, Bleak goes even deeper into inner darkness through the denial into melody of hints of potential brightness, or perhaps lighter shades of black. Some of Katatonia’s melodies tend towards the pop-oriented on the above mentioned works, offering an admittedly somber, yet soothing, comfort. None of that is evident in the melodies of Autumnblaze. In a sense, as Katatonia sought to take the sound of Paradise Lost’s early work and drench it in even darker shades of moroseness, Autumnblaze have done the same with the named works of Katatonia. Darker, bleaker, and less accessible. This is not, of course, to suggest that Autumnblaze have managed a more convincing or effective aesthetic than Katatonia. The vocals here, though thick with world-weariness and oozing with melancholy, and capable of carrying a satisfying melody that justifies the musical theme, do not possess the charisma and subtlety of Jonas Renkse, or Robert Smith, for that matter. The singing is too often overly dramatic in the emotional expression, and lacks the striking awareness of subtle inflection and melodic intelligence that makes those two singers brilliant. The occasional screaming, dramatized with electronic distortion, and utilized to intensify the anxiety of louder sections, suffers from the same. The knowing of when to hold back, and trust one’s emotional purity through the channel of singing, is a skill not to be underestimated.

"My mind is bleak and toneless are these walls
Moments are passing by like trains that never stop
I think without a thought but somehow I think after all
The breath of nightly calm would cure my tumbling heart"

This is music of palewake loneliness and solitude, where one wrestles with the anxiety over life’s coldness, which crushes in a thousand ways poor hopes that the world will accommodate one’s desires. The fear of a coming darkness haunts this music. Enough shattered and lost dreams, fading hopes staining the age of life, even through guilty dreams of a moment’s serenity, have awakened the realization of hopeless existence. This is most convincingly portrayed in the appropriately named title track, whose chorus ("You’d be frightened if you were here...") can only have come from the deepest wells of emotional isolation, severe disappointment in failed relations, and the atmosphere of weather as an influence on thoughts, also excellently communicated in the opening moments of "Thoughts By A Weary Man’s Side", and the frail acoustic guitars with whispering vocals of album closer "...And We Fall". All of this is the result of the individual’s failure to live up to the standards demanded by a world we’ve constructed for ourselves, a world which denies the primary elements of our humanity so that business can continue to chase its false aims to fulfill a promise that can never be satisfied. We have set ourselves up for failure through the systematic denial of reality of our true nature. For those who feel deeply and are sensitive to the fluctuation of human emotion, this is no way to live.

"...and we fall, we fall through endless nights
we glide on manifold seas
...and we dream, we dream together now
the boughs are weaving the trees"

The compositional design of this music is minimalist in nature, supported by simplistic drums (occasionally embellished electronically) and functional rhythms. This effectively allows the somber ambience conjured through fragile clean and acoustic guitars to generate and form the soul of each song. Most tracks follow a pattern of quiet, delicate sections, using silence and stillness as instruments, which often introduce a theme, becoming intensified through loud guitars and sometimes screaming vocals, along with less restrained percussion, to re-emphasize the original theme with more hopeless desperation. The mood is dark and gloomy throughout, and the sparse instrumentation within a minimalist framework works well in the portrayal of paralyzing depression and stillness of isolation. The painful expression comes across as sincere if not always (and mainly due to the inconsistency of the vocals) communicated as artistically effective as desired. Nothing sounds or feels fabricated, but rather as a carefully studied condition of the self, treated with grim-faced seriousness in the firm belief that such emotional states are not a joke, and should be dealt with accordingly. This kind of emotional subjectivism easily lends itself to critical condemnation, which in most cases is rooted in fear of the reality of the profound sadness of life as experienced from an individual standpoint. This reviewer has no such fear, and from my position this expression merits reception and treatment with a seriousness equal to that of the artist in question. If you are somehow beyond yourself, having de-emphasized personal emotional experience from the notion that this in some way contradicts a universal perspective, which disables you from accepting such an expression as serious, congratulations await you in abundance elsewhere; here, you’ll encounter no such praise for your achievements.

12/17/07

1. someone’s picture
2. I shiver
3. scared
4. bleak
5. so close yet so far
6. bruderseele
7. the wind and the broken girl
8. thoughts by a weary man’s side
9. ...and we fall

Autumnblaze
Mute Boy, Sad Girl
Prophecy, 2002

Descending into superficial realms of emotional melodrama, Autumnblaze’s Mute Boy, Sad Girl defiantly departs from the gloom-world isolationism of the excellent Bleak, in favor of a far more accessible approach that caters to the over-personalized nature of surface emotions. In other words, this album pulls back from the emotional depths of Bleak, and looks for shallow comfort in trivialized feelings much in the way an ordinary teenager reacts to a first heartbreak. That may be all well and good if one is interested in making music for adolescent minds, and in the confusion that swirls through the material on this effort, perhaps that specific intention lurks about. Bleak was very far from anything to do with such an intention, and in light of that comparison, Mute Boy, Sad Girl is utterly nauseating.

"I’m so afraid of myself
I’m so afraid of being here
I say sorry but it’s not enough
I’m so afraid of losing my thoughts."

The disc is very poorly organized in terms of track sequence, and terribly confused in what it is trying to achieve. The ideas are badly implemented and executed, and serve seemingly no other purpose than to somehow spice up the otherwise bland songs. The vocal issues that sometimes plagued Bleak are significantly more offensive this time around. The singer is desperately attempting to prove his convictions by the always-poor idea of emotional over-exertion, which ruins at every turn any semblance of atmosphere created by the music. It may even be one of the worst vocal performances I’ve ever encountered, and easily raises questions as to how anyone ever thought it was a good idea to produce and release such a performance. To be fair, there are times during particular choruses, such as in "A Crow On My Shoulder", where a melody is carried appropriately enough to gel with the music, but this is very much the exception. The cover of The Cure’s "Cold", which is truly the best moment of the entire album, features a spot-on vocal imitation of Robert Smith, who is apparently the primary vocal influence for the singer on this album, and who is very poorly imitated on the band’s original material. It is so poor at times, one wonders if the singer is making a mockery of Smith (witness the vocalizations near the end of "Kiss My Fear Away" and "It Never Felt Like This Before"). The exception to this is "Shells And Butterflies", during which Type O Negative’s Peter Steele is the object of imitation, and carried out reasonably well during the verse sections.

"Can’t save anyone
I have tried to tell you that I’m too sad and scared"

The strong Katatonia influence of Bleak is not nearly as evident here, the band choosing instead to work more alternative-rock, electronic, and trip-hop elements into the sound. The material is quite accessible, and even pop-oriented at times. Piano, synths, electronic percussion, and understated guitars form the instrumental core of most songs, with heavier drums and louder guitars introduced to change sonic dynamic; something frequently employed on the previous effort, but to much less effect here. The mood, while faux-sad most of the time, is far less dark and somber than previous work. On the whole, the album is made up of unengaging songs, a few of which offer some hope for a fleeting moment, only to be destroyed by bad ideas and awful singing. The listener is offered no real emotional resolution in this experience, as songs are ineffectively constructed and emotional expression comes across forced and uninspired. This is a direct result of the band’s stepping back from the paralyzing emotional depths explored previously, and settling instead for the safety of unexamined and impotent surface feelings resulting from common misunderstandings in personal relationships, the awkwardness of an introverted personality who rebels against its own nature, and a misdirected search for an escape or cure from the fear and despair brought on by painful memories, a longing for comfort not so much in the form of withdrawal into the seriousness of hopeless solitude, but rather in the trivial dramatization of one’s inner confusion.

12/18/07

Tracklisting:

1. Mute boy Sad girl
2. It never felt like this before
3. The nature of music
4. Can’t save anyone
5. Kiss my fear away
6. I am water
7. Cold
8. A crow on my shoulder
9. Shells and butterflies

Autumnblaze

Prophecy Productions

Every Silent Moment I Weep EP (Prophecy, 1998)
DämmerElbenTragödie (Prophecy, 1999)
Bleak (Prophecy, 2000)
Mute Boy, Sad Girl (Prophecy, 2002)
Lighthouses EP (Prophecy, 2002)
The Mute Sessions (Prophecy, 2003)
Words Are Not What They Seem (Prophecy, 2004)