Autumn-Cold Comfort (Metal Blade)
The Netherlands’ own gothic metal outfit Autumn have made a series of smart moves over the course of their fairly lengthy existence (having formed as Stonehenge back in ’95), smoothly ushering in a mellower and more melodic rock sound to replace the harder edged yet conceptually lacking sound of old.
As a result, Cold Comfort sounds more like The Gathering than it does Lacuna Coil or Evanescence, and all the better for this fifth release displays a more confident and focused Autumn than we’ve heard thus far in their career. Although the guitar production is a bit muffled by the blown-out, bass-heavy sound, frontwoman Marjan Welman’s clear ‘n comforting voice more than makes up for this misstep by creating stirring choruses and driving verses for these nine songs.
While still possessing the Euro-goth/metal guitar work popularized by bands like Within Temptation crossed with a slight influence of Finnish love rock like H.I.M. or Negative, Cold Comfort simultaneously presents a spacy ‘n hazy psychedelic atmosphere at times, reminiscent of the aforementioned Gathering’s mid period work with former singer Anneke van Giersbergen, after their breakout releases Mandylion and Nighttime Birds.
As such, Cold Comfort is easily the most memorable and best arranged release of Autumn’s career, and a positive step forward for a band who was in clear in danger of being overshadowed by their more popular contemporaries. With Cold Comfort, however, Autumn prove that they, too, pose a challenge for the game.
Rating: B
Written by MetalGeorge
Tags: autumn, evanescence, lacuna coil, METAL BLADE, metalgeorge, Reviews, THE GATHERING, Within Temptation
