Favorite depressive black metal band?

I suggest editing your post to elaborate a bit more, or give your opinion.

Anyway, it's hard to say. I find that the best DBM bands are the ones that don't focus 100% on being depressive, like Nyktalgia, Forgotten Tomb and Krohm. For them, structure is as important as mood. Having said that, the music of Silencer is amazingly powerful, while seeming to focus almost entirely on depressive elements.

Additionally, artists like Leviathan and Baptism manage to have some extremely mournful guitar lines, without being depressive at all.

I don't believe in that term. But Shining rules.

I would say Anti. Or Nyktalgia.

I'd have to go with Austere... or anything that involves Tim... yes, call me a fanboy all you will, but nothing beats his screems... shivers everytime

My fav is Nocturnal Depression. I love everything they have done so far. I like the doomy riffs they use sometimes. Austere is pretty cool too except for the really boring and prolonged outros on each album. I tend to like more post-rock/shoegaze influenced bands like Woods of Desolation, An Autumn for Crippled Children, Heretoir etc

The term is shakey at best.

As far as I know, a lot of metal bands manage to reach this somewhat "depressive" vibe to their music and most of them actually have no connection to DSBM whatsoever.

Bands dutifully associated with this "genre" always seemed a bit cheesy and stupid to me. But anyways, there's always exceptions. My choices would be Forgotten Woods and Nyktalgia.

Bethlehem by far.

I just call it black metal, but Shining, Forgotten Tomb, and Lifelover are good. Xasthur isn't bad, but shit does the awful production ruin it.

I swear there's a DSBM thread every ten minutes here...

Also most topics won't do without someone namedropping Agalloch at least once.

When it comes to dsbm for me, usually the sappier the better. Subtlety? Throw that shit out of the window. I want to hear those big weepy melodic riffs and some dude screamings his lungs out about misery and pain.
With that said, I like Austere, Gris, Be Persecuted, Lifelover, Totalselfhatred and some Forgotten Tomb.
I also like Bethlehem, Woods of Infinity and Dolorian, but I'm not sure about including them in the dsbm tag

Imperium Dekadenz and Totalselfhatred. I don't really listen to too much DSBM to be honest, so I don't have a monopoly of bands that I listen to.

They're jut classified as Black Metal on here, but I'm gonna have to go with Gris and Sombres Forets, they're both insane.
I'll throw Austere in the mix as well, just because Tim's screams are amazing.

Silencer probably, Death - Pierce Me is one of my favorite black metal albums of all time.

Nobody mentioned Trist thus far? :O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHgiRWZpC48

never heard of it

nah, but like I said, I'm not that into DSBM

Noenum, for sure! Black Esoteric Evangelium is my favorite black metal recording (EP, sadly) of all time. The band has only released 8 songs over the span of ~10 years, but they're all great. I also really like Silencer, Shining, and most of the other bands people have mentioned here.

Hmm hard to narrow it down really but favourites would have to be:

Xasthur- my joint favourite band (with Anaal Nathrakh). Absolutely everything Malefic has done is incredible (with the exception of 'Portal of Sorrow').
Lifelover - one of my favourite bands of all time. B was an incredible composer and I love Kim's vocals.
Hypothermia - one of the darkest most harrowing bands I've heard. One again Kim's vocals have a lot to do with it.
Forgotten Tomb - first three albums for me are some of the best dsbm/doom I've heard.
Nocturnal Depression - one of the most consistent dsbm bands. Love their funeral paced approach (for the most part anyway).

Others that I love but wish they had more releases (I get funny when there is a small discography):
Lyrinx - Nihilistic Purity is an incredible EP as is the two splits they did.
Life is Pain - only did one EP but it is beautiful.
Totalselfhatred - only two full lengths but show the ability to become an incredible band.
Austere - wish they hadn't broke up. It is ashame they only did 2 full lengths and 2 splits.
An Autumn for Crippled Children - loved their first two bands not too sure on the most recent.

Wow didn't realise this post would be so long.

Aye! Very rarely i see anyone mention this band, its a shame because Black Esoteric Evangelium is magnificent record, one of my all time favorites too.

Other good bands:
Arkha Sva (Not all deppressive stuff but very sorrowful melodies and painful vocals, Black Stench splits the best recording)
Abyssic Hate (Suicidal Emotions, especially)
Endless Dismal Moan (R.I.P. Takuya Tsutsui)

There are some other bands (Forgotten Tomb, Nyktalgia, Xasthur) which have couple good songs but overall the whole DSBM is the only sub-genre in Black Metal I despise more or less. Shining, Hypothermia, Trist, Happy Days, et cetera, all contrived and pure shit for me. Silencer could be good but damn those vocals are annoying.

Noenum isn't too bad I suppose. Certainly better than the average self-pity grey metal band, and especially better than the histrionic retardity of Woods of Desolation and worse bands. Nyktalgia deserves a mention for having actual riffs rather than being solely driven by chord progressions and shitty vocals.

Elimi has some elements that could be considered influences of DSBM, although they're hardly a full-blown DSBM band. They could be described as something like Shining, except with riffs and quality songwriting, rather just annoying gimmicky crap.

Carpathian Forest is the best B.D. ... oh... you're talking about D.S.B.M., not...

I like Thy Light very much imo. Shining is also great. Well these two are the only ones I know quite well so yeah.

This. I was thinking of this band a while ago. What stood out in this band, for me, was the tortured vocals.

Not sure if MA defines Bethlehem as DSBM though. More like Dark Metal, according to the site.

Their second and third are up the DSBM alley. Their first album leans closer to death doom metal though.

I don't know much of this genre and the ones I do know, I don't like at all.


However the debut demo of SORTILEGIA is kicking my ass right now!!!

They are pretty similar to MARE, BLACK MAJESTY, ..., but perhaps not really depressive, I don't know.

I'd have to say Coldworld... or Xasthur