Album Review: An Autumn For Crippled Children – Closure (Prosthetic Records)

Long running atmospheric black metal group An Autumn for Crippled Children return with the release of their new full-length, Closure, due out on August 4th, 2023 via Prosthetic Records.

Comfortably attracting the black metal crowd and the shoegaze crowd, An Autumn for Crippled Children have made a career out of making the listener ‘feel’ in unforeseen, disconcerting, and exhilarating ways. They’re a band that is exceptionally capable of delivering harsh lo-fi blackness with tormenting atmosphere and emphatic melody.

Fans of the band will not be surprised in any way to learn that Closure is a grand continuation of their abilities. Fans of the band will not be surprised that Closure will make your soul ache and your head bang. Misery has never sounded so beautiful and every track delivers something special. Just take the first two tracks as an example. We have the faster tempo, grim bleakness, and delinquent melodies of Missed. Then we have the emotional and despondent weight of I see you… but never clearly’s intense atmosphere. Two equally wonderful pieces of music that fit the vibes of this record but offer different levels of intensity.

This dichotomy continues into Where pain begins, This feels like dying, and As the void. There’s frantic chaos, frenzied savagery, monumental melodies, expanding atmosphere, and so much more. An Autumn for Crippled Children will keep you on your toes, but completely focused on what they have to offer here.

It’s such an engaging listen and each fresh track deepens the sense of belonging with them through all their trials and tribulations. It’s a notable thing that the attentive themes of loss, love, and self-actualisation that make up this album are extremely relatable. Not something you often get within the blackened sphere of metal.

Hilariously, the title track is a lot lighter. The melody is far more warming here and it almost feels triumphant. Whereas For tomorrow oozes darkness, teased out by the robust instrumentation, and Unable to feel you proves to be the ultimate example of melancholia in aural form. An Autumn for Crippled Children making a strong case for having put together 2023’s most breathtaking release.

If any further proof is needed, then Culpable and Here comes sorrow put the unequivocal stamp on things. Drink deeply of this misery, it’s so cathartic. An Autumn for Crippled Children have, once again, delivered something outstanding, and Closure can rightfully be called one of the best album’s you’ll hear this year.

An Autumn for Crippled Children – Closure Track Listing:

1. Missed
2. I see you… but never clearly
3. Where pain begins
4. This feels like dying
5. As the void
6. Closure
7. For tomorrow
8. Unable to feel you
9. Culpable
10. Here comes sorrow

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Prosthetic Records