Aut Mori - Первая Слеза Осени (CD)

Review
Terroraiser
10/10

Дебютный альбом российского коллектива AUT MORI оставляет очень позитивное впечатление, хотя музыка и далека от оптимизма. Печальный Gothic Doom Metal, очень эмоциональный и трогательный. Довольно насыщенное звучание, вероятно благодаря вполне представительному составу участников группы - их я насчитал аж 7 человек, и, очевидно, каждый из них принял посильное участие в творческом процессе, не ограничиваясь лишь исполнительскими функциями. Особо хотелось бы отметить очень хорошее качество текстов, лишенное откровенной банальности и идеально вписывающихся в музыкальную атмосферу композиций. Вообще, перекличка между гроулингующим мужским вокалом и женским сопрано, несмотря на определенную схематичность, в данном случае поражает своей абсолютной, на мое субъективное мнение, гармоничностью. Хороший зрелый альбом. Для старта - впечатляюще. Будем с нетерпением ждать продолжения.

Author: Thrashmentor

Review
Metal Imperium
7.3/10

A Rússia é um país com uma cultura imensa aos mais variados níveis, desde a música passando pela culinária. A nova iguaria deste país eslavo chama-se Первая Слеза Осени dos chefes Aut Mori. Ao presenciar o repasto reparamos que o aspecto é familiar, mas ao olhar para o menu em cirílico contido no booklet que acompanha o pitéu, seguimos em frente, na esperança de que possamos estar na presença de uma qualquer receita de Ukha russa.

Começa a refeição, e pouco a pouco vamos tentando identificar os ingredientes, duas doses de 6 cordas tocadas de forma agridoce, acompanhados por uma secção rítmica em lume brando, teclados qb com incidência para o lado negro do marfim, isto tudo ao sabor de uma reserva Belle et la Bête da casta gótica norueguesa del Rei das lamúrias Raymond I. Rohonyi, e da sua outrora companheira Liv Kristine Espenæs. Afinal de contas o prato é bem satisfatório, com as primeiras garfadas a aguçarem cada vez mais o apetite, no entanto pouco a pouco vai ficando um bocado sensaborão, o sentimento de familiaridade vai também crescendo cada vez mais.

À medida que as papilas gustativas se vão habitando aos diferentes sabores do prato, o cérebro pouco a pouco vai descodificando o mesmo, acordando-nos para a triste realidade…afinal esta ementa russa mais não é do que uma receita escandinava de bacalhau, que se pode encontrar num qualquer tasco da Noruega ou da Finlândia, sem uma inspeção da ASAE nos últimos 3 anos, embora os chefs nos garantam que são de facto russos.

Um claro embuste, mas é o que dá confiar num menu em que não percebemos uma única palavra, e em que ao tentar traduzir o nome do prato graças ao amigo Google, reparamos que Первая Слеза Осени não é mais do que First Tears of Autumn. Sintomático.

Ficamos desiludidos, ainda assim continuamos a comer até chegar ao fim. Porventura não será algo que iremos querer repetir muitas vezes no futuro, mas para matar o bicho serve.

Author: António Salazar Antunes

Review
Metalstorm
6.3/10
12.03.2013

Aut Mori is Russian for "From the sea." I assume this is meant in a naturalist poetic way as opposed to "from the growing sea of female fronted gothic-tinged acts."
So at this point with nothing more than "female fronted gothic-tinged act" revealed, you've probably already got a mental picture of what you'll find on Pervaja Sleza Oseni:

1- Draclonian.
2- Alternating "beauty and the beast" vocals, angelic female pitted against demonic male.
3- Doomy riffs drenched in swell production and synths to remove rough edges.

And you'd pretty much be right.

The music is par for the course. It sounds very pleasant, at least outside the scary male "RAWRGHGHG!" vocals. For the most part, it failed to disturb me, exhilarate me, or move me terribly. It is all well done, but just inoffensive.

The first listen through I was running around issuing biotic death to pixelated foes as a form of stress release after a long day at the office… and the one aspect that did manage to rip my attention and initially give me a favorable opinion of the album were the female vocals.

My only prior (intentional) dip into this genre was a prior review for Edenian's Winter Shades, where the "angelic" vocals were, to be nice, definitely better than my coerced involvement in Guns N' Roses "Paradise City", the Drunken Karaoke gang vocal version.

By comparison, Maria Sorokina does have an impressive voice, one which commanded and focused my attention. For those that can't read between the lines, it means she's good. She's got pipes. At least compared to either Edenian or the Pizza City Seven.

If you like Draconian, or female fronted gothidoom albums, it's worth a shot. If you were one of those who thought I was tough on Edenian, buy this now as it is musically similar only with vastly improved vocals.

Author: BitterCOld

Review
Doom-Metal.com
15.01.2013

You'd almost have to believe that if the word 'Autumn' was to be withdrawn, a whole section of the Russian Doom scene would be put out of business. Since it hasn't, though, you might also be forgiven for thinking 'here we go again': a booklet filled with moody black-and-white band photos and dense Cyrillic script; the cover a single, curled leaf caught in the gossamer of a broken spiderweb. Their name is Latin, presumably taken from the fatalistic half of aut vincere aut mori (either to conquer, or to die). It's not an especially subtle hint that the ubiquitous seasonal reference is going to embrace those lonely, rainswept tragedies beloved of the Melodic Gothic/Doom fraternity.

Well, so be it. Whether that comes across as an honest display of heart being worn on sleeve or a painfully laboured cliché will largely depend on your predisposition towards the legacy of early Draconian, whom the promotional blurb cites the band as being 'in the vein of'. And, perhaps, a certain degree of curiosity, given that it has been released through the BadMoodMan subdivision of Solitude Productions - which suggests that it doesn't precisely fit in with the Gothic/Death/Funeral Doom albums usually handled by the mother label.

One thing you can be fairly sure of, being from Solitude, is that the packaging, presentation and technical side of the release will be up to their usual high standards. Even if the booklet content may not be to your taste (or comprehension, in my case), there's plenty of it, accompanying a pleasingly clear and well-produced CD. Top marks for that, at any rate. And, with plenty of help from Google Translate, it is possible to figure out that the five-piece band comprises male vocalist, two guitarists, keyboards and bass, with a guest female vocalist and, continuing the Draconian connection, Jerry Torstensson providing drums and Olof Göthlin (who featured on 'A Rose For The Apocalypse') contributing violin.

So, is this shaping up to be nothing more than a clone band and a glorified tribute album? On balance, and despite the undeniably strong influences: no, not really. It's a rather more stately and subdued affair than any of the Swedish band's offerings - even the mellowest 'Where Lovers Mourn' - without either the aggressive edge or the soaring peaks. A more autumnal approach, if you like: definitely from the same stable, but not aiming for the same classic, wintry ferocity.

It isn't without merits of its own, at any rate. The band have pedigree, with three of them being ex-members of the similarly-Gothic Auto-Da-Fe. They know how to handle their instruments: the intertwined guitar riffs swap pleasing melodies and textures with the keyboard and violin. The drums are, not unexpectedly, full of depth and vigour, and even the bass gets a fairly frequent look-in to proceedings. The vocals, entirely in Russian, trade off in pleasant beauty-and-the-beast fashion, or slide into background chorus and spoken-word pieces, with a seamless alacrity. There is, at times, something elusive missing here, though: it sounds as if the female vocal parts were written for a slightly different voice (and perhaps they were, given that the band originally had both a female singer and a drummer of their own), one that more completely matched the mood and pace of the music. They're not bad, but there are moments when they just don't feel like a perfect fit, particularly during parts of 'Прощай' and 'Жди'.

Where the formula does work really well, mainly during the latter half of the album (particularly 'Мой Вечный Дождь', 'Элегия Безмятежности' and 'На Сцене Осень'), it produces a slightly mournful cascade of melodies and symphonic elements, anchored on low, tuneful rasps rather than outright growls, which ebb and flow in quite captivating fashion. Where it doesn't, the results are still technically adept but a little lacking in variation or character, reminiscent of a somewhat stifled version of Frailty. On balance, it's probably on BadMoodMan because it's borderline primarily Melodic, rather than Death, Doom.

Overall, it's a difficult one to judge. Personally, I like it, despite those odd weaker moments, enough to have bought a copy. It seems quite genuine, makes an effort to distance itself somewhat from the archetypal blueprint and, in doing so, achieves some eminently listenable results. At the same time, though, it couldn't be described as either utterly groundbreaking, or truly, consistently, great. A promising start, though: with a net 'recommended' rather than 'essential'.

Author: Mike Liassides

Review
Forgotten Path
7/10

Aut Mori (Latin for “or die”) was established in 2009, but, strangely, debuted only last year. As it is customary for a Gothic/Doom Metal band, the album’s title is named after romanticism’s clichés such as tears and autumn from “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe. However, neither the title, nor the cover can precisely convey the most important thing - the quality of music.
Now, to elaborate on the sound of “Первая Слеза Осени”, I must say that it has even more clichés. Although this time not from romanticists, but from Doom/Gothic Metal big shots Virgin Black, Paradise Lost and Draconian. The only difference is the language and Aut Mori’s tendency to mess around with synthesizers. Surprisingly, that predictability of sound doesn’t annoy you that much and soon overcomes the initial scepticism by sucking you into a melodic, dreamlike flow of sounds.
Frankly, I cannot strongly criticize Aut Mori even though I was never a huge enthusiast of this type of bands and clean Russian female vocals in Metal always seemed repulsive to me. The project is sufficiently matured, diversely composed songs sound pleasant and although the melody is predictable it still allows you to enjoy the album. I believe that Gothic Metal fans would appreciate “Первая Слеза Осени” the most, but people of other tastes might find it quite interesting as well.

Author: Bloodie