Depressive Age - Electric Scum (1996)

It was never a question that Depressive Age were going to one day jump off the deep end and explore other avenues than metal music, only a question of 'when'. The when was 1996, and the album Electric Scum, their final full-length before reinventing themselves as D-Age and then effectively falling off the face of the Earth. The band had slowly been evolving towards a more accessible format through their 1992-1994 albums, but the proximity of their releases did not yield a massive gulf. First Depression was the most thrash, and Symbols for the Blue Times the most memorable. If we can compliment Electric Scum for anything, it would be that it's their most eclectic offering; one that you'd best avoid unless you want to witness a great band going slowly insane.

Essentially, Depressive Age only maintains a few of its staples here: the mix of aggressive and clean guitars that weave a fusion of Gothic, progressive and light thrash metal. I say 'light' because most of the guitars here, other than the melodies, are incredibly vapid chug fests that serve as nothing more than the bottom end groove for what the vocals and synthesizers are creating above. They're quite unfortunate, because the riffs on earlier albums, while often just as simple, were much stronger. But building a wall of guitars is not really the point of this album, but to create poppy, mesmerizing compositions which strongly feature Jan Lubitzki. I will admit that he turns in his personal best here, but that involves a lot of groovy, almost rapped rhythms that channel an emotional whining bite akin to Jonathan Davis on the more melodic Korn tracks. If you hate those, then you'll probably hurl when you hear this; if not, then you might be on board to experience some of the band's then-futurist impulses.

Of course, the Germans are tight enough and smart enough to write some catchy vocal lines despite the style involved, and where they blend with the synthesizers lovingly in "Cairo Crabat" the wonderful, marginally industrial "Teenage Temples" or the cover of Bronski Beat's "Small Town Boy", you get the impression that a wider audience exposure would have enamored the once prog-thrashers onto the radars of numerous disaffected Gothic pop teens in Europe and beyond. They maintain the poetic, urban exploration that they started through Symbols of the Blue Times here in "Toyland Hills" and "Electric Scum", and they also give a glint of what their next course might have been in the charging industrial rock hymn "Sports Yells" or the brooding, Gothic-inflected "Polar Athletic Son".

It's a fairly major transformation here, one that nearly rivals that of their countrymen Morgoth and their own, more unwelcome and unexpected 1996 deviation Feel Sorry for the Fanatic. A transformation that most would not remain on board with (the band was never all that popular, but this is where their small sect of fans would abandon ship). The songs here are consistent and most are catchy through the first couple listens, but the weak guitars hold them back, and Jan Lubitzki's ravings are not going to appeal beyond those who like Gothic/pop metal acts singing in English, like Pyogenesis or Dreadful Shadows. Electric Scum is worthy of the bubblegum it emanates: smooth and sugary while it lasts, poppy, but leaving a bitter aftertaste that you can't wait to wash out of your mouth. But hey, great cover...

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (telescopes move left to right, uniform and tight)

Depressive Age - Symbols for the Blue Times (1994)

Symbols for the Blue Times is the third and best album from the German progressive/thrash team Depressive Age, but it does to an extent suffer from the same minor flaw of its direct predecessor: the requirement of the listener to involve him/herself emotionally while being exposed to Jan Lubitzki's shaky, accented vocals. Once more, the man can hit a fair range of notes, and he writes his melodies well, but his tone is very reminiscent of a lot of German Gothic bands who use the same style (Dreadful Shadows, for example), only not in the same low pitch. That being said, I feel that his performance here is superior and more diverse than on Lying in Wait, and the musical content of this effort is so good that the slightly awkward lines are easily forgiven.

Symbols for the Blue Times is largely a concept that explores the emotional resonance of the urban landscape, granting it an almost mythic quality. The lyrics are an odd roller coaster of visceral, depressing imagery ("World in Veins") and epic struggles ("Garbage Canyons") and despite its tendency to lay out the listener on the cold pavement, its often quite surreal and beautiful. My personal favorite tracks here are "Garbage Canyons", which opens with a stream of clean guitars to a floe of subtle, melodic chords and thrashing, Lubitzki whipping up a storm of focused emotion, beautiful if minimal guitar lines breathing beauty into the bridge; and "Hut", which is a mechanical, lumbering titan of sorrow delivered through riffing punctuation. But many others deserve mention: the surging and playful "We Hate Happy Ends", the solemn, rampant subdual of "Neptune Roars", the mystical "Rusty Cells" (similar in structure to "Garbage Canyons"), and the glorious yet morose finale "Mother Salvation".

Depressive Age had the potential here to branch out wide beyond the few thrashers listening to them, for the material written for this is quite accessible to fans of progressive rock or even popular rock. The mix is good and clear, as bold as Lying in Wait, and every guitar melody rings like crystal. I wouldn't dub the album experimental, and the band would go a lot further out for their follow-up Electric Scum, but there's certainly a lot less of the thrashing of the debut First Depression, and a moodier influence from Gothic rock and perhaps even a dash of the more mainstream melodic grunge (Alice in Chains). The one hurdle here was probably Jan's vocals, which aren't bad, but wavering and different enough to turn off those seeking the higher pitched screamers that dominated progressive metal. Otherwise this album could have been huge news.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (the coincidence-machine, and the all-answer screen)

Depressive Age - Lying in Wait (1993)

First Depression was a truly exciting prospect, the antithesis of the malaise that was devouring the thrash-flesh in a decade of confusion and diversification. Depressive Age was its mad author, a band that were not only engaging, but intelligent, and all without abandoning the principles that drew metal fans to the genre like maggots to carrion. Lying in Wait was the follow-up, and while it's only barely more to look at than its predecessor, it is the inner eye that would be reaping in its color, because this is simply one of the best sounding albums of 1993, laden in reach, clear tones that define every note audibly, every crash and strike.

It's not exactly complex music, but where Depressive Age might lack in the cerebral, spastic proficiency of a Mekong Delta, they make up for with an accessibility and solid riffing. Jan Lubitzki's vocals require a little bit of getting used to; his accent creates a wavering effect, but he certainly can hit the notes with all the nonchalance required of him alongside the ghostlike, melodic chugging of "Lying In Wait" and "Where". The albums gets denser through the chord-walls and increasingly savage guitars of "Way Out", but even here the band weaves in clean, friendly guitar segments into the heavier plugging. Of special note are the creepy anthem "Berlin", the beautiful descent of "The Story (Autumn Times II)" in its dreary guitar lines, and the rambling elevation of "Hateful of Pride" which shifts through a glinting acoustic intro to bursts of measured aggression.

Personally, I found the album a mark or two less fetching than the debut, because I naturally preferred the busier guitar sections there. But also, the vocals fit the music a little tighter. He's using the same voice on both efforts, but I feel he's given so much space here that his more brooding tones can be a minor distraction (and will turn off some listeners completely). That said, this album is successful at shifting thrash metal into a new terrain, where it thrives at one end of a pendulum's arc, the other being the myriad moments of tranquility that stir the emotions. The Germans still represented a bright spark for the future, taking their time to manufacture tracks that were not insulting to what had come before them, but complimentary. The lyrics are great and the Harris Johns mix is far cleaner than what his audience might have been used to through his other metal works. Lying in Wait is not a masterpiece, not even close, but I'll take it over the over saturation of crappy groove/thrash hybrids that spawned throughout the 90s in vain attempts to become the next Korn or Pantera rock stars.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (feel as waves or feel as matter)

Depressive Age - First Depression (1992)

After bands like Mekong Delta, Watchtower, Psychotic Waltz and Deathrow had taken technical, melodic, schizophrenic thrash metal to new levels at the end of the 80s, I half expected a whole slew of imitators to usher in the next decade. Sadly, the style seemed to subside almost as quickly as it had begun. But there are a few notable exceptions. One of these is Germany's Depressive Age, who managed to land a deal with BMG/GUN records around the turn of the decade and release a string of energetic, interesting albums that unfortunately went unnoticed. Part of the reason would be the band's badly timed ascent, during an age when metal as a whole was falling flat on its face due to the emergence of grunge and nu-metal, and the popularization of hardcore and metalcore music among the fans of heavier music.

They didn't last much beyond the 90s, but at the very least they gave us a few quality albums earlier on in their career. One of these was the debut, First Depression, which arrived in 1992. Some might cite that this is one of their less experimental releases, and thus less important, but I would beg to differ. Depressive Age were at their best in their earlier years, where a large portion of what they were performing was still crisp, Teutonic thrash/speed. A lot of what makes the band unique is the spasmic higher pitched vocals of frontman Jan Lubitzki, whose heavy accent makes him quite the character on this release. Fully capable of a shrill, siren-like range, he's actually better when he's performing in a lower, creepy octave, and best when he creates a bridge between two, soaring along like some decrepit power/speed vocalist. The drums and riffs are also quite well plotted, with the same clinical appeal of a Wolf Spider, Watchtower or later Deathrow.

"Awaits" is a gorgeous acoustic piece that leads into the paranoid hammering melodies of "Beyond Illusions", and I could never get enough of the band's raging, crisp guitar tones that sound so heavy on the mutes yet graceful in the open chords. Lubitzki has a nice echo to his higher vocals here that remind me a little of Peavy from Rage or Wolfgang from the first Mekong Delta record. "The Light" begins with some killer drumming and a quick shift from ominous, warning melodies to a a subtle, jazzy percussive thrash, Lubitzki switching off and on from a lower tone to his expecting wailing. "No Risk" has a dreamy distorted bass intro, soon blessed with creepy chords that gather speed into a warped rhythm that feels part Watchtower, part Voivod. "Autumn Times" opens in shrill electric bliss, the guitars like lab warnings that something toxic has escaped the safe room. There are some fine speed metal licks throughout this piece, and it never wears thin across its 7 minute length.

The latter portion of the album holds up fairly consistently, first with the ringing miasma of axes that christen the hyperactive "Transition", which leaps from tempo to tempo over Jan's escalating vocal lines. "Innocent in Detention" features a few moments of moody clean rhythms, and here is one of the places where Lubitzki's accent can strain on the listener, with a little spin to it that reminds me of a heavily German accented Jonathan Davis, though he eventually stretches into his more familiar range and some searing speed metal leads and rhythms cap off the track. "Never Be Blind" has some of the silliest but catchiest vocal hooks on the album, with Jan really pushing the limits as if he were a shrieking John Lydon, and "Circles Colour Red" is simply one of the coolest songs on the album, with steady, driving drums and guitars thrashing out like a trapeze artist.

First Depression is a niche title, for the small subset of retro thrash fans that appreciate the more technical progressive, experimentation that was happening on the fringes of the more mainstream, American sound. Certainly if you've got a crush on Mekong Delta, Deathrow, Vendetta, Watchtower, Realm, Destruction (Cracked Brain), End Amen, or Psychotic Waltz it would be worth hearing, and it remains one of the more enduring albums for Depressive Age. If you can forgive the cover art...

Highlights: Beyond Illusions, No Risk, Never Be Blind, Circles Colour Red

Verdict: Win [8/10] (adaptation, the law of the crowd)