Longing for Death

“Longing for Death” is a split release of three bands that each one of them represents a different scene – music school of Black Metal. The first band that we come across in this album is the well – known especially to the fans of DSBM, Nocturnal Depression from France who participate with one unreleased track. The Danish Myrd follow with two also unreleased tracks and the album is completed with the track of Vspolokh from Russia which is contained in their first full length album but here it has a different mixture and mastering. This album has been released in the summer of 2014 and it contains, as i mentioned also above, four compositions of overall duration of thirty two minutes. Just by noticing the presence of a DSBM bands as Nocturnal Depression, surely you will be expecting that the other two bands too (if you don’t know them as i didn’t) are bands of the same kind of sound and that this one is clearly a DSBM release. But that is not happening as the other two bands play traditional, harsh Black Metal. However by listening to the album you will discover that the bands have more elements in common than differences.

So starting by the track of Nocturnal Depression, we come across a typical sample of the band’s music. If someone asked «What kind of music Nocturnal Depression play?», i think that this track is one of the most characteristic in order to answer to this question. Slow, rhythmic, harsh, dark full of feelings track, consists of simple depressive riffs but they are very vivid and they convert the feelings into a real experience for the listener. The structure of the track is good as with very few changes but with smart details it achieves to keep the listener focused for the ten minutes that it lasts. The production is harsh, clean but somehow flat and combined with the mixture they don’t manage to give the depth that the composition needs. However the good performance of the instruments and the very expressive voice makes you overlook the weakness of the sound. The lyrics are written in English.

Continuing with the album, we come across two tracks of Myrd lasting six and five minutes. Here the style is changing as the band plays classic, fast, warlike Black Metal but the sound remains harsh and frozen. The band combines nicely the fast, violent and warlike riffs which will remind you the Scandinavian scene, with rhythmic darker – melancholic parts creating an interesting result. Here the mixture is quite good as all of the instruments are clearly audible while the production puts out that frozen sound that fits to the compositions. The structure of the tracks is good as the tracks are not so big in duration, while the changes and the inspired riffs make them more interesting. All the instruments are played flawlessly while the harsh vocals that in some parts become screams of despair, they express the feelings of the tracks very descriptively. The lyrics are written in Danish.

Finally, we come across the track of the Russian Vspolokh, the one that I liked most of the tracks of the album, as it combines melancholic riffs with that beautiful, melodic and epic style, putting out a result which offers intensive images to the listener. Although the composition is a little repetitive as the changes are very few for the ten minutes that the song lasts, but the interesting riffs and the intelligent parts that exist in it, make the track quite interesting. The sound is clean and solid and combined with the very well – worked mixture the result that comes out is very massive, bass and with much depth. All the instruments are played flawlessly while along with the guitars the drums appear to be very interesting too. The voice is violent and harsh and it fits perfectly to the style of the tracks. The lyrics are written in Russian.

This split album may present us three different bands of Black Metal regarding their style and sound but they are connected to each other through the journey that they offer to the listener with the feelings and the images that they create. The listener passes through depression to hatred and in the end to the epic melancholy completing a travel – experience in the half hour that the album lasts. This is one very good release both for the fans of the bands as they will find unreleased material that is not included in another release, but also for those who want to get to know the bands for the first time. It has been released into three editions for a quite limited number so those of you who will not buy it, it worth to listen to it.