The Classic Metal Album Review:
Title: Autumn Shade
Artist: Ceremonium
Label: Fadeless Records
Release Date: 1995

Rating: 5 Skulls
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    • Slither's Review:
    The dreadful mourning of Ceremonium's Into the Autumn Shade begins with a somber acoustic madrigal. The distant and breathy teasing of a synthesizer's low strings gently closes the distance between performer and listener; serving as the tonal foundation for all that is to come. Moments into the second track these elements slip to a supportive role and the arrival of weighty electric guitars lead by a diminished solo signal the beginning of a masterwork. Candor and pace are quickly established; funeral dirges soak the ground with fog while tortured screams pierce the mist at calculated focal points to deliver a message of misanthropy and the absence of hope. Vocalist Oscar Matter is winter's herald and his sermon details the triumph of death over any lingering traces of warmth and vitality.

    During spans of accelerated tempo, parallels with Aeternus' Beyond the Wandering Moon can be drawn, but more often the aural confrontation is with a heavier, more atmospheric beast. Carried by expressive percussion, the emotive songwriting of Into the Autumn Shade is facilitated by the work of exemplary drummer Chris Tredici. The coaxing of his subtle variation allows these refrains to encircle the mind and pacify the will to exist. While the impetus of some songwriters is the awakening of an emotional surge, Ceremonium seek only to inhale the listener's soul and return it in a more languid and subdued form. While tenor lends the tag of doom metal to this release, tonal variations and romantic tendencies in song construction leave little doubt that the purity of the death metal pedigree is present.

    Ceremonium deserve placement near masters of tragic composition: Celestial Season, Aeternus, and Thergothon. Fans of powerful expression and formidable melody would do well to acquire this forgotten classic.
    5 out of 5

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