Well, it finally happened. A band has taken doom metal to the Dimmu Borgir level. Finland’s Depressed Mode has a very big symphonic take on crushing doom death. Though normally I would piss myself over this type of thing, Depressed Mode isn’t holding my interest.

First off, the band name just kills me. We know you’re depressed, it’s doom metal for god sake, and don’t you think it’ a little to close to Depeche Mode. Obviously what they were going for. Name aside, the production of this record is very big. So big that this is where it fails. The only other band I know who can pull off a large, symphonic, doom sound is Draconian. Granted, Depressed Mode plays a slower more crushing funeral doom, but its not catching on.

Depressed mode started as a one-man project, the sole vision of Ossy Salonen. Shortly after material was being written the rest of the pack decided to follow. The songs are of course pretty lengthy and that can become boring if there isn’t enough diversity in the riffs. A lot of the tunes sound reminiscent of each other. The one good this about this record is the piano parts weaving through the songs despondent distortion, blowing you out of your seat. At first I thought I was going to love the record because of the creepy atmosphere surrounding. Vocals are buried too much for my taste but they follow an early My Dying Bride sound. There are female vocals here and there and keys are very high in the mix. “So Long” is probably my favorite song on the disc but once again I get bored very easily.

I can see Depressed Mode possible doing something great in the future. I’m a little hard on this record but honestly I just wasn’t impressed. Hopefully with a great label behind them, (Firebox) and a little better songwriting, we will hear improvements next time around.

[Visit the band's website]

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