Review Summary: Blackgaze in the rearview mirror.
An Autumn for Crippled Children was a band that had been on my radar for quite some time in 2013. Mainly thanks to sputnikmusic, and to the fact that their name sounded so outlandish, it meant that I always aware of them to some capacity in the back of my mind, and yet I never really gave them so much as a secondary thought (so much so that I apparently gave their first release “Lost” a 4 rating, but I can’t even remember to have listened to it, lol) boy was that gonna to change.
It's impressive then, astonishing even, how much has
Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love resonated with me. For in the many years that have come and gone from 2013 onwards, it has remained, in my humble opinion, one of the best examples of the fusion between Black Metal rawness and Shoegaze/dream pop, and at the time, my most listened album of the year.
Dissecting the 45-minute runtime is pretty complex, then, as the album is packed with loads of juxtaposing leads, melodies and arrangements, it manages to completely reshape the entire sound that AAFCC had developed up until that point and elevate it. Take album Highlight
the woods are on fire for example, it establishes itself instantly as a beautiful synth intro gives way to the tortured vocals, and yet at about the halfway mark, a stunning violin arrangement cuts the fuzz right down the middle and then continues to build up the song, it is black metal as it was never seen, at least not before this new wave amalgamation came to the limelight.
What I believe to be most impressive aspect is the fact that, at no point, does AAFCC compromise to either the black metal or the shoegaze side of their sound, as it seems they just intended to pass every single tremolo riff through a fuzz pedal and a beaten-up amp to generate a tone that is both equals part heavy and gentle. There are also many moments of subtle emotional weight nestled within the sound, like the introduction in
try not to destroy everything you love as it plays for a bit with an almost trip-hop beat before really being unleashed and then, as soon as it did, it just retreats back, waiting, bouncing up and down, until being set free once more.
It is quite unfortunate then, how the lyrics for these songs are not available,
Hearts of Light screams hide a slight hint of desperation and dare I say, grief, all coated in a wonderfully saccharine mix of strings and tremolo picking. There are so many lovely vignettes sprinkled throughout the whole album (the unexpected piano throughout
sepia mountains for her lament and the bridge in
avoiding winter being some of my personal favorites) that really do manage to give the album a wonderful edge, as it is chock-full of magnificent string arrangements and many other quirks that are still engaging, to this day.
At this point in time, it may be easy to point towards certain, now established, tropes for what is now known as Blackgaze, and, to dismiss it altogether. This, however, was not the case in 2013, as this came hot off the heels of the pink elephant in the room by deafheaven. This album, from a band I was vaguely acquaintance with at that time, was an integral part in establishing a core sound that they would go on to explore and develop over the following releases, and it remains, in my opinion, an absolutely must-listen to anyone.
