"Summer's end" CD by Autumn

With Within Temptation and After Forever, the Netherlands don't have only two good but also immensely successful Symphonic-/Gothic-Metal-bands provided with singers with great, voluminous voices. With Nienke de Jong and her five male companions this outfit is a third name you can add from now on. Already with their debut album, Autumm convince with in all respects. The six-piece band presents both complex hymns in the like of "Vision Red" and fat epics, like the powerful "The Coven". By the aid of chants, contrasting grunting backing vocals, smooth strings and a lot of emotions, they know how to arrange the songs in a variable way. But the straighter moments, ("Gallery Of Reality" or regarding the riffing the quite Iron Maiden-reminiscent title-track) are just perfect tunes, too. Autumn's strength lies in the ballad side as proven in the atmospheric, final "Solar Wake". It's a pity that the band doesn't bring in this trump a bit more often, but still, "Summer's End" is a highly impressive piece that the fans of the above mentioned bands should more than just like and that makes this band one of the best discoveries of the year! Oliver Kube - November 2004)