An Autumn for Crippled Children – The Long Goodbye (2015)

Greatly anticipated for 2015, An Autumn for Crippled Children’s fifth full-length release delivers in all possible levels and takes the band’s sound even further into the depths of depressive Post-Black Metal / Blackgaze. In “The Long Goodbye” the band hones in their skills to produce nine of the bleakest tracks they have ever written clocking in at 41 minutes of pure emotional rawness.

The opening track, “The Long Goodbye” starts off with a hectic level of intensity with Shoegazy dreamy guitars and brilliant harsh vocals. The overall tone is quite melancholic, making this track a perfect mood setting piece for what is to come. On “Converging towards the Light” we jump into a bigger atmospheric vibe with very dramatic ambiance perfectly capped by the punishing vocals of Mchl. As “A New Form of Stillness” rolls by, we get a certain Synth-pop vibe going with a very interesting melodic passage.

One of our favorite songs in this release is the tearjerker “Only Skin”, a very dramatic song that draws comparison to bands like Alcest (earlier days) and some of the newer Ghost Bath and even Deafheaven. Not slacking in the intensity department, the band throws in some heavier stuff like “When Night Leaves Again” and “Gleam”. The element that always draws us to releases by this band is the bleakness of tracks like “She’s Drawing Mountains” and “Endless Skies”, which feature super depressive passages that perfectly align just simple yet very moody guitar sections with a vibe of hopelessness unlike any other current band.

From start to end, “The Long Goodbye” is a perfectly balanced release that while being very aggressive, it is also extremely atmospheric. The band does a great job increasing bleak soundscapes with their music, and this release is an outstanding improvement over their already amazing previous release. With a lot of competition in the whole Black-gaze scene, An Autumn for Crippled Children easily standout with soul crushing releases like this one, so if you are into older Alcest, Lantlos, Deafheaven, and Ghost Bath, look no further and pick up a copy of this one.

Label: Wicker Man Recordings

Release: February 23rd, 2015

Genre: Post-Black Metal / Black-gaze

Country: Netherlands