Past Depression

Over the last decade depressive suicidal black metal (referred to by the acronym, DSBM) has attracted many black metal fans and non-metal listeners alike by being a bit of a laughing stock. Typical qualities of the sub-genre people will mock is the bad musicianship, production beyond “true kvlt”, the hilarious howling, drawn out guitar chords, one-man bands and drum machines. Of course we can all chuckle away at the numerous Happy Days demos and make jokes on how we feel suicidal after being exposed to A. Morbid’s guitar playing and his rumoured use of a Toys R Us karaoke machine as a recorder but something about Funeral Depression’s debut is different.

On first acquaintance Past Depression can sound no different from the hackneyed and talentless DSBM bands. Yes, there’s a drum machine, yes the production is terribly lo-fi and yes it’s a one-man band but this album manages to artfully avoid the clichés of endless horrid attempts this genre has suffered. The first thing to note is this work is totally instrumental. Usually this can mean two things; either the artist isn’t confident in their vocals but more often than not it is a statement that the music speaks for itself without the need for lyrics to deliver a message. The latter is certainly the case here with the sole member Belzebub showing full commitment to keeping the instrumentation varied and interesting.

The album and it’s eight songs are based around this theme of “past depression” and unlike say Happy Days’ Don’t Go or Forgotten Tomb’s Disheartened (widely recognised as a genre classic), Belzebub’s structures and arrangements never seem to fall into the minor, “emotional” riffs which are always plastered with ridiculous screams, howls and the stock "emotive" lead breaks. No, instead this music tends to a particular feeling or mood which sounds pertinent to a period of depression, and is tortured and tormented in a more subtle way which can be hard to decipher on initial listens. The album cover itself creates a bleak atmosphere with bare black trees and barbed wire on a white sky immediately suggesting a feeling of despondency without the need of nooses or razors, present on so many other releases.

The first sound made present is a tired and nauseous sounding synth which often acts as a background for most tracks. It helps to convey this sense of stale and existential sadness, and a disillusionment with life that most DSBM just fails to achieve - a well chosen keyboard patch indeed! The pace is slow with driven guitars wandering through this cold and baron environment Belzebub creates. Occasionally, the music will be stripped down to a naked bass line or acoustic guitar which plays the sincere but weary melody in it’s most minimal form. And that’s what makes this music so unique, it’s extremely minimalist but easily fulfils the purpose of creating this sound of “past depression.”

Surprisingly enough the drum machine works tremendously well, and the alternation between hi-hat patterns really helps to reinforce the shifts in pace and layers. No flashy fills are attempted here and the snare and cymbals sound deliberately artificial further adding to the sense of alienation and disconnection the listener experiences.

Repetition is abundant of course with a singe riff being developed over several layerings but this always helps to explore the spectrum of intensities of a particular mood a track creates. And with regards to the production quality, every element is clear and combined well to create a lo-fi but full, resonant sound. The tracks vary in length with evidence of some being clear centrepieces and others slight interludes but there never seems to be any filler, with every song having it’s own unique identity and atmosphere.

The track names could be viewed as nothing new and further laughter for the black metal populace but on the contrary they truly reflect the various moods across the album. The song “Pain of My Existence” has a very afflicted and meandering lead line which moves steadily emphasising this slow suffering and pain felt by the artist. “Another Sad Day,” however features a single guitar line which trudges along alone through a seemingly quiet and low-spirited world. Interestingly enough, the bass really helps to add some depth and feeling to a lot of the riffs Belzebub creates. On “Weeping Hunkering Sad Soul,” the bass provides a glum hook, bringing out the riff’s full potential.

This album is by no means a total masterwork. The technicality at times can seem limited but this never detracts from it’s purpose. Funeral Depression’s Past Depression transcends the bedroom black metal bands crying over their crushes and posing for suicide shots with a truly sad recording of genuine gloom and grief. Distance yourself from trite “emotion” riffs and immerse yourself in Belzebub’s sorrow if you want some depression in your music, and being from Poland, I would expect nothing less than high black metal quality.

If you're into instrumental black/ambient music you'll love this album for sure - and I state this from the beginning of my review just to make things clear, mainly because at first glance one can mistake this disk as the usual "I suffer from depression/I want to die/my life is shit" stuff. Nothing like this, at least from my point of view, for one main reason: the only member/songwriter/musician Belzebub, from Jaworzno (Southern Poland), ambitiously tried and managed successfully to create unique atmospheres starting from a song title and developing it into purely instrumental works, where the usual (for the subgenre) drum machine doesn't take over, but rather fits perfectly in melodies created with electric and acoustic guitars only.

Belzebub - let me repeat, ambitiously - leaved the usual clichés we're accustomed to when speaking of all those subgenres of black metal one can describe as "ambient/black", "suicidal/depressive" and so on: he decided not to write anything except for song titles like Melancholy (echos from the past) and I am nothing, thus bringing those few words into great ambient songs where both distorted and acoustic guitars lead pretty much everything. Being an instrumental album, one can expect solos or virtuosities and, of course, there's nothing like this here: the only thing that the listener has to do is to read the title of the song he's about to hear and to prepare himself to be dragged into that particular environment.

Yeah, I'm not trying to celebrate this album as an absolute masterpiece: of course, it's not an innovative idea to write instrumental/ambient songs about depression and suffering or any kind of inner/personal struggle: groups like Abyssic Hate and Forgotten Tomb (listen to Springtime depression, for instance, pretty similar to Funeral Depression's Another sad day) have already tried pretty successfully this theme, and - of course - even the song titles aren't that original, but - as you will read below - this is another Funeral Depression strength, mainly because it's rather hard to produce feelings with guitars only and starting from a simple and - I admit - often abused title that you can find in hundred of suicidal/depressive albums.

Entering the album itself, the first four songs are taken directly from the first demo of Funeral Depression, "Voices from the sad soul" (2008), and they're easily the best songs of the whole album (which is fully enjoyable, though): only electric and acoustic guitars, a bass guitar and a drum machine (with occasional piano parts, like in the great Suffering of my heart and soul) are able to create an environment of melancholy and despair, just as the song titles introduce. Everything, as you can imagine, is pretty repetitive, and even if the songs aren't that long compared to many other tracks in the suicidal/depressive subgenre, they are based on repeating some riffs that alternate from electric to acoustic passages, and even if this style isn't innovative at all Funeral Depression succeded to transport it into a peculiar and unique environment that I can't stop loving.

In the end, this album is heavily suggested to everyone that likes instrumental and slow music, recreating astonishing melodies and feelings along the whole songs; even those who are into suicidal/depressive stuff may like or love this album, but they have to be prepared not to hear any kind of voice/growl/scream at all - Funeral Depression chose to evocate their feelings by using only guitar melodies, and they succeeded in their goal reall, really well. Let's wait for the successor of this masterpiece!

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