AUTUMN’S DAWN - Gone CD

Very aptly titled, Gone is a kaleidoscopic plummet into the depths of despair and regret. Upon a foundation of melancholic melody, AUTUMN’S DAWN create a 9-song cycle of dark, emotive energy, dynamically spanning depressive rock, post-black metal, and plenty in between. Most of Gone’s song titles – “Until My Heart Corrodes With Rust”, “Grace of the Grave”, “When the Sun Sets for the Last Time”, and “Blank Stare, Dead Eyes” among them – vividly portray its contents, and the bright ‘n’ balanced production illuminates every shadowy corner. Although Gone is AUTUMN’S DAWN’s debut album, the Australian duo are hardly newcomers: vocalist/drummer Sorrow is the mastermind behind the critically acclaimed Germ, and did time in cult OZBM bands like Austere, Woods of Desolation, and Nazxul among others. In many ways, AUTUMN’S DAWN in general and Gone in particular can be seen as a more refined version of Grey Waters, a short-lived yet celebrated band of Sorrow; in other ways, one can imagine Sentenced and Mono squaring off with Germ and Austere. Any way you describe it, Gone is the end…and the beginning.