### Depressed Mode: Ghosts of devotion

#### 17/08/07 || Lord K Philipson

Sweet sister Statik begged me to review this album, for reasons unknown to mankind. Depeche Mode, huh? I know, I know, you are not the only one who misread their band name. Depressed Mode it is, and with a moniker like that I can’t say I expected all that much from these Finns. But hey, there are times where I’m wrong (or more accurately, less right), even if it’s not happening all that often.

Depressed Mode plays some sludgy doom (with a few hints of semi-death) metal with tons of keyboards, terribly triggered toms (sometimes sounding more drum machine than an actual drum machine, just listen to the faster fills) and they do all of this in songs mostly exceeding the 5-minute mark. I heard someone say “funeral doom” about this band. I wouldn’t even know what that fucken means. Talk about an incredibly silly label for music. What’s next. Wedding Metal? Shut up.

While I’m not a huge fan of slower kinds of music, if it’s not earlier Candlemass or Blümchen’s ballads, Depressed Mode’s got something that makes me somewhat like what they do. It sure as fuck isn’t the crappy growls and it sure as fuck isn’t the quite weak production where the guitars have too much space in the mix while vocals and, to some extent, keyboards are forced to stay in the background. But a little bite of this meal every now and then is fine with me. There’s a, how surprising, depressed feeling to what they do here. It’s not anything close to McDonald’s Happy Me(t)al, if you know what I mean. Cellos (and they obviously have a flesh’n‘blood cello-player, have to give them kudos for that) and pianos are 2 beautiful instruments, and executed right they create a very sad atmosphere (listen to “Fallen Angel” for further proof – the best tune on the album), something Depressed Mode manages to do occasionally. I can’t see myself go back to this album all that often though it’s definitely a hella lot better than I ever thought it’d be. The backing vocals by the chicks in the band really creates a nice touch as well, in case I forgot to mention that.

I don’t know, if I was 13 years old and thought I was the loneliest kid in the world, maybe this would help me strengthen that feeling, for whatever good that would do. But as it is now, there’s simply so much more interesting shit out there I rather listen to.

If you are into this genre, there’s no reason you should not check out Depeche Mode. Eh, Depressed Mode. By the way, any band covering a song by Burzum should be slapped across the face with a trout. Repeatedly.

5 PC versions of “Doom 3” out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Firedoom Music
- Website: Depressed Mode MySpace
- Band
- Ossy Salonen: vocals, keyboards
- Natalie Koskinen: vocals
- Marissa Marjamäki: backingvocals
- Tomppa Turpeinen: guitars
- Jori Haukio: cello
- Marko Tommila: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Alone
- 02. So Long
- 03. Words of Silence
- 04. Suffer in Darkness
- 05. Ghosts of Devotion
- 06. The Sun is Dead
- 07. Fallen Angel
- 08. Dunkelheit (Burzum cover)
- 09. Cold