Every Sun Is Fragile

I’ve always had a skewered relationship with Autumnblaze. As much as I can safely say they have created some truly gripping, beautiful and atmospheric music, the rest of their stuff is just so uneventful and tiresome that I often wonder why I even bother with them. Take this album for example, the introductory track is beautiful and wouldn’t sound out of place on an Explosions in the Sky record, but soon afterwards the album degenerates into the usual Autumnblaze jam comprised of lacklustre musicianship and melodramatic vocals.

As I mentioned before, Every Sun is Fragile (beautiful title and cover art by the way) starts off exceptionally well. Opening is a lovely track with some truly fragile guitar riffs and even some black metal esque distortion thrown into the fray. It serves as an example of what this album could have been, and not what it isn’t. It’s a shame really, that such a stunning and ethereal opener paves the way for an album so lacklustre in comparison.

New Ghosts in Town signals the beginning of the fall for this album, and whilst the introduction is very good, the rest doesn’t hold up to the first two minutes of this album. Vocally, Autumnblaze is okay but nothing special. The singer’s voice reminds me a lot of the guy from Anathema but with a lot less passion and drive. Heck, the whole album reminds me a lot of Anathema but with a lot more unnecessary elements and a more languid delivery.

Autumnblaze seems to have the misguided idea that atmosphere can be created through muttering vocals and languid musicianship. Every Sun is Fragile strives to be something more than the sum of its parts but never reaches it. There’s a lot of mishmash apparent on this album. There’s some black metal bits, more alternate depressive rock bits and some more conventional gothic/doom segments. Autumnblaze aren’t progressive or avant-garde, they just have an identity crisis. The black metal vocals in the second track whilst being well performed make no sense in the context of the music. There’s a lot of these moments throughout this album and makes listening to the whole thing an exercise in frustration.

Songs overstay the welcome, dragging on for way more than is actually necessary. This results in a lot of sections that just go on and on without any interesting ideas to back up such an absurd running time. The band’s musicianship is okay, but certainly nothing special. There’s a lot of repetition which is fine but the content of the music demands more variety than is currently present. It’s a missed opportunity as the actual core of the music is uniformly solid but not enough work was added to make this album something special.

Despite the negatives of this, and lawdy lawd are there a few, the band has a fair bit going for them. Transitions between songs are seamless, with everything flowing together naturally to create a consistent whole. Production is very good as well, each instrument can be heard clearly. The guitar has a nice airy and crisp to it and the bass is audible through some of the quieter, more downtempo parts but is buried during the heavier sections. Overall a very good mixing job was done on Every Sun is Fragile, it’s just a shame that the production was added to music that isn’t at all that interesting.

I’m really not sure what to think of this album. Half the time it sounds like Anathema having a go at some black metal but failing miserable in the process but the rest of the time it’s quite atmospheric and charming, if a little dull. It’s unbelievably angsty though and the vocals are ridiculous, so be prepared before going into this album. I certainly won’t be revisiting this album any time soon though, although I might spin the opener a few more times today. Damn, such a good song. Im Spiegel is also pretty rad.

Autumnblaze formed in Saarland, Germany back in 1996, after releasing a demo in 1997 and an EP in 1998 they release their first long player "DammerElbenTragodie" in 1999. Somehow this band has flown under my radar for fifteen plus years. When asked if I would like to review the album, I accepted the challenge with open arms and an open mind. However, because of my ignorance to their previous works, I will not be able to talk about how they have or have not progressed as a band. But, this is a review of their current release, so that's exactly what I will do.

"Every Sun Is Fragile" is the sixth full length release from Autumnblaze. The style of music played here is "Gothic, Atmospheric Rock/Metal". The bands that come to mind when trying to describe their sound would be Katatonia, Anathema, and Alcest. Autumnblaze walk the line between Rock and Metal, jumping back and forth with varying amounts of success. There are some clunkers on this album, but they do succeed at creating some memorable songs as well.

After a nice little instrumental intro, the first proper song on the album, 'New Ghosts In Town, has a "Viva Emptiness" era Katatonia vibe to it. It maintains this vibe throughout most of the songs seven plus minutes, however the last minute of the song builds into a Alcest-esc finish. This is a good song and it peaked my interest and excitement of the band it took me all this time to hear. 'Im Spiegel' draws the listener in with it's punchy riff that has very jumpy feel to it. Probably being the most metal song, with hits heavy distorted guitars and harsh vocals, shows how these guys jump from Rock to Metal with relative ease. This track is followed by the balladish 'Mein Engel, Der Aus Augen FileBt'. This song shows the band doing what it does best. I believe they feel at home and most comfortable playing the softer Rock style tunes. This is very apparent on 'How I Learned To Burn My Teardrops'. This is my favorite song on the album. An absolutely beautiful song that leaves the listener somewhere between tears of sorrow and joy. Another definite winner on the album is 'A Place For Paper Diamonds'. This song has all the feel and beauty of the previous song mentioned with a little of their heavier moments sprinkled in. This works perfectly here, where it seems to fail elsewhere on the album.

"Every Sun Is Fragile" is a good album with hints of greatness. I feel that at fifty-four minutes it's a little too long. There is some filler here. I would like to see Autumnblaze craft more songs like 'How I Learned To Burn My Teardrops' moving forward. Even though there are some clunkers here, there are enough good moments that make this a worthwhile purchase.

Originally written for www.metalbite.com