Style: progressive metal, post-black metal, avant-garde black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dødheimsgard, David Maxim Micic, Violet Cold, Deafheaven, Thy Catafalque
Country: New Jersey, United States
Release date: 3 January 2025
Inspired by the blossoming avant-garde black metal scene of the mid aughts, Steve Wiener’s solo project Am I in Trouble? is an ambitious undertaking. Debut album Spectrum is wonderfully explorative, and while technically a solo project, Am I in Trouble? deeply emphasizes collaboration. Armed with a so-stupid-it’s-camp band name, a troupe of collaborators, a love of strange black metal, and whatever talents he has himself—producing, writing, and playing—is Spectrum a worthy love-letter and successor to his avant influences?
Everything about Spectrum positively bursts with vibrant color, from the popping prismatically linear cover art to the hued titling convention of the tracks to the dynamic, bright songwriting closer in tone to David Maxim Micic than to traditional black metal. All throughout Spectrum, Wiener and co. spill paint across a canvas through a variety of genres. Bookends “Yellow” and “Green” are cheery chamber music, orchestrated and pretty with Ember Belladonna’s flute adding whimsical flair. The inside of the album takes on a more sage blackgaze timbre, redolent of Alcest or Deafheaven but perhaps a touch brighter. Vocally, Spectrum is flexible; I love the laid-back blackgaze cleans but the harshes provide needed counterpoint to the melodic riffage, especially Alex Loach’s guest highs on “Black.”
Just as the vocal attack is varied, the record is eclectic but never zany, and the tracks all sound distinct—largely because of the color titling paradigm. Several tracks fit their hue to a tee. “Green” is verdant, an elegant chamber orchestration that’s clean and fresh; “Red” is the heaviest track, bloody and blasty with a second half full of standout riffs; and the instrumental “Blue” is cool with sleek bass licks and tasteful instrudjental-esque solos. Even though the other tracks don’t fit their colors as much in my mind, they’re still mighty enjoyable. For instance, “Pink” has a hail of drums underneath its main blackgaze-y riff, and while the track isn’t sinister per se, it’s far more violent than I’d expect for the color; “Black,” on the other hand, isn’t heavy enough for darkness incarnate. The color concept is undoubtedly a fun take on the genre, regardless.
Wiener composes with admirable skill on Am I in Trouble’s debut, balancing his own contributions with guest performers and several different complex moods to fit each color. Except for a weirdly long pause during “Red,” all the transitions go smoothly even with hard-to-pull-off-convincingly changes like the acoustic guitar and flute straight into the blackgaze in “White”—the composition never feels janky. At a short thirty-one minutes, I would love to hear Wiener flex his compositional skills with a final ten minute epic, but nothing is wrong with Spectrum as is, even if the release fails to reach the dizzying heights it could.
Self declaring Spectrum to be a nostalgic love-letter to mid 2000s avant-black, Wiener is selling himself short; Spectrum progresses black metal without seeming derivative, and while Am I in Trouble? nominally is deeply influenced by a specific scene, the music here is distinct and fresh even twenty years removed from his favorite albums’ release dates. Wiener keeps his influences close to the vest in his own writing to his benefit, and I can safely say Wiener isn’t in trouble.
Recommended tracks: White, Pink, Blue, Green
You may also like: Arcturus, Grey Aura, Sigh, Cicada the Burrower, Constellatia
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: independent
Am I in Trouble? is:
– Steve Wiener (everything)
