Review by Sonny for Panopticon - Autumn Eternal (2015)

I have no religious affiliation and I don't believe in the occult. If I can't see it or at least have it explained using logic and rational argument then I tend not to put too much store in it. So saying, black metal's themes of satanism and the occult are merely thematic devices to my mind and, besides a couple of exceptions such as Ihsahn and Ghaal, the majority of exponents of black metal feel the same way. I put no more store in these themes than in fantasy tales of wizards and goblins. Of more concern, BM can sometimes be used as a means of expressing some unpleasant political viewpoints and promoting and almost celebrating self-destructive behaviour. However, I have no time for NSBM and DSBM doesn't much interest me, apart from a couple of noteworthy releases.

Anyway, to get to the point, Austin Lunn, aka Panopticon, is a far more positive force within black metal circles than is often the case and his well-publicised leftist views are a bit of an anomaly (at least publicly) amongst black metal musicians. Panopticon plays atmospheric black metal with folk elements, but where Austin sets himself apart is that the folk elements he employs are gleaned from Americana, particularly bluegrass, rather than the more usual European folk music tradition. He is a committed outdoorsman so the themes of nature in all it's guises is predominant in his musical themes. Where his experience differs from the majority of BM musicians, he also spent a few years working in social services where he gained an understanding and appreciation of the hardship some people face on a daily basis, so as I'm sure you can appreciate, his is a rare and original voice and viewpoint working within his chosen musical genre. However, don't be deceived into thinking that his views make him uncommitted as a black metal musician as even a brief exposure to his music will reassure you that he is, in fact, the real deal, not in the satan-worshipping, misanthropic sense, but in the returning to nature, respecting the past, uncompromising outsider sense.

So to Autumn Eternal, my second-favourite Panopticon album after Kentucky. Beginning with a gentle piece of bluegrass-inspired americana, Tamarack's Gold Returns, you may be lulled into a heavy-lidded sleepiness that leaves you unprepared for the sweeping majesty of Into the North Woods as it kicks in with it's busy drumming, post-metal inflected guitar and Austin's distant-sounding shrieks. As you take this in it soon becomes clear that this is a different kind of black metal. I'm sure you're thinking "Hmm.. black metal with post-metal means blackgaze", but this both hits harder and expresses more grandeur than any blackgaze I've ever heard. In fact this really isn't any kind of -gaze at all, being more direct and focussed than the haziness and absence that term implies, being very much "present". After the title track comes one of my favourites, Oaks Ablaze, which sets off in a blistering wall of sound with a powerful thumping melody before hitting a still space at around the halfway mark of it's eight minutes where it pauses for breath before launching into it's pummelling crescendo. Following track Sleep to the Sound of the Waves Crashing follows a similar structure, where the quiet middle section is, in fact, like falling asleep to the sound of softly crashing waves, before chiming, bell-like notes signal a hurtling climax to the track. In fact this structural device of soaring, expansive songs that hit an eye-of-the-storm moment of calm that each expresses differently as a counterpoint to the more "bombastic" sections is prevalent throughout the whole album and binds the album as a cohesive whole.

This is obviously an album made by a person comfortable with where he is musically and confident in his ability to express himself through that music. Professional sometimes sounds like damning with faint praise, but A.L. is a consummate professional and an absolute master of his trade. In a genre that has more than it's fair share of average musicians, poor songwriters and reprehensible characters Panopticon can stand proudly, head held high, as a true class act.