TL;DR: The EP isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as I remember. If you like repetitious music, this EP will be a good addition to your collection (especially if you can get your hands on one of the 500 vinyls that were released.
Background:
This is the first DSBM EP I ever heard. I remember coming across a WikiHow article about a genre of metal called DSBM or Depressive, Suicidal Black Metal back in early 2012. A genre with depressing lyrics and long, repetitive tracks was perfect for me. I listened to this EP on YouTube and never looked back. Surprisingly, I haven’t listened to this EP in years. Let’s fix that. This was originally released in 2008 as a split with Austere and rereleased as a vinyl in 2009. The vinyl version is the version being reviewed.
Tracks:
1. No Failure in Suicide (16:15) (2/5):
It’s sad to say I’ve never finished this song before I wrote this. The version I listened too (and has the most views on YouTube) is about 6 minutes shorter than the actual song. I didn’t realize it at first.
Since we have the lyrics, let’s look at them first.
The final conclusion
Today's tomorrow and will never change
I should be sorry for today's loss
But I care not
Physical surroundings an illusion
I am bored of this existence
There is nothing left to achieve
Deconstructing this life has given me a purpose
To end the circle of life
Do not confuse this for weakness
My choice is to contribute nothing to society
I will be lost to ever changing history
I do however wish I knew the answer to one question
Why is humanity so content with monotony?
So this is goodbye
The end of an era
I never really existed anyway
There is no failure in suicide
Today's tomorrow and will never change
I should be sorry for today's loss
But I care not
Physical surroundings an illusion
I am bored of this existence
There is nothing left to achieve
Deconstructing this life has given me a purpose
To end the circle of life
Do not confuse this for weakness
My choice is to contribute nothing to society
I will be lost to ever changing history
I do however wish I knew the answer to one question
Why is humanity so content with monotony?
So this is goodbye
The end of an era
I never really existed anyway
There is no failure in suicide
The lyrics for this song are interesting in that they are more nihilistic than depressing, something you don’t see very often. This is nothing like other songs of similar lyrical content (Hear My Voice…Kill Yourself is one example). These lyrics are sung with wails of despair.
Now let’s look at the music:
The song opens with some guitar feedback before playing simple chords. Fun fact, my first two songs (Will You Die With Me) and (Suicide (The Happy End to a Depressive Life)) both include a natural harmonic before the guitar kicks in. That was influenced by this EP. The bass is audible (that’s unusual for this genre). The bass really doesn’t do anything interesting though, just playing the root. The drums are really loud, taking away from the overall enjoyment of the song. That doesn’t make it a bad song, mind you. But it does make it difficult to listen to if you aren’t into that. The song has three distinct riffs that get repeated and end with more guitar feedback. There is some arpeggiation at 5:53. Other than that, the song isn’t very interesting.
2. Isolation (18:44) (4/5):
Lyrics:
Anti existence, anti consciousness
Where black meets white and yet is not visible
Anti culture
Anti equilibrium
Choking without oxygen, life has always been so fragile
These wasted moments building faceless structures
Empires fall, memories fade
Are you living?
Are you free?
You never had control, you never will
You are weak in every imaginable way
I was never asked if this was for me
I reject unwritten philosophy
Words are bondage, a slave to thought
With words come control, a slave to the end
Am I isolated?
Am I mad?
Do I even care?
Where black meets white and yet is not visible
Anti culture
Anti equilibrium
Choking without oxygen, life has always been so fragile
These wasted moments building faceless structures
Empires fall, memories fade
Are you living?
Are you free?
You never had control, you never will
You are weak in every imaginable way
I was never asked if this was for me
I reject unwritten philosophy
Words are bondage, a slave to thought
With words come control, a slave to the end
Am I isolated?
Am I mad?
Do I even care?
Again, this song is very nihilistic, but not in a suicidal way the first song was.
Like the first song, this one opens with guitar feedback. Like the first song, the bass is audible and for the most part, it just plays the root. At 7:43, the song starts slowing down and the bass plays some interesting stuff under the guitars. In some ways, it’s almost like a bass solo; but with the added benefit of doing its job as the bass. At 10:55, the bass plays alone with the drums as accompaniment. At 12:57, the guitars come back in with more feedback. The guitar riff after arpeggiates the chord progression. At 14:05, we get the only guitar solo on this EP. There is no rhythm guitar. The song then fades out.
