Whilst perusing through and trying to work out exactly what the eleven discs I had from Vast And Void Promotions were, I realised that three of them were all basically the work of two individuals. Hailing from Australia, Austere had already hit my radar with 2009 album ‘To Lay Like Old Ashes’ and I discovered two of the trio, D and Sorrow or Tim as he is also known are the pair behind Woods Of Desolation and Grey Waters, the latter of the duo also being in many other projects such as Battalion, Nazxul and Pestilential Shadows. Although the music on these EP’s varies it did make perfect sense to tackle them in one review.
The two Austere compositions were originally released in 2007 on a split with UKBM band Lyrinx. They are incredibly long and clock in at 25 minutes between them and are full of tortured shrieks and maudlin depressive melody. ‘Towards the Great Unknown’ sees the vocals forcefully screamed out and there is a real tantrum fuelled rage behind them. Musically this is designed to create a feeling of abject grief and despair and the funereal feel is evident with keyboards mourning away in the background as things develop crafting a baroque fugue of despondency. It is all to easy to mention the likes of Nortt, Xasthur, et al when comparing this but it certainly dwells in the same murky mind-set and even before we get to the second track which shares the EP title, the weak may have already gone for razorblades and pills. This is very dreamy stuff but with nightmares lurking beneath the fronds, music that is perhaps designed never to awaken from and it is beautiful with it and a highly compelling taster for the album that followed.
Sorh meaning Sorrow was released by Woods Of Desolation originally in 2009 and followed a limited edition album ‘Towards The Depths’ a couple of splits and demos. A gorgeous acoustic intro heralds in three numbers here and as ‘The Leaden Sky Torn’ batters in it is the contrast of production between the two releases that is instantly noticeable. This is almost a wall of sound, cavernous and hollow and almost as though it has been recorded in a deep underground vault. This makes the vocals all the more feral and ghastly as they swirl around the heavy leaden guitars with a beastly holler. It is still miserable and depressive stuff but more in the face than Austere and this goes for the throat rather than shrouds in despondency. Melody does get through but it is cataclysmic rather than shimmering and one has to wonder if the EP was recorded like this purposefully or due to restraint as this could purvey a more appealing and accessible sound if all the levels were not seemingly cranked to the max.
So now it is time for the flipside of the coin as we get to Grey Waters. There is nothing in the way of extremity here although the air of despondency is not neglected. This particular project who formed in 2006 and are now just releasing their debut have as much to do with the rock world as anything else. This creates an atmosphere with pure simple song-craft and as ‘Say Goodbye’ strums in you are reminded of a well produced and passionate band with anthem etched stadium rock songs. Katatonia and Anathema are cited on the blurb I have and this certainly is not wide from the mark. These are big songs by a big sounding band despite the fact that this is still just the work of the two of them. Perhaps they are after some support slots when the bigger artists visit Oz and on the strength of this they could well deserve it. I am probably reminded more of Katatonia here than others as they nail the melody and the glistening guitar sounds of the miserable Swedes but do so in their own way, making numbers like the title track a real delight. This has a real timeless feel to it and has the potential to appeal much further across the field, hell I can see anyone from Muse to The Cure and Radiohead fans digging this.
I found this a really interesting voyage of discovery although I now see that Austere called it a day in May so guess we won’t be hearing future releases from them. You can check them all at the links below.
http://www.myspace.com/bandaustere
http://www.myspace.com/woodsofdesolation
http://www.myspace.com/greywatersband
http://www.eisenton.de
