Autumn Black

Beneath The Shadows (Throwdown)
by Scott Hefflon

It’s hard to stand out in the post-metalcore genre, and the bar is very, very high. While many fans seem content with “genre bands” that sound great but really bring little new to the table (the list? Pick up any metal mag: Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, most of Ferret and Trustkill and Victory’s rosters), and while Autumn Black‘s singer sounds a bit labored to sound metal, there’s a little something here and there that make the band worth checking out. There are all the standard cliches at work here, mostly of the roar/group/breakdown shouts of a hardcore variety, and the clean vocals are no better than KSE and Shadows Fall, cuz admit it, those guys actually can’t sing all that well, but the rare melody break of “Breathe for Me,” lets ya know the band has the goods, they just fail to bring it most of the time. Let them strut their stuff, sure, but line up after every show to encourage them to not settle for the cliches, to really push themselves to see what they can do.
(www.throwdownrecords.com)