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Year Of No Light - Ausserwelt review




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Band: Year Of No Light
Album: Ausserwelt
Release date: April 2010


01. Perséphone I
02. Perséphone II
03. Hiérophante
04. Abbesse

Post-metal
Recorded: Cadillac Studio, France 2010
Label: Conspiracy Records
Total Running Time: 48:00


Year Of No Light - Ausserwelt: one of 2010's little treasures you might have missed.

These French post-metal dudes spent an awful lot of time making their sophomore release, the follow-up to 2006's Nord - another album you might want to add to your Do-Want!-list while you're at it. But all the hard work during their long absence really pays off (ya hear that Korpiklaani?) as Ausserwelt is a clear step-up from their already superb debut record.

Another essential bit of info you'll need. The band went from a quintet to a quartet after the vocalist's departure, back to a sextet after enlisting a new drummer and a new guitarist (who also plays in the French doom band Monarch - another band you might want to add to your Must-Listen!-list while you're at it). In case you're not keeping score, Year Of No Light is now an instrumental outfit with three guitarists and two drummers.

And thus ends the paved road for this review. What follows is only an attempt to describe the sweet indescribableness that is Year Of No Light. Cheat tip: the album is awesome.

Above all, this album presents itself as a dark, dense and heavy record - and exactly how a year with no light would sound like (yes, I'm cheap). What you get here is the formation of one massive black hole that is blending together metalgaze, droning noises and even doomy passages, interwoven with layers and layers of swelling melodies, slowly sucking the listener right in. One of the absolute strengths of this band is creating somber and surprisingly hostile soundscapes without ever getting dreamy or boring.

...Only to leave your ears smoldering in your headphones, craving for yet another listen that'll probably sound different than the previous one. Recommended!

Written by Thryce | 27.01.2011




Comments

Comments: 19   Visited by: 259 users
27.01.2011 - 22:04
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Post-metal, really? I assumed depressive black based on the band name...

Interesting review, and the atmospheric side sounds harsh enough for my tastes. It isn't at (or near) the top of my list of things to check out, but I'll probably get around to this by the end of the year.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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27.01.2011 - 22:05
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Definitely sounds worth looking in to. thanks for shining a light on it.
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get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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27.01.2011 - 22:19
Rating: 9
IronAngel

Good album, and I pretty much agree with your review. I'm not sure if it's my favorite post-shit release of last year or not, but it's pretty close. Rosetta is a little more accessible, Her Name Is Calla is more intricate. Here's what I wrote for the MS Awards nomination (I guess "atmospheric sludge" would be a better description, but since everybody's talking about post-metal...):

A follow-up to the crushing sludge of the deubt Nord, Ausserwelt is a leap forward for Year Of No Light. They four-track album eschews all vocals in favor of going instrumental. Ausserwelt is massive and dark, borrowing more from post-rock than sludge by now. It is a melodic but slow and heavy piece of music that will probably appeal to fans of doom metal, post-metal and post-rock alike. Ausserwelt stands out in the post-metal trend by virtue of its tasteful instrumental approach and its seamless integration of various influences. On the other hand, it is distinct from generic post-rock due to its heaviness and steering clear of the "quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD" format - it mostly just stays LOUD.
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27.01.2011 - 23:19
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Saw them perform this album live last April/May and damn skippy, yhat was some of the most intense live shit I have ever experienced. the three guitars and two drums assault works brilliantly live.
I think I preferred this live gig of theirs to the one a year earlier by them at roadburn (which has been released on an LP +DVD) even though the vocals were extreme as hell back then
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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28.01.2011 - 01:47
Rating: 9
Ag Fox
Angel No More
It's been a long long time since I heard an album before you reviewed it XD
I think you've done it great justice! Definitely among the top 3 Post stuff I've heard from 2010
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loves 小巫
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28.01.2011 - 13:37
Rating: 9
Dark Forever
Ruído Sonoro
Definitely worth listening, great great atmosphere. You'll be drowned in darkness, maybe not for a year, but you'll feel like if there was no light for at least 48 minutes
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Taste the DARK...
... and you'll live FOREVER!
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28.01.2011 - 14:07
Merchant of Doom

I agree with IronAngel... this is atmospheric sludge...
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28.01.2011 - 20:49
silenius

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!
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28.01.2011 - 20:58
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 20:49

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!


Like some said it's acutally more atmospheric sludge thn post metal
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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28.01.2011 - 21:49
silenius

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.01.2011 at 20:58

Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 20:49

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!


Like some said it's acutally more atmospheric sludge thn post metal


Tbh thats sounds even better xD need a new soundtrack to support my distorted sence of reality on the bus to work.
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28.01.2011 - 21:50
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 21:49

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.01.2011 at 20:58

Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 20:49

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!


Like some said it's acutally more atmospheric sludge thn post metal


Tbh thats sounds even better xD need a new soundtrack to support my distorted sence of reality on the bus to work.


Then Ausserwelt will surely do the trick, believe me.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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28.01.2011 - 21:54
silenius

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.01.2011 at 21:50

Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 21:49

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.01.2011 at 20:58

Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 20:49

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!


Like some said it's acutally more atmospheric sludge thn post metal


Tbh thats sounds even better xD need a new soundtrack to support my distorted sence of reality on the bus to work.


Then Ausserwelt will surely do the trick, believe me.


haha nice, this week ive been listening to The Abominable Iron Sloths ''The Id Will Overcome´´ continuosly. Very nice album tbh, some sinister feeling reeking from these guys.
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28.01.2011 - 22:42
Thryce
Retired Staff
Only total nerds will bitch over the exact genre when an album is as ridiculously good as this one
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Your favorite band sucks.
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28.01.2011 - 23:39
Rating: 9
IronAngel

Yes. I'm content to use "atmospheric sludge" and "post-metal" interchangeably in most contexts. Some people say post-metal when they talk about metal influenced by post-rock (often it just boils down to reverb and delay) and post-hardcore (vocals?), other people refuse to use that term altogether. I know some communities and websites that never talk about post-metal, whereas MetalStorm does so frequently. I don't really care, so I'll use both!
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29.01.2011 - 02:25
Rating: 10
Thanntos

This was THE best metal album of last year for me, hands down. Had the same affect on me when I first listened to it as The Angelic Process Weighting Souls with Sand. Spectacular.
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I will kill you so hard you will die to death.
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29.01.2011 - 13:30
Merchant of Doom

Written by Thryce on 28.01.2011 at 22:42

Only total nerds will bitch over the exact genre when an album is as ridiculously good as this one


I'm proud to be a nerd...
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29.01.2011 - 19:42
Rating: 9
tea[m]ster
Au Pays Natal
I dunno, I miss the vocals but the production is better on this than Nord. It's good but I like ADOM better as far as recent post releases...
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rekt
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22.02.2011 - 23:27
Daydream Nation
Account deleted
Great album...any other year and it would probably be on my top spot for avant-garde of 2010.
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27.09.2011 - 16:16
malaikat

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.01.2011 at 20:58

Written by silenius on 28.01.2011 at 20:49

Checking it out, totaly missed it tbh, need my post-metal fix!!!


Like some said it's acutally more atmospheric sludge thn post metal


Excellent, that fits into my deffiniton/perception of post metal
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