To Lay like Old Ashes

...yet something about this release is a little off. That's not to say that I dislike the music, in fact I find it incredibly emotional and beautiful. Atmospherically Austere are on top form here, taking a more subdued and beautiful approach than that of their debut album. It's got all the makings to become a perfect album yet despite this there's one aspect that continues to bug me no matter how long I listen to it and that is the irritating last track. Ending an album with a long, drawn out instrumental passage is not a bad idea. Ending an album with a long and boring instrumental passage is. What could have been one of the greatest achievements of the depressive black metal world has been hampered rather unfairly of the inclusion of an incredibly taxing and musically void song that takes away all of the atmosphere that Austere had so beautifully crafted.

Austere play a highly distinctive form of depressive black metal, far removed from the suicidal dirges of Hypothermia and Trist. Austere, whilst forging their music out of pure negative emotions explore the range of these feelings in a drastically different form. Instead of harshly distorted, minimalistic chord progressions, Austere play a much "clearer" form. The distortion whilst undoubtedly there is much lighter, giving the music much more room to breathe and lacking the claustrophobic edge that a lot of this music typically exemplifies. The guitars themselves are startingly melodic, and interestingly quite diverse. Whether that's from the hauntingly beautiful, shoegaze inspired melodies of This Dreadful Emptiness to the more classic black metal approach of To Fade With The Dusk. Austere are clearly masters of their craft, showing influences from all over the black metal spectrum.

Vocally, Austere present some of the most distinctive vocals I've heard within the genre. Vocal duties, handled by two vocalists, range from a Burzum inspired shriek, a more agonized hollow wailing and soothing clean vocals. The use of clean vocals is really what sets this apart, most bands within the genre usually only utilize harsh vocals with the occasional spoken word interludes. Clean vocals are rare within this form of music, clean vocals that are actually any good are even rarer. The clean vocals on here aren't the most metal I've ever heard, but they do there job incredibly well. They're quite light and airy. bringing to mind recollections of Neige from Alcest fame. They carry the emotions incredibly well, in particular the section in This Dreadful Emptiness is imbued with a subdued beauty that is sorely missing within the scene.

Lyrically, Austere are a cut above the rest. Dealing with topics such as heart break, melancholy and other typical subjects, Austere manage to inject new life into these often over used topics by writing with a sense of poetic grandiosity that is far removed from the self pitying rambles of many bands infecting the scene. Mixed in with the heart breaking clean vocals and the incredibly evocative shrieks the overall delivery comes off as incredibly lyrical, even poetic in its delivery.

Yet. whilst Austere are able to craft memorable and distinctive pieces of highly emotional black metal, the last track destroys the powerful atmosphere that the band has so finely crafted. The last track, comprised solely of a droning guitar adds nothing to the melancholic atmosphere that Austere are so majestically able to craft. I really wish they would have left this track out as the incongruity of it when mixed with the rest of the music results this album finishing on a head scratcher, rather than a sense that this album has come to its closure. This creates the image that this album is not complete, rather the last track seems to hint as to more could have come out of this band, yet their unfortunate break up seems to say otherwise. Whilst To Lay Like Old Ashes clearly contains examples of some incredible music, the overall ending impression is one that is broken and not fully whole. It's a rather odd ending note as it leaves me desperately begging for more, yet I live with the unfortunate knowledge that my need will never be satisfied. To Lay Like Old Ashes remains only as a very good depressive black metal album that is unfortunately never pushed into masterpiece status that it so desperately deserves. There is definitely a masterpiece of black metal within this album, yet the broken nature of it prevents me from seeing it as such.

Long story short: this album is not only the best one of the entire Austere discography, but even one of the most beautiful, well-produced and astonishingly-written records of the whole world of the black metal sub-subgenres (in any way you want to call them).

So, what's the matter? Yeah, well, apart from the introduction, a slow, acoustic instrumental track called Down, this masterpiece called "To Lay Like Old Ashes" ends with a useless and frankly annoying 20-minutes long song known as Coma II (yes, there has been even a Coma (I) in their first effort). Someone tried to interpretate this song in this way: if one is drunk or stoned may enjoy it, since it's made up pretty much by a slow guitar riff that repeats itself over and over again, and probably you truly have to be stoned in order to fully appreciate the song. And I have to say that, if it was a 3-minutes long outro, it could even have been enjoyable. But since it lasts for more than 20 minutes, and since that for medical reasons I can not assume any drug or alcohol, I have to say that while the album I am going to review now is a pure masterpiece, this "outro" breaks the magic of the whole record, since after 3 or 4 minutes it becomes really tiresome.

This said, the four remaining songs can actually divided into three groups, made up by one song with only clean vocals, one with only "shrieks" (or how you want to call these peculiar Austere harsh/penetrating vocals delivered by both guitarist Desolate and drummer Sorrow), and the other two characterized by a 5-6-minutes long ambient/black metal part with shrieks that slide into astonishing (but pretty short) clean vocals.

The first real song of the album, To Fade With the Dusk, is in fact made up only by Desolate's voice, and it presents to us the musical style that Austere used in the whole record: an extremely refined and inspired drumming (so, not only blast-beats!), which alternates the usual fast style to slow and "solo" parts, astonishing guitar melodies ("ambient" riffs repeating themselves in always different ways) and, on the background, great keyboard patterns that contribute to the general "ethereal" and melancholc feeling. Desolate's screams are here really unique, and he has been truly innovative while delivering such a masterpiece; even if he does not vary those shrieks during the whole song (and Austere's songs usually last from 7 to 10 minutes) he has been able to recreate a hundred of different feelings in a way that only the better ambient/black metal (or if you want "suicidal/depressive black metal") can do.

We continue our ascent to perfection in examining two songs that are similar in the structure but not in the omnipresent "ambient" guitar riffs and in the keyboard patterns: This Dreadful Emptiness and To Lay Like Old Ashes. Both these songs follow almost the same pattern: double-bass drumming (with some slow interludes), high-pitched shrieks, great guitar melodies (some say that they're "post/rock", but to me this is pure ambient black metal") and some keyboards, but towards the end the tracks have a gorgeous clean vocal part, creating an intense and emotional feeling while singing to an enjoyable and innovative melody.

These clean vocals, and in particularly those of the great drummer Sorrow, are the only vocals that we are going to hear on the fifth track, Just for a Moment..., which starts with a slow acoustic melody in order to explode into fast drumming and another bunch of innovative and "ambient"-like guitar riffs. Sorrow's clean vocals are truly astonishing to me, and in this track - which is probably not black metal at all, of course - he gave his absolute best, interpreting to perfection the lyrics he's singing.

Yeah, the lyrics... Of course, calling itself "To Lay Like Old Ashes", the lyrics of the whole album talk about melancholy, sorrow, pain and despondency - in a poetical way - and I found them greatly enjoyable; in particular, every single clean vocal part has been able to fully represent the related lyrics, contributing once more to the general feeling that every song is able to create into the listener. As I said before, despondency and emptiness are the main themes here, even if - among many other things - I have noticed that there are constant references to the sun and the light throughout the songs, and it would be a nice exercitation to deeply analyze these lyrics treating them as poetry - as they truly are.

In the end, if you don't consider the last song this album is a pure masterpiece. Astonishing drumming, innovative and greatly-composed guitar riffs, unique shrieks alternated with emotive clean vocals, some keyboards and a general undefinable feeling of melancholy, emptiness and sorrow, everything reinforced by gorgeous lyrics, treating many forms of despair and nothingness and, in the end, parts of everyone's life. This is truly an album that no one can miss.

Most depressive suicidal black metal of the world today are aimed primarily at speaking in terms of giving detailed descriptions of various states of depression lyrically as well as musically. Some DSBM bands are bent on driving the listener towards committing suicide themselves. Although Austere's 'To Lay Like Old Ashes' lyrically follows the former theme of DSBM, this album musically manages to achieve something different altogether. I would like to believe that this musical theme is a fleeting glimpse of that emotion that is ever-present as a subtext even within the deepest of depressive states, namely, hope.

'Down' the intro to the album is an acoustic offering with an ambient motif, incorporating sounds of nature as well as heavily reverbed acoustic picking. This sets the stage for what is to come, and lulls the mind in to a sense of melancholy rather than pure depression. As an intro, it is a moderately good offering, though akin more to ambient folk than black metal. The next track, 'To Fade With The Dusk', lays down some typical black metal double-bass drumming for about half its length, while the guitar riffing is something that can only be described as something that sounds like post-rock but is unique to what Austere does. From this track onwards, the vocals kick in, and are a revelation in depressive black metal, being capable of describing the utmost pain that the band would have wanted to convey through their songs. The vocals are high screeches and screams that will chill your blood. The screams at the beginning of 'This Dreadful Emptiness' especially stand out as they serve as a more eloquent description of pure misery than any loftily-written lyrics could. That fact notwithstanding, the lyrics themselves are quite well written in keeping with the general motif of depressive suicidal black metal.

As many would agree with me, 'This Dreadful Emptiness' could be considered as the best track on the album, and one of the best and most emotional tracks in the DSBM sub-genre. It begins with pure misery moving towards a piano-and-drums breakdown at the middle, restarting on a note of pain that moves towards absolute hopefulness. Although the lyrics describe rejection and misery, the clean vocal towards the end along with the guitar riffing is some of the most uplifting music I have ever heard in my life.

'To Lay Like Old Ashes' is rather mediocre in comparison to the first 3 tracks on the album, however, it incorporates an interesting breakdown which adds some color to a fundamentally drab track. However, it must be said that the clean vocals towards the end along with a more philosophical lyrical theme is a rather well-executed attempt at innovation. The clean vocals are not a thing of beauty here, rather, it is the harsh voice of the truth.

It should be mentioned that soaring keyboards are a fundamental element within the music of this album, and have helped to create the atmosphere a great deal. That being said, 'To Lay Like Old Ashes' crosses another genre gap making one feel that they are somewhat akin to atmospheric black metal as well.

'Coma II' is a track for the stoners, plain and simple. If you are not high when you listen to this, you will not be able to appreciate it at all. The same riff repeated over and over again for 20+ minutes with a heavy reverb gets boring after a while if you're sober. If you're stoned, on the other hand, it is quite a different story altogether. Time ceases to exist as you get lost in the endlessly repeating riff, and you are drowned in a sea of nothingness, creating the mental state described the title of the track. If you got stoned and enjoyed 'Coma' off Austere's 'Withering Illusions and Desolation' album, you will enjoy 'Coma II' even more as it can be said to be more well-thought-out in terms of inducing an artificial coma state.

One really wonders as to the extent to which Austere are influenced by post-rock after hearing the final track on the album, 'Just For A Moment...'. Clean vocals dominate this track along with very mellow music that is quite different from the majority of the album, but can be considered as a welcome change.

In summary, 'This Dreadful Emptiness' can be considered as the high of this album, a beautiful track which is surrounded by contemporaries that are at times innovative, but in the end are simply variations on the same theme. It must be said, though, that this is a very well-structured album based on what Austere had to offer in terms of music. In short, 'To Lay Like Old Ashes' can be considered to as one of the most influential and emotional depressive suicidal black metal albums of all time.

Expecting my cd-player to inflict me with pure depressive black metal, To Lay Like Old Ashes turns out to consist of depressive music that can hardly be called just black metal. The concept of Austere could be called something like post-metal with occasional heavy blastbeats accompanied by quite a lot of mellow parts, distinctly out from the norm of metal.

What makes Austere so interesting is that their singing varies from the norm drastically. I was quite turned off when I first heard the hollow wailing vocals. By time the vocals have grown and accompanied by a fitting melancholic melody, they can really carry out a feeling of desolate vastness (or any other melancholically/artistically correct image) that is hard to get any other way.

However, many times the vocals make you feel like you are listening instrumental music with incoherent wailing on top. This creates an odd atmosphere. It makes Austere have a unique melancholic feel, but on the other hand it takes away much of the vocal perspective. In any case, the vocals drive Austere closer to instrumental music. Unfortunately beautifully named "To Lay Like Old Ashes" just doesn't have the song-writing to match the emotion that they try to pull out.

But the record isn't bad in any case. It proves that Austere has a good sense of melody and almost every song has a certain moment which ascends to wonderful heights. The variation of black metal depressiveness and post-rock influences could have very well made this a breathtaking record.

The longest and most interesting tracks This Dreadful Emptiness and To Lay Like Old Ashes both have a marvellous Post-rock uplift in the end, underlined by beautifully sung clean vocals. While This Dreadful Emptiness ends up repeating too much in the end, To Lay Like Old Ashes transforms from Post-rock to Black Metallish with a simple variation, blastbeat. Ingenious. However both tracks tend to drag too much, albeit in a rather pretty somber fashion, before getting into business.

As a contrast for Dreadful Emptiness and To Lay Like Old Ashes on Just for a Moment the clean vocals take too much ground, making the song dull. However great they are sung, i just find them cheap. Also, while I love the break at 2.15 for the drumbeat variation, the metalcore-like scream only emphasizes the sheer plasticness of the song. In the end this track is really just Post-rock with a depressive vibe and way too little variation or interest melodically.

As this is my first glance of high-pitched shrieking (what a great marketing phrase for Austere); this sheer refreshing touch makes To Lay Like Old Ashes a good way above average. Accompanied with beautiful cover art and nicely crafted poetic lyrics, the small details are certainly in place. Sadly, the compositions lack THE touch and thus the album is more just a nighttime background music record than anything else.

Originally made for: http://www.last.fm/user/Takkeri/journal/2011/08.

These Australians have created an amazing album that will be remembered for years in the realm of depressive black metal, perhaps decades. Austere have grown by leaps and bounds since their beginning to create an opus like this, a resplendent merging of the atmospheric style pioneered by Strid and Forgotten Woods, with heavy post-rock and shoegaze influence.

The music itself is especially similar to bands like Nyktalgia and Coldworld, but robed in a much clearer production, allowing you to hear every chord of the guitars, every chime of the keyboards, and every spectacular hit of the drums, which are very well done by the way. The vocals are a set of harrowing cries that sound more like torture sounds than the verbalization of words. Regardless, they project a lot of pain and melancholy, and greatly compliment the instruments.

As for the tracks themselves, the album opens with a gorgeous intro titled "Down", a short piece consisting of rain effects, acoustic guitar and keyboard. This really draws you in, and sets a spectacular mood for the rest of the album. "To Fade With The Dusk" is an epic, driving tune that makes use of howling vocals, desolate chords and subtle keyboards to create an amazing atmosphere of loneliness. The track is surely more epic than most black metal being created these days, but the best is yet to come...

The third song, "This Dreadful Emptiness", is the absolute high point of the album, and possibly the best black metal song ever composed. Beginning slow and depressive, with even better vocals than the previous track, it quickly transforms into a savage, unstoppable, beast of a track that pulverizes you with unrelenting power and speed, before slowing down again towards the halfway point. The third melody in this song is extremely evocative and moving, and may even stir tears in emotional folk. About six minutes in, some beautiful, soaring clean vocals are used which make this beautiful wall of melancholy even more amazing, before a piano enters to accent the melody until the end of the song. A perfect, immaculate piece of music.

The title track is very good, making use of epic keyboard melodies, yet more clean vocals towards the end, and an interesting electronic break about 3 minutes in, but it fails to live up to the grandeur of the previous tracks, which may leave it sounding somewhat bland in parts. It is still an excellent song, and ends with a storm of tormented wails that will rend your soul and break your heart. A succession of church bells leads into the next track.

"Just For A Moment" is the most accessible song on the album, being dominated by the clean vocals and only using the screams at one point. It is similar to the work of Grey Waters, Austere's depressive rock side project, and an amazing way to end the metal portion of the album. As the last strains of the guitars fade and the rain returns, a thunderclap heralds the beginning of the ambient "Coma II."

The concept of the song is similar to that of Burzum's "Rundgang...", but a guitar is used as the main instrument as opposed to the keyboard. The song lasts for over twenty minutes and tends to drag in parts, but after a while the atmosphere begins to absorb you. The last vestiges of your broken soul will evaporate with the slow strumming of the chords, as the final notes of the album fade into nothingness...

Any who listen to this have heard the pinnacle of depressive black metal, and this album will cement Austere's place in black metal history. If you are looking for fast, hateful and scathing black metal, look somewhere else. But if you want to explore endless fields of solitude and drown in the cold waters of depression, Austere's "To Lay Like Old Ashes" is for you.

Austere is a very excellent side project, these two members have made another great release, "To Lay Like Old Ashes" is a very great release, and this album reminds me of the great depressive black metal band "Xasthur", the agonized black metal vocals and the heavy depressive riffs have shaped this amazing black metal album. The artwork is very deep, it describes the autumn times of the human's lifetime, I am a great depressive black metal fan and I really like this release.

The vocals are mournful, the agonized screams reminds me of "Silencer" and "Sterbend", I really like this kind of screaming vocals, this kind of vocals are deep and they can describe the deepest point of pain, the sounds of the guitars and the mournful vocals created a hidden beauty within the tracks. The acoustics intro of the album is very amazing, it's too calm and full of meanings, each track is memorable, the mixing of the album has been done well, the drumming is very great and full of energy, every beat took its place to add perfection to the melodies of the guitars sounds.

The clean vocals are very wonderful, they added a very great touch of real depression and desolation,"This Dreadful Emptiness" is my favorite track after all, nine minutes of depressive riffs, nine minutes of melancholic melodies, and there's another thing I like in this album, its the very amazing production, its very crystal, every tune of the keyboards can be heard clearly and every guitar's melody can be perceived well.

Austere is a very great project, and this adorable release should be in your library, this kind of music is memorable, you can't forget any track from this amazing record, these two guys have worked so hard for this album, they worked so hard to satisfy you.

This album, being a rather hailed item out here in the southern wilderness disappoints me. This is a matter of personal taste, because I know it is a great album, the band has really matured from the first demo to be able to deliver something like this. The problem I have with it is that the first few songs are a bit dull and the last few songs with the oh so amazing clean vocals sound too much like Katatonia, a great band in their own right, but a scourge as of late due to the numerous imitations of their direction.

So. What we have here is a faithful follow-up on the demo and the splits. Drab, mid-paced Black Metal developing on the depressive theme into realms of deep bitter-sweet melancholy with howling male vocals carrying through digital chasms of silence. I prefer the few tracks they made for the splits actually – but could this be because I’ve only heard them once and when I did, the production was a really pleasant surprise? I don’t know – I don’t own a turntable at the moment and there is no reason for me to have those vinyls. There are a few interesting moments that come along – piano and in one spot - the tini drum machine, which was an interesting stroke. Overall, the style isn’t hugely different from what has come before, just the production is much, much better, with clean, resonant bass and clear ringing guitar tones with smooth distortion washing gently over the ears as if they were rain. The final 20 minute track is titled “Coma II” and has that same rainy atmospheric effect as the outro on the demo. The multilayered guitars produce subtle drones and wispy keyboards add a few more shades of colour. It’s a great atmospheric album, but I feel that the band had potential for more and I hope this is not their final release.

Originally published in Procession of Black Doom zine #4

I’ve heard of Austere on several occasions, which comes as no surprise when the band members have been, or are still, involved with tons of other great Australian black metal acts. But I’m not sure if I’ve actually heard any of their previous outputs, at least I don’t think I have. So it’s with an open mind I press play. And it’s with an open mind I feel despair as soon as the first gasping howl commence.

The intro is very atmospheric and "To fade with the dusk" starts off very powerful musically, but I just don’t get the appeal of the vocals. It’s those type of high-pitch howling reminiscent of Burzum, and I’ve just never understood what the deal was. To me it doesn’t add any desperation and it doesn’t feel very emotional. It doesn’t add to the overall feel of the music. It sounds like a very feminine guy who just stumped his toe. I can’t help it; I just don’t care for such vocals. Unfortunately this is pretty much the only type of vocals you’ll hear on the album, with one exception.

So undoubtedly I find "This dreadful emptiness" much more appealing than the remainder of the album, as the vocals are tweaked a bit here. It’s harsher, and it sounds as someone’s torturing the hell out of this guy; like he’s actually screaming in agony and desperation. It goes quite well with the slow melancholy of the melodic riffing, which is the kind of coldness you’d expect from top-notch musicians. The drumming is very powerful and has a magnificent beat and tempo, somewhat akin to a lot of doom metal. But suddenly it all comes to a halt, and we get served a few seconds of ominous ambience just before the music picks up again. But it definitely doesn’t pick up where it left off, as it pushes the desperation to new heights with the faster tempo. Oh, how marvelous the vocals fit now. This is how I like it; fast, powerful drumming, desperate, aggressive screaming and agonized, melodic riffing; a perfect combination. And as the music slows down again (after a few very ominous seconds of ambience) the keyboard adds a fairly subtle melody, which just enhances the atmosphere. They even serve us some nice clean vocals, which works fantastic with the music.

So why can’t all tracks be like that… Well, they certainly keep the same unpredictable recipe of suddenly putting everything on halt to throw in some very fitting ambience. And as it only lasts for a few seconds it becomes Austere’s version of breakdowns. It’s brilliantly used. The drumming is very powerful throughout the record and the riffing remains within the same cold melody. But as I said I just don’t get the howling vocals, I feel the album loses a huge load of its effect due to it. No matter the marvelous song-writing, bone-chilling clean vocals and wicked production, I can’t help but to cringe.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net

Austere is the side project of two members of Pestilential Shadows. This is their sophomore offering, a desolate mesh of tortured vocals (in the tradition of Weakling or Xasthur) and warm threads of evocative black metal. The album is depressing, but depressing like the end of a hard day's toil in the soil and sun. Study the cover image carefully and try to imagine what this would sound like if translated into the black metal medium. It would sound like 'To Lay Like Old Ashes'.

As mentioned, the vocals here sound quite bleak, coming across more like wails of pain than the verbalization of lyrics. This might turn off some from the album, but if you can withstand this agony it will eventually merge into the grim landscape of endless fields and strife. Atmosphere and acoustics embellish the opening track "Down" before "To Fade With the Dusk" settles into its mid paced glimmering beauty and torment. "This Dreadful Emptiness" is slower, yet the walls of its riffing crash and careen like glorious gray clouds embittered towards the last light of day. The title track is yet another painful impression over a steady mid beat, strangely cutting out for acoustics and an electronic drum beat near its middle...a pleasant surprise. "Just for a Moment" is yet another surprise with its clean vocals, yet the screams will still arrive. This is my favorite track of the album. "Coma II" is over 20 minutes long and closes the album with a string of simple guitar chords and notes struck for ambiance. Essentially a post rock piece.

The tones of the album are as dense as required to keep the twisted and tormented vocals sheathed in a glorious warmth. The effect is quite unnerving, as you become unsure whether to weep for joy or mourn some loss. To Lay Like Old Ashes is as fitting and bewitching an album of its style as you are going to find lately, but I got a summery impression from the riffs. You've heard bands attempt 'summer black metal' before and wind up sounding like clowns. Perhaps Austere is one of the first successful forays into thawing a bleak winter scene, sharing its message of inevitability across all seasons.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This will not go down as the best album of 2009, but it does stand a pretty good chance of spending more time in my stereo than any other. And that is largely due to one song, 'This Dreadful Emptiness', a simply perfect example of emotionally shattering songwriting with a, dare I say it, Burzumic sense of song progression which stacks up against the best of Varg himself.

So as you may gather, Austere is another of the countless bands drinking at the well of inspiration that is Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, but one of the few which manages to have its own distinct identity. Perhaps the best description I could come up with is a more melodic and epic version of Silencer's Death: Pierce Me. The production is well-rounded rather than raw, well suited to the epic qualities brought out here.

After a fairly inconsequential intro track, we come to 'To Fade With the Dusk', and those familiar with Austere's previous album will immediately recognise a more mature sound, most notably riffs which are far more memorable, epic and evocative. It's an excellent song, but the best is yet to come, of course the stunning 'This Dreadful Emptiness'. Simultaneously crushingly depressive yet strangely uplifting, it is based on three main, simple riffs, all amazing in their own right, but fleshed out brilliantly too. By that I mean things like subtle variations in percussion, subtle inflections of the keyboards and the flow of the song itself, through its succession of climaxes, interludes and ultimately leaving us lost in raptures of bliss as it unfurls brilliantly to its conclusion. The vocals are tormented screams, thus my comparison to Silencer, but are less hystrionic, less overbearing in the mix and ultimately better. Clean vocals even make a timely appearance, effectively highlighting one of the song's climaxes.

Next up is the title track. There's nothing wrong with this one per se, but it is not as memorable as the previous two and sounds rather like a rehash of the ideas in those tracks too. Then we have 'Just for a Moment', where the very impressive clean vocals take centre stage, although do not overshadow the fact that there is another very impressive riff underneath it all. I can't easily pick out a precedent for this kind of almost ballad-like delivery in BM (although we are venturing out of BM territory here), but it's not too far removed from Australian countrymen Ne Obliviscaris (an even better band if you've not heard of them).

So far, pretty close to perfect! The album's real weakness is the closing track, Coma II, which again those familiar with the previous Austere album will recognise as a sequel to the ambient track Coma I. I'm not the biggest fan of straight-out ambient music, particularly in my BM, but truth be told this isn't even a strong effort by BM standards. It's ridiculously repetitive, with Austere's aforementioned brilliance of song progression seemingly thrown out the window. Nor does it contain much atmosphere and really succeeds only in being a waste of time. It's a shame, because having heard such quality BM we are left yearning for more and the album consequently feels rather short.

But, hey, even Varg suffered from that problem to some extent.

Austere's To Lay Like Old Ashes is a black metal album like no other. At least not that I've ever heard. It strays away from typical black metal beats and rhythms and takes a whole new approach to the genre, so if you're expecting a typical black metal album you may want to look elsewhere. It's one of those albums that should just be listened to as one song. The album is very heavy, atmospheric, epic, raw, however it is slower than typical black metal.

The music in this album is slower than typical black metal. It's very heavy and atmospheric. The singer ranges from dark, high-pitched black metal screams, to singing, even with some growling thrown in sometimes. His voice can be really raw and kinda sounds like someone dying, however it is still soothing, but maybe that's just me ; ). Anyway, the vocals fit really well with the whole mood of the album, which some would call "depressive black metal" because it's really thought-provoking and emotional, it makes you sit there and think about everything, though it is not too depressive, IMO. It's black metal you can sit and relax too.

The songs are on this album are very epic and dark. The keyboards are not overplayed and forced on you, but rather flow with guitars and drums like any other instrument. The guitars are heavy, melodic and raw at the same time. The first song on the album "To Fade With the Dusk" really stands out in it's epic-ness. All the instruments just flow together and the keyboards add a really dark tone that's very relaxing and the whole song makes me think about life and death. It really sets the mood out for the rest of the album.

In the song "Just For A Moment... " the vocalist starts singing, and while most metal fans may dislike his voice I think it goes very well with the song and the theme of the album. He is definitely not the most "metal" of singers but his voice is still pretty good. Besides the obvious difference in vocals, the guitars and drums in the song are a little light for black metal, too, however the song is still decent though probably my least favorite on the album. It is just under 6 minutes long so it's over pretty quickly.

The last "song" (I don't really consider it a song) on the album Coma II is a closing "instrumental" just under 21 minutes long. I really wish they would have just left this song out or at least make it about 17 minutes shorter. The whole song is literally one riff repeated over and over with creepy sound effects in the background. While this could have made a great closing song if it was a lot shorter, after about 3-4 minutes you just want to change the song.

Listening Austere's To Lay Like Old Ashes is definitely worth it, especially if you want to listen to something that is not like your typical black metal band. It's very relaxing, epic and atmospheric music. The vocals are very raw, dark and high-pitched, though not annoyingly high-pitched, even though he does sing in one song. None of the instruments are forced on you, but rather flow together to make one excellent melody. If you like slow, thought-evoking, possibly depressing black metal, this album may be for you. Just check it out either way, you never know.