Review – Auternus – Changing Seasons EP (Cauldron Soundwerx, 2009)

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“Seasons” is a debut EP by Kansas quartet Auternus, which includes guitarist/vocalist Joshua Quint, guitarist Jeff Irvine, drummer Joshua Simcosky and bassist Steve Hittner. Their music combines psychedelia, ambience and metal in equal parts (some of the comparisons include Isis, Perfect Circle and Red Sparrowes).

Just as title suggests, “Seasons” deals with times of the season (with a corresponding track for each). It’s an album of great complexity and virtuosic musicianship and one rare example of a record which sounds nearly perfect, with the band striking a right balance between technical and atmospheric parts/ambience.
The album opens with “Fall”, which, much like other shorter instrumentals on the album don’t seem to add much to the mix, but serves as an interlude to the next track – “Slowmotion” (in a sense the logic behind the order of tracks on the album reminds me of Tool’s “Aenima” album).
“Slowmotion” is a great piece with soaring vocals and emotional central motive – vocals are a clear highlight here, but in general it all comes together perfectly, the music and the singing. Given this, its also interesting that the band takes a left turn from here and abandon vocals altogether.
“Winter” and “Spring” are short pieces, while “Chasing The Sparrow” and “Somber Victory” are monsters of prog-rock-ish complexity, yet the band never abandon dynamics and anything that makes songs exciting. “Summer” closes out the “Seasons” on a fairly quiet note.
If this EP is any indication, there’s a lot great things ahead for this band. Hopefully, it will only be a matter of time before Auternus will gain more acceptance and will find their way to listeners hearts, because they certainly deserve it.