AUTUMN, LEAVES, SCARS is a Romanian black metal band who formed in 2012. Their latest album, "Unter dem Füße der trauerd Winde," is their sixth full length album. They have also released two EPs, one demo and a split. The overall sound of this album is raw, especially in the vocal department, but not overly. The production finds that sweet spot between making black metal gritty yet highly listenable.

Although heavy on atmosphere, this album is riff based. The guitar tone is appropriately abrasive but that doesn't mean the songs don't contain melody or even some ambient textures. At times there is even a post feel with the songs taking on the texture of a huge wall of sound. Still, this is much darker and more gritty than your average post anything even when the more melodic moments shine. The opening track, "Der Ausweg," is a flash flood of riffs and vocals that sound like they crawled from hell itself. The lead guitar and bass back the song up with very subtle hints of melody but it isn't long before everything is cast back into a bleak tundra of icy riffs and drums. The middle part of the song is rousing, riff based structure of abrasive notes that form a bridge between the song's halves.

The second track "Nihil" is pushed ever forward by the drums which hammers and chips away at the stark reality the song generates.  The guitar has a doom aspect, which is the perfect lead in for the howling fury that follows. The guitar turns sorrowing not long after the three minute mark, and those vocals? Like the touch of death on a cold winter morn. Imagine a head on collision with a tornado and a freight chain.  Have an image of unbridled chaos in your head? That might be the best way to describe "Der Ort wo sein Herz liegt" sounds like it.  The way the lead guitar melds with the vocals as they both bounce off the rhythm is chaotic. The song is unrelenting as it switches gears...to become even faster.

"Vollmond Ritual" is highlighted by galloping riffs that dig into the flesh and rip it off as they race by, devouring the song whole. As it reaches a fever pitch, it nearly comes to a rest to let dim light thru its cracks. "Lieber Tod," and "In Einsamkeit," are both interludes that mix in clean elements with ambient textures and they do a decent job in letting the album flow smoothly.  The rougher tracks after each interlude just seem all the more ferocious after these little pieces.

"Winterwalder,"  is an ambient piece that goes  along with  the final track "Weinende Welt" for a trippy moment that begins with horror and ends up, well, horrific but the senses are battered. This last track adds in some post and doom elements that just give this song a huge wide open expanse that seems to twist and turn while it crushes and devours. Overall, "Unter dem Füße der trauerd Winde" is a bleak and crushing album that harnesses those elements to bring out the natural song writing in these well put together songs.