Austere – To Lay Like Old Ashes

In a genre saturated with tedious Burzum-worship and the same melodies and riffs that have been used by every other band, Austere had the desire to stand out from the crowd. After releasing an okay debut and a couple of split albums, they released their magnum opus, To Lay Like Old Ashes, and on May 17, 2010, they broke up. At first, I was disappointed that they disbanded so early, but then I realized that it's better to go out with a bang than a whimper.

The first song sets the mood for the entire album, as a clean guitar plays these somber chords that echo throughout the room. Soon thereafter, it's all depressive black metal with a unique personality that cannot be found anywhere else. The first thing I noticed was how powerful the production is. Nothing is clouded, nothing is hidden, everything is shown. Another amazing thing I noticed was the guitar tone. Though it still fits the depressive black metal mold, it has a much warmer guitar tone compared to their peers.

The instrumental performance is just as powerful as the production. Tim Yatras is an amazing drummer. He can switch between mid-paced rhythms and violent blast beats with ease. He does more than just keep the beat, though. He throws down a massive amount of fills and even plays more complex mid-paced beats that help keeps things from getting boring. The guitars still play the depressive black metal riffs we all know and love, but as I said before, the warm guitar tone make the experience more unique, more vibrant, more, dare I say it, optimistic.

Finally, there are the vocals. The vocals duties are actually switched between the two members. Mitchell Keepin performs on the second and fourth songs and Tim Yatras performs on the third and fifth songs. Mitchell performs Burzum-inspired high-pitched screams while Tim performs a more agonized scream. It's pretty standard stuff, but what truly blew me away were the clean vocals. I've never heard clean vocals on a depressive black metal album before this one. In the black metal world, including clean vocals is considered utterly blasphemous, but Austere went against convention. They included clean vocals and proclaimed, “Let come what may.”

I still remember the first time when I heard the clean vocals on “This Dreadful Emptiness”. After air drumming to Tim's wondrous performance at the halfway mark, I laid back and was carried along by the wondrous soaring riffs, when it happened. The harsh vocals disappeared and these clean vocals proclaimed,

“I craved your warmth,

But it was too late.

Too late you realized,

That I was in the cold.”

At that moment I knew that this album was more than just a depressive black metal album, it was something magical.

My only problem with this album would be the last song. It drags on for way too long. If they were to drop that song, then this album would be perfect.

To Lay Like Old Ashes is, without a doubt, one of the greatest depressive black metal albums ever made. They take the depressive black metal formula that has been used to death and they do so many wondrous things with it. Though Austere is dead, they have not died in vain, for they left behind a masterpiece that will last for ages.