Four Depressive Seasons

Released in 1993, Four Depressive Seasons was the debut album by Danish death metal mainstay Illdisposed. On this album, the band was still very much a pure-blooded, old school death metal band, of the mid-paced, crushing variety...mostly taking cues from the likes of Bolt Thrower and Obituary, though some Morbid Angel and Deicide influence can easily be discerned in the aggressive, churning riffwork. While I'm not going to sit here and argue that this album is a genre-defining masterpiece on the level of Left Hand Path or Cause of Death, it's really great - among the best ever offered by Denmark's small yet effective death metal scene (sitting alongside the likes of Dorval, View to the Dim, and of course the almighty Serenadium) and most certainly well deserving of the term "classic" - highly recommended for anyone looking for lesser-known bands in this general style.

The best way to describe the riffs on here are "catchy" and "powerful". The riffs here pack a serious punch (the verse riff to "Reversed") while also being serious earworms that really stick with you. There's a lot of variety as well...though mostly leaning on the slower end of the spectrum, you get a lot of faster, thrashier stuff as well and even some obvious Morbid Angel influence (that first riff to "Life Equals Zero") which is pretty rare in this brand of death metal. The songwriting and composition is mostly pretty good - though ebbing on the longer end of the spectrum, the songs have a lot of unique twists and turns that keep things interesting and it never feels boring ("Never Ceasing Melancholic Spring" being prime example of this).

As with all Illdisposed, the star of the show here is vocalist Bo Summer, whose iconic growl is utterly monstrous. The infamous "sub woofer" effect he later became known for isn't used here (at least, it's not as apparent as it usually is) but you won't notice because he truly sounds like a beast that crawled out of hell. Unlike later albums, which tended to deal with personal issues and other "real life" topics, the lyrics on Four Depressive Seasons are more poetic...mostly centered around Satanism and occultism, although with a bit of the dry, snarky humor the band later became known for (one track has the lyric "My soul has a file on hell's computer"). Personally, I really like this lyrical approach and it's a shame they didn't continue with it for later releases.

Speaking of that humor...the biggest turnoff for many will likely be the comedic intros, which appear in a few songs. In one track, we hear the sound of a child singing and laughing before being slapped by the devil, who then says something in Danish. A bit weird, but not too bad...then you get to the album closer, the awesomely titled "With the Lost Souls on Our Side" (a title so cool they later reused it for an album)...which opens with the sound of a man fucking a goat while again, screaming something in Danish...and then again at the end of the track there's some more weird Danish shit and the album ends. This has always been a trend for Illdisposed, with most of their albums having some kind of intro in Danish like this - joke songs or other weird stuff...in this case, it's a bit jarring at first but not too bad as the song itself does rule....and they've certainly done worse (all the members' exposed buttholes in the Submit booklet, for example).

Overall, this is a solid album and definitely has a rightful place in the collection of anyone who considers himself a true old school death metal maniac. If you're looking to pick up a copy, go for the new Huangquan Records version which restores the (much cooler) original artwork and mastering (I also own the Diehard Music edition and it's totally brickwalled and kind of a pain to listen to), along with featuring the band's early demos as a bonus.

It seems that early 90’s death metal invasion didn’t skip the state of Denmark either and although smaller than the Swedish death metal scene (for example), the Danish one had some quality bands active at that time among which were Konkhra, Maceration, Detest, Iniquity, Dominus, Infernal Torment and perhaps the best known of all, the long running (and still going strong) death metal band Iilldisposed. Formed in the city of Aarhus, they managed to secure a deal with the native Progress Records label and their debut “Four Depressed Seasons” was released in 1993.

Some of the characteristics of Illdisposed’s brand of death metal were already present on this first recording – throughout these 9 songs they prefer to dwell in mid-tempo territories (with the occasional D-beat and more rarely a somewhat primitive form of blast beat interspersed here and there to further the dynamics and enrich the structure of the tracks), with an accent on choppy and heavy riffs (which tend to sound a bit same-y after awhile though), the standard for this style (but really well done) low-end powerful growls of vocalist Bo Summer, and an overall sound which encompasses a variety of possible influences – from Cancer, (early) Death and Obituary through Baphomet (U.S.), Asphyx and Excruciate (Swe) to very early Sentenced (“Shadows Of Past” era), Cemetary (“An Evil Shade Of Grey”) and Demigod (“Slumber Of Sullen Eyes”). Already here it was clear that groove is an essential part of the band’s sound, with lots of double bass drums to support the chunky riffs, but Illdisposed also prove to have an eye for dark atmosphere, introducing some synth samples (like on the opening and closing track), some doomy parts and spoken female vocals to add to the mystery, and utilizing a few intriguing melodies in most of the songs, which I must say is a plus, but it doesn’t seem quite enough to produce definite “hits”, as most of the material tends to blend in together. That being said, “A Deathwork Orange... The Winter Of Our Discontempt” (which happens to be also the longest track on the album) probably deserves special and honorable mention, because in my opinion it serves as the best representation of Illdisposed’s early sound, shifting quite easily between slow and fast passages, and including some truly memorable moments (like the classic moment when the crushing music stops for a second and you can hear a perverse evil laughter and then immediately the band tunes in again with more pummeling death metal) and worthwhile riffs. Come to think of it, the malevolent “Inherit The Wind” ain’t too shabby either, and has some vicious opening riffs, as well as some delicious guitar solos towards the end, which would probably get at least a nod of approval from any fan of 90’s classic death-metal sound. A pinch of humour lightens a bit the overall feeling of gloom and wrath in the intro of the final song “With The Lost Souls On Our Side”, where a hilarious german speech is to be heard over the sound of bleating goats, after which the death metal mayhem returns one more time to finish you off. Curiously enough, all of the afore-mentioned tracks seem to be present on the “The Winter Of Our Discontempt” demo, which the band recorded prior to “Four Depressive Seasons”.

The production on this one is very representative of the period and the genre – not great, but clear and competent enough - with the exception of the ever-missing bass (at least I couldn’t hear it), all the other instruments seem to be balanced well and keeping in mind that this is a debut recording and the year is 1993, one shouldn’t have too many complaints with the sound.

All in all, Illdisposed recorded a solid debut, but in all honesty this period of time will be remembered with many other death metal classics and sadly “Four Depressive Seasons” doesn’t quite measure up to them. It is however only the beginning for Illdisposed…