Published on Nov 7, 1999
There comes a point when I listen to a CD that turns the
material either towards the “I like this” or “I loathe this” and
for Autumn Leaves, those moments come at the 2:58 point in the
fourth track, “Empty Black Stare,” of their recent release
As Night Conquers Day. After some fairly typical death
metal, complete with the annoying growls, the band actually slows
down the pace and ‘grooves’ with some very interesting arrangements
of a standard metal riff. The drummer throws in some syncopated
double bass drums, the guitar throws in some whammy bar tricks and
the bass rumbles a counter-melody to the brilliant guitar solo.
Now if more death metal bands could do this, I’d see no reason
to bash the genre in each review I write about a death metal disc.
The band knows they are death metal, they play death metal songs
but they are smart enough to know that they don’t have to be just a
death metal band.
Sometimes this works sometimes it doesn’t. Metallica is a prime
example. They knew they are a thrash metal band, they play thrash
metal songs but they are smart enough to know they don’t have to be
just a thrash metal band. Megadeth (
Risk), Anthrax (
Volume 8) and a host of others are following suit, releasing
albums that pale in comparison to their finest moments, not because
they’ve sold out, but the songwriting was weaker. And find me one
flat-out solid guitar riff on
Risk and you’ve done better than I.
So in essence, then, Autumn Leaves, with their cover art of an
eclipse and dark images, are a death band. They play death metal
songs but they are smart enough to realize they don’t have to be
just a death metal band.
The rest of the songs on the CD encompass many of the common
traits of death metal There are the dark, growly vocals and the
frantic pounding of a drummer who is able to inject intricate drum
fills around guitar riffs that often crescendo and decrescendo
within moments of each other. There are intricate tom-tom fills,
much in the way Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) uses the pitch of his
toms to accentuate the guitar and/or bass riff.
Aside from the aforementioned 2:58 point in the fourth track,
there is also the hypnotizing song “The Present Past” which begins
fairly typically as a death metal grunt feast before, collapsing
into more of a thrash metal guitar riff.
Bands like Autumn Leaves come around rarely: talented musicians
twisting their genre around into a new pretzel. Hold the
cheese.