Autumn – Cold Comfort (2011)

After dabbling into more ‘mainstream friendly’ lands with their previous release “Altitude”, Autumn returns to the darker side of things with the highly emotional “Cold Comfort”. In this new release the band delivers nine beautifully crafted melodies that nicely combine Progressive Rock elements with more traditional Rock influences under a very melancholic atmosphere that had us completely hooked into the album since the first track.

The band’s vocalist Marjan Welman seems more integrated into the band’s sound and her sultry voice fits perfectly into the darker and more melancholic mood of this release than on the band’s previous ‘pop-goth’ release from 2009. Every song in “Cold Comfort” features a nice Progressive Rock/ Melancholic Rock blend of sounds, something like The Gathering with Anneke but in a less experimental way.

Opening the album we have “The Scarecrow”, a very moody track that nicely sets the pace for this release. The distorted guitars are very well crafted and paired with the subtle atmospheric keyboards create beautiful sections of pure melancholy. Featuring a similar pace and style than Brave and November Project, “Cold Comfort” showcases some more Progressive elements and an overall faster pace, but with the same heartfelt approach and warm vocals.

With soaring vocal melodies we have “Black Stars in a Blue Sky”, a very nice track that features solid instrumentation a very melodic sections. Our favorite track of this release has to be the bluesy/jazzy “Alloy”. Featuring another excellent performance of Marjan, this song delivers a nice combination of atmospheric keyboards with a very slow pace and calm guitars. The instrumental section is very minimalistic and nicely incorporated to fully culminate the song with a very emotional closing.

Having a bit of a faster pace, “End of Sorrow” and “Naeon” are higher intensity pieces that while as melancholic as the rest of the album, they still have a hint of the band’s sound in “Altitude”. If you are looking for some Progressive Rock experimentation we have the catchiness of “Truth to Be Told (exhale)”. Closing with “The Venamoured”, the band delivers a nice atmospheric piece that combines most of the elements in this release with effective guitar riffs and some futuristic keyboards.

In overall, we have to say that “Cold Comfort” is an excellent release for all the people that like melancholic and depressive Progressive Rock. If you are into band like Brave, The Gathering, etc., you should definitely get this release. Autumn has grown a lot since their first release and on this album they show great ability to create multi-textured songs that will transfer emotions in a way that only a handful of bands can do.

Release: November 4th, 2011

Country: Netherlands