Lying in Wait

Although I often find “Depressive Age” categorized under the technical thrash label, I must say that I personally find this band to be clearly progressive in nature.

The band effectively utilizes its members’ skills and composes songs and records of the highest quality. “Lying in Wait” is no exception. In its second album “Depressive Age” writes songs that perfectly mix the tech-thrash and progressive genres of metal music.

A song may start with a heavy guitar riff followed by double bass drumming. Suddenly, a melodic line or a beautiful lead will follow when the listener least expects it. Or it may be the case that the song will start in a slow melodic style. The players will soon build the song through changing patterns and brilliant arrangements, which will gradually lead the song to a powerful and memorable chorus. Changes like the aforementioned should be expected in “Depressive Age” records and they are very present in “Lying in Wait”.

All band members are skilled players. From the very first listen of the record the players’ technical skills are evident. After a couple of listens, their compositional skills are also visible. The music of “Depressive Age” is definitely a “grower”. Listeners will need to spend time listening to the album several times before they are able to accomplish a conceptual view on “Lying in Wait”. Only at that level, will the listener be able to see clearly how each pattern, piece of music fits in the general context of this band’s music.

I need to say that the voice of Jan Lubitzki is perhaps the strongest point of the album. Not only is the guy able to change the shape, form and sound of his voice according to the musical background, he is also able to enter the listener’s world and fill it up with emotion!

I find “Lying in Wait” to be more aggressive than “Electric Scum”, the band’s most complete work to date. This makes perfect sense since “Lying in Wait” is the second album for “Depressive Age” and the band certainly evolved their sound through the years, as a true progressive band ought to do.

All in all, I think that “Lying in Wait” is a very good album coming from a truly very good band. The material is definitely quality-oriented and as a result you will not find filler stuff in this one. A very enjoyable listen overall, which I would mostly recommend to those who like bands that mix up things and like to experiment.

Stand outs: “Lying in Wait”, “Where”, “Berlin”, “Psycho Circle Game”, “Hateful Pride”, “Eternal Twins”!