Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Autonoesis - Moon of Foul Magics (2022)

This is a devious little release (although given the length of it I am not sure that "little" quite covers it).  I have read the other reviews from my esteemed academites (?) and I do not really have anything different to add in all honesty.  I am less inclined to agree that this does not have a place in The Pit - I would equally argue that it has some argument for addition into The Infinite clan as well as The North.  What this all means in real world terms, for the uneducated reader of this review is that Autonoesis cover a lot of ground on this record.  This in itself is impressive based on the effort alone and that is one of the main takeaways from this record, the work ethic and amount of stuff that is in here is really commendable.  Does it all work within the confines of one single release?  Well yes and no.

Give me tracks like Raise the Dead all day and I am a happy enough bunny.  This high-intensity track is arguably were Autonoesis are at their least stretched in terms of technical ability but it shows their heart better than most other tracks on here, largely because it is one of the shorter and more direct tracks that bleeds pure thrash from start to finish.  Where things start to come unstuck a little for me are on the longer tracks and there are far too many of them.  With three tracks over or around nine-minutes in length (plus an eleven-minute plus closing track) I do find myself a bit lost in Moon of Foul Magics at times.  There is a sense of frustration in hearing a track go through multiple sub-genres and influences over a protracted runtime.  Often when listening to one of the more lengthy tracks on here I cannot help but think that some of these ideas could be more succinctly deployed as individual tracks.  There would be nothing wrong with letting a thrash track just thrash and chop its way through three or four-minutes and parking that progressive interlude or epic black metal passage into a track all of their own.

This is not to say that they do not blend elements well as a group or individual artist (I have no idea how many people are in Autonoesis but I suspect it is a one-man project with contributors), the musicianship on here is superb and the lead work in particular is sublime.  I just cannot help but feel that there is more going on here than can be comfortably digested by many listeners.  Even with dedicated, alone time with this record the lack of distractions does not necessarily make the focus on everything anymore acute.

I still think this is an ambitious and highly recommendable record, not in the least because I am actively looking to expand the range of offerings in The Pit playlists each month and this is a refreshing "take" on a few sub-genres that still has the riffs to pull enough punches in the thrash metal realm.