Depressive Post-Black Metal? So says the promo material. But the best way to describe AN AUTUM FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN is to take some very early KATATONIA and toss it into a dense, dreary Doom/Alt-Rock atmosphere. It's vaporous with a raw polish. The depressing thing is the album couldn't have had a better title.

Opening with "To Set Sails To The End Of The Earth", AAFCC shows they can create a neat atmosphere. But when Black Metal is this slow, it gets boring. AAFCC saves face by tweaking the formula with some nice ambient moods, clean guitars and even a piano. Unfortunately, the song focuses too much on the plodding Blackness. "Tragedy Bleed All Over The Lost" tosses grim guitars and dry throat vocals into a head-on collision of Alt-Rock and bleak melodic moments that is more confusing than anything else.

"A Dire Faith" builds nicely with ambient melodies, but then wanders off the map and for far too long to keep anyone's attention. "Ghost Light" seems glued together with good Blackened Alt-Rock stuck to bad Black Metal. The band's namesake track is the best song on the disc, as it actually has focus. It's an instrumental that sticks with ambient, melodic moments that sound like something a grim Nick Cave could have crafted. This sole good moment is too brief when the howling vocals and blasting for blasting's sake of "I Beg Thee Not to Spare Me" appear. There are hints of creativity here, but it is usually too brief or plowed under this intense focus to create wandering moods.

Production wise, it's nice to actually hear the bass. The low end greatly augments the music and adds a nice dynamic as the bass usually fights against the grim, blackened guitars. But the real problem is AAFCC sounds like a band of GORGOROTH, KATATONIA and PORCUPINE TREE fans that tossed all their influences together and wanted to sound like really bummed out, misunderstood artists. They do and it shows up in the music, and it is almost too moody for its own good. The whole collision of styles tends to get confusing and most of the songs get stuck in a boring rut because aside from tempo changes, it all just drifts about.

Sorry, but directionless atmospheres do not make for memorable material. "Lost" will only be found on third-shift college radio shows and is only recommended to people who like awkward Black Metal that need something to listen to while counting sheep.