This is the second album from Brazilian solo black metal act Autrest.
On Burning Embers, Forgotten Wolves, the artist behind Autrest provides us with 42 minutes of nature-inspired atmospheric black metal. It’s well crafted, and the artist clearly knows what he’s doing.
Autrest’s style is a richly atmospheric one, with melodic colour, acoustic texture, and orchestral enrichments. Elements of blackgaze and post-black metal can be heard, blending in with their expansive surroundings quite naturally, although these are far from the main ingredient in Autrest’s musical recipe.
The music is ambitious, with an innate grandeur that comes from a talented guiding hand. The album benefits from a well-defined vision, and the skill to see it realised. The songs are intricate and introspective in focus, despite the aggression and majestic soundscapes that are key parts of the record. The harsher, more hostile side of the project, as well as the orchestral side, serves the core of melancholic thoughtfulness and nature immersion that sits at the heart of Burning Embers, Forgotten Wolves; this is their reason for existing, rather than being the focal points for their expressions in and of themselves. The vocals are varied, taking in a few different forms of screaming, singing, and growling. I do like the inclusion of the latter especially.
Buring Embers, Forgotten Wolves is a quality slice of atmospheric black metal. It’s well-written and frequently beautiful. The compositions are detailed and richly rendered, with each track showing the kind of love and care that comes from being a real passion project. It’s an album of absorbing atmospheric depth, yet has a ferocious blackened bite when it needs to.
You definitely need to spend some time with Autrest if you’re a fan of bands such as Aquilus, Belore, Cân Bardd, Panopticon, Ruadh, Saor, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc.
Wonderbox Metal 