[ALBUM REVIEW] Nocturnal Depression - Reflections of a Sad Soul

1. Intro
2. The Whispering Sepctrum
3. Fading Away in the Fog
4. Solitude & Despair
5. Her Ghost Haunts These Walls
6. Nevica

France’s most wretched and pessimistic black metal band are back once again to spew forth their current pain and misfortune upon our unwitting ears. Reflections of a Sad Soul is their third outing and has recently been rereleased on Sun & Moon records, and our eternally perturbed duo of Lord Lokhraed and Herr Suizid are as downright fucking depressed as ever.

If you’re familiar with Nocturnal Depression, you’ll know what to expect; expansive dirges commonly reaching the twenty minute mark of a hypnotic and thought-devouring nature of which repetition is used to its full advantage. The formula hasn’t changed, but as the old cliché goes, why fix what isn’t broken in the first place? Nostalgia and Soundtrack were both very accomplished efforts which stand easily among the best the DSBM genre has to offer, Reflections of a Sad Soul maintains this quality, on a par with Soundtrack maybe but not quite reaching the devastating heights of Nostalgia, one of the greatest albums of this style ever, an album which encapsulates everything which is good about the DSBM genre.

So, getting down to the music itself, Reflections doesn't get itself off to the greatest of starts. A throwaway intro before it switches to the most disappointing track on the album, “The Whispering Sepctrum”. It knows where it wants to go, but is lacking that final quality catalyst to shift it up to the gear it needs. The guitars plod along at snail’s pace with a basic riff which it never really deviates from, backed by a relatively simple drum pattern and overlain by Lokhraed’s lazy sounding vocals. You could just split the song in half, remove the second half and double the first, and it would still sound exactly the same. Simply put, it’s just not very good.

It’s a good thing then that “Fading Away in the Fog” ups the ante a large amount, cranking up the speed a notch with more traditional tremolo style riffing with Lokhraed’s Kanwulf-esque vocals. The main riff which comes in around three minutes and recurs frequently throughout this song is fantastic, and the way in which it closes the song in unison with Lokhraed’s nauseating vocal lines and increased speed is fantastic. “Solitude and Despair” is a brief (for Nocturnal Depression’s standards!) instrumental minimalist piece containing rather hypnotic guitar picking which flows along quite effectively until the drums come in and totally ruin the whole fucking atmosphere.

Then, we have what I would consider Nocturnal Depression’s ‘magnum opus’, a track which they’ve never bettered. “Her Ghost Haunts These Walls” is eleven minutes of nothing but pure melancholy and torment, the light guitar picking throughout constantly hammering away at the back of your head like that one memory which just won’t leave, coming back horrifically more intense each time; An example of repetition being used to great effect. Things are kicked up a notch towards the end, and Suizid’s riffing together with Obeyron’s uneasy leads and Lokhraed’s vocals threaded throughout the closing stages of the song culminate in what is a crescendo of nothing but pure hopeless emotion. Any self-respecting fan of this style of black metal needs to hear this song; A perfect example at how to perform this style of music and avoid the pitfalls that snare so many other bands who end up degenerating into self-parody.

After such a stunning song, “Nevica” has a lot to live up to, though not a song about the ski brand much to my disappointment. Again, sticking with the brooding melancholy, in the same vein as before, while not as good as the previous it still keeps the bar high before with the second half of the song being a lot more engaging than the first.

One of the standout aspects of this releases is Obeyron’s lead work, subtle yet welling with misery, why this is his only performance with the band I don’t know. I guess only Lord Lokhraed can tell us. Yes it still has problems, flat and amateurish drumming at times and a shitty thin production, but fuck it, this isn’t Dimmu Borgir, this is a superb quality release which succeeds in being genuinely depressive rather than full of spotty teenage angst. It isn’t as good as Nostalgia, but being their out and out masterpiece they’ll probably never better it, but I am more than welcome to being made to eat my words on that. Roll on the next album, I already have my box of tissues.

8.5/10

Buy it!
Myspace

[ALBUM REVIEW] Nocturnal Depression - Nostalgia, Fragments of a Broken Past

1. And Fall The February Snow
2. A Life To Suffer
3. Intermezzo Pt I - Fragments Of The Past....
4. Suicidal Metal Anthems
5. Intermezzo Pt II - ... Lie Broken And Lifeless
6. Nostalgia
7. In My Dreams

Nocturnal Depression are somewhat of a cult act in the depressive black metal scene. They've been around for a good six years now and weathered the worst of the storm when the 'depressive' scene was at it's most saturated a couple of years ago. Now it's started to recede quite a bit, and Nocturnal Depression are still around, and still going strong with an album out this year, so that must must count for something at least? Add also to that they're French, and from my viewpoint the French scene is one of, if not the strongest scene operating at the present time. Without going into to much detail, it's swarming with fantastic bands.

Nostalgia – Fragments of a Broken Past or Nostalgia as I'll just call it from here in, was the début full length from Nocturnal Depression, originally released in 2006 on a limited run of tapes, and has seen a reissue on CD by Romanian label Sun and Moon. As far as releases by Nocturnal Depression go, Nostalgia has always been their strongest release, and with the re-recording and general improvement on this re-release, has only made it even better.

First impressions of the cover is that it is extremely cheesy, but the more you dwell on it, the more you realise that the cover is the perfect symbolism of what this album's whole concept is, the bleak sentimentality Nocturnal Depression are aiming to portray. Nostalgia by name, and most certainly nostalgia by nature.

From the hypnotic repetition of the opener with it's isolated guitar drifting beneath the wall of distorted riffing to the almost ballad-esque 'Lying Broken' with it's lone piano and Lord Lokhraed's jagged rasp the only other accompaniment, the album emits nothing but but nihility and hopeless melancholy. The real highlight of the album though lies within the longplayer 'Nostalgia' (of which there is a video of on the album as well), a sixteen minute suicidal dirge into a vacuum of emotions, again we have the melodic lead guitar working well with the oppressive riffing and thick bass. Think something like Nagaroth's Herbstleyd album, but substitute the rawness for melody. Even Lord Lokhraed's vocals are nigh identical to Kanwulf's, but Nocturnal Depression are much more that Nargaroth imitators. They draw the best out of early Xasthur and Forgotten Tomb as well and combine it with sublime effect. Plus when a band are able to include a Clint Eastwood movie sample in the middle of a song, they've got to be awesome, right?

The album isn't completely without fault, the drumming has always been Nocturnal Depression's weak point, and such is the case here. It's extremely hollow sounding and lacks weight behind it, it's not terrible by any means, but you can't help but notice with the standard of everything else around them. It's the guitarwork which is the real highlight of the album though, the riffing and leads have a soft, haunting tone and the riffing; foreboding, managing to keep authority and that typical black metal tone all at the same time.

Each song uses it's repetition to draw the listener in, while the album itself contains enough variation and identity throughout to make this album completely unique and a benchmark in a sub-genre full of bands who are content to sound exactly like each other. It requires a lot of listening and attention to let this album sink in, at least it did for me, but it's extremely rewarding. It's not too often you get DSBM which genuinely succeeds in being totally and utterly despondent, but when you do, it's fantastic. Nostalgia is much more than a simple black metal record, a misty eyed gaze back through life. Someone hand this man a tissue and some prozac, he needs it.

90/100

Myspace

Written for Metalcrypt

Thanks to Robert @ Sun & Moon