A taster EP from this progressive, post black, avant-garde, Winds meets Arcturus meets Solefald collaboration. A collaboration, that to me, comes across like a slightly more diverse and edgy version of Winds and has the benefit of Solefald’s Lazare (Lars Nedlund) on vocals rather than Winds’ rather underwhelming Lars Eric Si (who play bass in this outfit). In fact it could be argued considering both bands relative similarity and sharing of members that Age of Silence is what Winds ought to sound like.Of course the music is driven by Lazare’s distinct croons, Andy Winter’s neoclassical ivory tinkling and Hell hammer’s recognizable gait all wrapped in an abstract, angular prose, that admittedly doesn’t flow as well as Winds, but is more adventurous, challenging and forward thinking.

The three decently sized tracks on this EP cover a wide range of moods one would expect from such a project; Opener “The Idea of Independence and the Reason Why it’s Austere” is suitably muted and restrained with its chunky pace and Lazare taking center stage for the tracks austere mood. “Mr. M, Man of Muzak” as you can tell by the title of far more left of center with more psychedelic, dramatic tone and superb vocal pacing from Lazare. It’s really rather striking and far more in line with what you’d expect from such a gregariously talented collection of musicians.

Though I’d like for it not to have been the shortest track on the EP. The curiously titled “Vouchers, Coupons, and the End of a Shopping Session” appears to be the EP’s centerpiece, a wandering, slithering track of artful progression, that needs little more direction as it seems to be unsure of its own leaning; more menacing metal or cosmic operatics.

While I dislike EP’s intensely, Complications-Trilogy of Intricacy is a solid teaser that shows enough mixture of improvement and familiarity to make the upcoming album and intriguing prospect, though I hope these three tracks are not simply recycled and used on the album. Of course, The End rarely releases crap and considering the cast of this band, I expect nothing more than brillaince .

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