Country of origin:United States
Location:Brewer, Maine
Status:Active

Formed in:2004
Genre:Atmospheric Black Metal
Lyrical themes:Nature
Current label:First Church of the Left-Hand Path
Years active:2004-present

DISCOGRAPHY

Valde Atra Mare Full-length 2008
A Basilica of Black Stars Demo 2008
I'll Still Laugh When All Around Me Is Dust Split 2009
Dawnland EP 2009
Death Will Claim Us All Full-length 2009
Hope Is All You Have Demo 2011
Infinite Lights of Greater Stars Full-length 2011
Here Is No Heaven EP 2011
For the World That Was and That Is to Come Full-length 2012 1 (70%)
Auspicium / Earthenwomb Split 2012
Somewhere, I Hear the Falling Dawn Split 2013
Sangre y Tierra & Auspicium Split 2015

current line up

Patrick A. Hasson All instruments (2004-present)
See also: Avulse, Black Chalice, Field of Spears, Patrick Hasson, Wholy Failure

PAST MEMBERS

Jake Newcomb Drums

Mournful black metal from Maine. - 79%
ChronoSphere666, March 19th, 2009
Auspicium is a one man band headed by Patrick Hasson. It is based in Maine, and you can definitely tell while listening to the music and the looking through the imagery provided. The artwork and song titles scream of a distant shore on some rocky beach. Keep in mind while listening, that this album is not produced very well and at times it is somewhat harsh and hard to hear. However, if you've ever heard any original black metal, you've probably come to expect that. The production value doesn't really hinder the songs anyway, and helps build tension and atmosphere. This can be said for most black metal and it is true here as well. Now, lets get on to the music.

The album starts off with 'Opus N', a short intro which starts with a gentle synth and a slow, slightly distorted guitar melody. This repeats a couple of times before fading out with the same synth line that started it, without the guitar backing. A fitting intro for what lies ahead. Then 'Saltborne' come in. This is where the album truly starts. The song initially starts out fast, however there is a small interlude a minute or so into the track which eventually progresses to slow dissonance played in an almost hypnotizing way. The vocals sound like mournful and evocative banshee wails, which often are somewhat reminiscent to early Burzum. This can be said occasionally for the guitar as well. The next track is a bit of an odd one. Here we have somewhat mournful singing on top of a wall of ambiance. The vocals sometime remind me of an old forgotten chant, though I can't say why. 'The Day the Flesh Shapes and the Flesh the Day Shapes' is a short instrumental song that is quite excellent actually, perhaps even my favorite track on the album. Very distant and mesmerizing. The simplicity of it all works very well, so well that I might say Patrick could have gone on with this formula for five or six minutes and it still would be just as excellent.

Onwards.

'Shores' comes in next with a quiet acoustic guitar and a raspy voice that actually reminds me of the later vocal work of Johan Edlund from Tiamat. This song is a complete departure from any kind of metal really. Don't get me wrong though, the song is good in its own right, albeit a bit out of place. 'Oceans of Stone' comes in next and brings us back to where we were before. The drums on this track were played by a Jake Newcomb. This is evident, as they sound much more human, and have a bit more feel to them in some places, opposed to some of the other tracks. This is the longest track on the album, and probably the fastest. Towards the end there is a short interlude which brings us again to 'Shores' for a moment before sweeping us into out into the current again. Finally we have 'Peligic Aire' which once again returns us to the shore of 'Shores' although a bit faster. from what I could interpret, the song is about mankind losing its way. A fitting topic for the certain atmosphere created. The song seems to end as quickly as it began, and we are left somewhere different than where we started. All in all, this is a decent release. Taking into mind that this is only the second release from this artist (and as such it is far from perfect, however...) it is good enough in its own right. There is a lot of originality here I have not seen before. It has its quirks and that is good. I would give a recommendation to similar artists, however I can't think of any other than the ones mentioned, and even those are quite different than what we have here. Standout tracks are; 'The Day the Flesh Shapes and the Flesh the Day Shapes', 'Saltborne' and 'Oceans of Stone'. Chronosphere666

Auspicium - 70%
Zerberus, January 11th, 2013
Auspicium, an American practitioner of the dark arts more commonly referred to af black metal. One man projects like Auspicium are very widely spread in the world of black metal, and while I remember in the early years to me it seemed like kind of a novelty and something that made a band interesting, it's almost the exact opposite nowadays. I find it almost hard to find a black metal band with more than one member!

Patrick Hasson's band, labeled as atmospheric black metal, suffers from many of the same problems as other solo bands. The lack of differing opinions and varying inputs means the music has a tendency to become a little single-tracked, and while some bands musically can handle the lack of input I sort of feel that Auspicium is not one of those bands. Don't get me wrong, there are several decent riffs and the songwriting isn't as bad as numerous other things I've listened to over the years, but it does become a little dreary because it's easy to tell alot, if not all, of the ideas are thought up in the same tenebrous mind.

The solo effort managed to surprise me quite a bit on more than one occasion, though. Like when he threw in a little clean vocals in Judgement; While it wasn't as well executed as I had hoped, it still helped mixing things up a little and giving the listener a break from the otherwise monotonous atmosphere.

I almost feel like I'm giving Auspicium a little too much shit. I'm not familiar with his impressive back catalogue of four albums and a couple of demos, splits and EPs all released in about four years since the first album Valde Atra Mare in 2008. It's just that there's really not anything new under the sun. I read somewhere that the early material of Auspicium had a certain nautical feel to it, which I could imagine would be something a little out of the ordinary. However, there seems to be nothing of the sort on For the World that Was and that is to Come, but some parts, especially the guitar work, is actually pretty solid. I mentioned Judgement earlier and that same track has some great riffs.

To round things off I'd like to say that Auspicium does capture a cold, nature-like atmosphere that I'm quite impressed by. Through well-versed guitar playing and at times surprising choices in songwriting the album keeps me interested for a while, but ultimately I can't give it more than 70% because it doesn't really stand out among the hordes of other atmospheric bands out there.

Originally written for http://gouls-crypt.blogspot.com/