lista zespołów Doom Black Nostalgie Drowning in My Own Solitude...

Depressive Black Metal isn't a hard genre to experiment within, all a band has to do is mix in some elements that no one has tried before and you've got it. So I don't know what it is with bands like Nostalgie seemingly content to do the exact same thing that has been done before and often done better as well. But as a reviewer one needs to approach an album from an unbiased standpoint and I will try to not let my negative stance against generic Depressive Black Metal get in the way, even though that will be fairly difficult.

Nostalgie fall into the slow section of Depressive Black Metal occupied by the likes of Nocturnal Depression rather than the fast section where bands like Nyktalgia rule the roost. The slow style seems to be the most popular nowadays probably because it's easier to play and they probably think it's more depressive by playing 2 or 3 riffs per song in the minor key at a snail pace. So how does the music hold up? Rather good actually, there isn't a lot of riffs per song but the riffs are good enough in their own right. They're suitably depressing, especially the intro riff for Hopeless and they're good in the atmospheric front too. Although I would like to point out that they do have the tendency to rehash the same riff in different tracks. Drowning in my own Solitude starts with the same riff as Hopeless but in a different key, it's so obvious it's a bit of a let down. Listen guys if you want to succeed in the genre then make each track stand out on it's own rather than stealing riffs from your own songs, it reflects badly on you as musicians.

The vocals are a croaking rasp akin to Happy Days and Nocturnal Depression, there's none of them howl of despair vocals which is a bit of a let down (at least for this particular reviewer). The vocals are fairly generic but they're competent enough and add to the atmosphere. The lyrics are audible through the screaming so I don't need to spend any time deciphering what's being said. Unfortunately the lyrics are not the best, they're rather melodramatic and self indulgent although they're certainly better than those of Happy Days.

Seriously though for generic Depressive Black Metal this is good stuff, it's certainly better than a lot of the tripe that is being spewed out at a constant velocity. Maybe I have a weird nostalgic value for this band as they were one of the bands that helped me get into this genre so perhaps I'm slightly biased towards it. I will admit that there is certainly a few flaws that need to be worked out such ass the lack of variation between the tracks and the blatant lack of riffs but for what it is it's good. It's certainly atmospheric and depressing enough so overall it's a fairly competent release that shows a lot of potential for this band. I sure hope they are able to expand their sonic template because there's no doubt in my mind that if that happened they could become one of the leaders of the genre.
Overall rating- 15/20