Despair Is Where My Thoughts Swim

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8.0

• Bands:
  NOBODY
• Duration: 00:50:18
• Available from: 05/17/2024
• Label:

• Tragedy Productions

Nobody was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, just a year ago, as a duo made up of Ulver and Troll, both old acquaintances of stars and stripes black metal (Viral Isolation, Coffin Breath, Sorry…, Herald are just some of the dozens of projects of which they are and have been part), and in 2023 they gave birth to two EPs, “Fading Into Obscurity” and “Lifeless And Still”, well received by the most underground public.
The recent acquisition of the singer Void, also a member of Sorry…, completes the lineup and allows the necessary leap in quality that will lead to the composition of the first album “Despair Is Where My Thoughts Swim”.
If the moniker chosen by the three Americans is disarmingly simple, the music they propose is anything but obvious: the post-/depressive black metal they propose, in fact, more than that of many of their compatriots specialized in the genre, can be compared to that trend which sees the Swedish Lifelover or the local Forgotten Tomb as its main inspiration, but it would be ungenerous not to notice that there is also something else in these eleven pieces. The sound base is very varied, although linear and full of melody, and alternates black metal outbursts with post punk elements, doom and even some bordering on actual indie pop, while Void changes register with extreme naturalness, between dramatic clean voices , often spoken, some growls and, above all, a grotesque and high-pitched scream, almost as if it had been subjected to torture during the recordings. To complete the picture, a skilful use of piano, keyboards and acoustic guitars, set in interludes that seem to have no logic.
Already from the titles of the songs one can understand the sense of sadness and abandonment that exudes from the grooves of this album but, in reality, with listening one understands how the whirlwind of moods is much deeper, with the anguish which gives way to a subtle hope, making the experience if possible even more exasperating and confusing. To get an idea of ​​the level of madness achieved, it may be useful to take a look at the promotional video for “Perpetual Torment”, composed of footage of people suffering from mental disorders treated with inhumane methods.
“Faces Pass Me In Crowded Rooms” plays on a Katatonia-style riff from the “Viva Emptiness” period, transfigured by an unhealthy and unbreathable atmosphere; “A Silent Prayer”, one of the most direct moments, has something gothic that can recall The Cure, but is so corrupt that it falls into the abyss of desolation typical of The Shining; “Days Drift By” is disturbing despite its relative calm. There is no shortage of cover, and it could only be a piece by the aforementioned Lifelover, the decadent “Myspsys”, played with a spirit very close to the original.
Fifty minutes of music in which the feeling of discomfort is constant, based on contrasts that in theory should not stand up but which, in practice, are the strong point of a record that is as hallucinating as it is exciting and intense.