Dutch heavy rock collective AUTUMN make a return to the front line with their new album, Cold Comfort, to be released November 4th/7th via Metal Blade Records in Europe.

This is the band's fifth full-length effort, their third for Metal Blade Records. It offers a collection of striking songs blended into a diverse and yet surprisingly compact album, one that Autumn considers to be their most personal and meaningful to date.

While Autumn's roots remain firmly planted in heavy rock/guitar-oriented soil, their branches are stretching out to more progressive musical genres and alternative approaches to the sound of individual songs. Guitarist Jens van der Valk elaborates: "In terms of sound we realized there were still leaps to be taken out of our comfort zone and into unthought-of possibilities. As a first step in the right direction, our main focus was on a more open, transparent sound, one through which the often multi-layered nature of our songs would be optimally channeled."

Autumn needed not look far for a man to put at the helm with the right pioneering philosophy for the band to begin taking leaps: Erik-Jan Dodd, Autumn's live sound engineer since the My New Time era, envisioned a more vintage approach for Cold Comfort. An experiment the band was all too eager to embrace, explains guitarist Mats van der Valk. "If there's anyone who knows what we're all about and more importantly: what we could potentially be all about, it's E-J."

Cold Comfort tracklisting:

'The Scarecrow'

'Cold Comfort'

'Black Stars In A Blue Sky'

'Retrospect'

'Alloy'

'End Of Sorrow'

'Naeon'

'Truth Be Told (Exhale)'

'The Venamoured'

'Changes For The Bitter' (digi-bonus)

'The Mute (Inhale)' (digi-bonus)

Check out the title track and first single, 'Cold Comfort', below. Pre-order options at www.metalblade.com/autumn.

Autumn "Cold Comfort" by Metal Blade Records

Autumn is:

Marjan Welman - vocals

Jerome Vrielink- bass

Jan Munnik - keyboards

Jan Grijpstra - drums

Mats van der Valk - guitar, grunts and backing vocals

Jens van der Valk - guitar and backing vocals

Tour dates:

November

4 - Sneek, Netherlands - Bolwerk
5 - Hoorm, Netherlands - Manifesto
11 - Roermond, Netherlands - Azijnfabriek
17 - Amstelveen, Netherlands - P60
18 - Den Haag, Netherlands - Bazart
19 - Zierikzee, Netherlands - Brogum
26 - Zeist, Netherlands - Peppel