Intig : "Dystymi"

I get so hungry for depressive black metal that I could eat razor blades, it is not that there isn't a lot of it our there, there is just not a lot of it out there that is quality. So I started my hunt and found this gem from an internet band whose members are spread out from Sweden to Denmark to Salt Lake City.It starts off on a more post -rock foot. The guitar sounds great and the playing is very dynamic though it's not as dark as I might like my depressive black metal to be.The second song creeps along this path, it sounds like a rainy afternoon, but not a deep enough depression yet. Like An Autumn For Crippled Children, the vocals are sometimes the most black metal thing about this. There is enough agony in them to convince even a jaded old soul like me. Musically these guys are nowhere near as despondent as Shining or Totalselfhatred and it's clear where the foggy line between what was called black gaze and dsbm comes in, as this often sounds like slower post-black metal. No blast beats yet, and that is not a deal break as the accents to "Self-destruction" are heavy enough without them and is the first song on this album to really grab me.

What this album is heavy on is the instrumentals.It might be named after a period of prolonged depression, but it more hopefully medicated. Without the screamed vocals it's like a more emo version of Explosions in the Sky.If it wasn't for the catchy songwriting I might be a little pissed there's none of the black metal I hoped for.I suppose that is the problem with being too self aware of the genre you are aiming for, it never falls neatly into that crack. With the sample of the crying girl I get more hopeful that things can become more down trodden. She might be talking about being a cutter, but they don't fed into their self loathing. This might be the problem that occurs when people that are actually well adjusted try to make this kind of music, if you are actually depressed then even the blast beats that show up won't be able to fake the funk,

I think I need to start checking the references when it comes to depressive black metal and make sure some one in the band has just gotten out of re-hab or a mental health center. They jam things out, but these songs are not as long and sprawling as they could be. Another gray cloud floats in for "Longing For an End". The guitar sounds beautiful, but I need a little more ugliness. That ugliness is what made Shining's "the Eerie Cold" such a wonderfully dismal piece of beauty. They slowly building into a more melodic rock riff that drones on. They riff shifts rather gracefully, leaving no question this is well played and written, but am I just being teased about this depression is the question I find myself asking. The song builds into a more metallic form of post-rock, but I would not say it's blackened anything. The last song is really and outro with some muttering and nature sounds like birds and water trickling, much like horror movies, the rule this breaks for depressive black metal is no happy endings. Since this is not what I felt the band lead me to believe it was I'll round it down to a 8.5 and keep searching for some depressive black metal, if your expectations aren't set it stone it's a beautiful guitar album.