Four Seasons to a Depression

Here we have a concept album released by the France-based Nocturnal Depression, focusing on the four seasons. Aptly enough, the album is broken into 4 songs, each for the respective season, and all songs are approximately 10 minutes in length. The basic gist of the music is typical slow to mid-range depressive black metal with quite repetitive, yet melodic riffs. The drumming is simplistic, and the vocals are nice and melancholic.

Spring kicks in with a very nice melancholic riff, and typical melancholic vocals for a dsbm band, and chugs along for about 11 minutes. There is no variation whatsoever, and the riff is completely worn out. This is a very threadbare song, as nothing really stands out here. I mean, it's a nice song, I don't really get sick of it, but I don't really "feel" Spring personified in the song. Everything is very bland, there are no bridges, no speed changes, no drum beat changes, nothing. Just the same exact song on repeat. Unfortunately, there are no lyrics, because that may have saved this song. I am not impressed thus far. 5/10

Summer again is another track that leaves something to be desired. Repetitive in a good way, yet lacking in feeling and lacking in a direction towards expression of the season at hand. Unlike Drudkh, who in my opinion is the best band to date performing nature-themed music, Nocturnal Depression is missing something in their product. I am very sad about this because this band is quite good. There isn't really the feeling in the vocals like in the band Shining, or perhaps Brocken Moon, the music is not very memorable and unimpressive, and it lacks the atmosphere and feeling of a Drudkh, or Hate Forest type band. This is a middle of the road song, and I must give it 6/10

Autumn begins with a very pretty, light and ambient type guitar strum, creating a nice atmosphere. After a couple minutes of one single guitar playing this melody, another complimentary guitar comes in and fills the gaps. After a couple measures, there are drums introduced, and before anything really happens, the song is already almost halfway over. Luckily, the song picks up, the clean-ish fingerpicked riff is played in the background with power chord distortion in the foreground. The beat has picked up to about mid-pace, and the vocals begin. This song actually did a nice job of creating some atmosphere that does not get boring right away. Again, I did not get the sense of "autumn" in the song, but it was still a nice track. 7/10

Winter just kicks your ass right in with a fast, very fast and surprisingly brutal riff! Well damn, I wasn't expecting this. I am writing the review as I listen, because I wanted to get the emotions wrought by the music as they happen. As the reader may be able to tell, this is a very surprised listener right now. Blast beats, a harsh riff and vocals, a very maismic atmosphere created, and not something that I would exactly pin on winter, per se. Maybe I am totally out in left field with a hockey stick, but it seems they have mis-named their songs, because Winter sounds like Summer, Autumn sounds like Winter, and Spring...well Spring really doesn't fit anywhere. I really wish that I could understand the lyrics, because there has to be something behind the reason they chose such a fast-paced track for a season that is dead and tranquil (at least in my opinion). Perhaps they were trying to capture a blizzard or something. Either way, about halfway through the song, everything hits the brakes, and enters a nice mid-pace such as in Spring, and the atmosphere created is well layered, and is quite thick. The song very, very slowly grinds to a halt and finishes the way I expected it to sound throughout. A nice song, despite the title of the track being a misnomer regarding how the song feels to me. 8.5/10

Overall, the album is good, but it misses the mark in the presentation. I discussed my main qualms with the album in the summer track, mainly because I was getting irritated about how mindless, and mundane things began. I became much more interested when the autumn and winter tracks were playing, because they at least caught my attention. This is definitely not a band that should be doing nature themes, even depressive aspects of nature. Just stick to melancholy and suicidal thoughts.