The Ohio-based duo Nobody made their advent last year with a pair of EPs (Fading Into Obscurity and Lifeless and Still), and have now recorded a debut album named Despair is Where My Thoughts Swim, which will be released on May 17th by End My Life Records/Tragedy Productions. For the album, the founders Troll and Ulver are joined by new vocalist Void.
You may see the genre labels of “post-black metal” or “post/depressive black metal” affixed to Nobody‘s music, which might be as good a way as any of trying to summarize versatile songs that really don’t fit neatly into any boxes and that draw inspiration from a host of sources, including sources outside of metal altogether.
But it might be better to just forget about labels, because the ones above might prove to be as misleading as they are predictive once you begin listening to the album. Even the terrible sadness and sense of regret and abandonment that the song titles and lyrics convey isn’t the sum total of the moods, and so even the “depressive” label isn’t a complete portrait.
To help you understand this, we’re premiering a lyric video for one of the album’s new songs, “Perpetual Torment“.
Here again, the song title and the lyrics are emotionally broken and despairing. And certainly the main vocals feel like volleys of shattering glass, wretched and terrifying in their high-shrieked intensity. But the music presents a different and more dynamic set of sensations.
In this song the influence of the sadly short-lived Amesoeurs and the sadly gone Lifelover is pronounced. The music is introspective and wistful at first, but then, drawing from well-springs of New Wave and post-punk, it becomes increasingly bouncing and bright, though it maintains its connections to black metal too.
Pinging keys and other shining tones that vibrantly swirl and throb combine with ringing yet abrasive guitars and head-moving beats and bass-lines, and while the song’s melancholy never really vanishes, it also integrates yearning and hope.
Eventually, however, in the song’s final third, the music’s ringing becomes unsettling and confused, and then descends into dark whirring vibrations with a change in vocal tone as well, and a reminder of how this extremely memorable song began.
The words and the vocals are distressing enough, but the video makes the experience an order of magnitude more distressing, by including found footage of people suffering from mental and physical afflictions and undergoing the old primitive treatments that were worse than the illness.
Those are some of our thoughts. Here are Troll‘s:
“Perpetual Torment” serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities of the human experience, exploring themes of anguish, longing, and ultimately, the search for redemption. It is a song that resonates deeply with anyone who has ever felt the weight of their own suffering, offering solace in the shared struggle of the human condition.”
As the press materials for the album accurately describe, “The record incorporates acoustic guitar, piano and synth within flowing volleys of depressive black metal, weighty contemplative doom and the wide-ranging wistfulness of indie and post-punk songwriting.”
The album consists of 11 songs, including a Lifelover cover performed by guest vocalist Irritum (Internal Darkness, I Fall to Ash). It was recorded at Down Below Studios in Cincinnati. It was mixed by Troll, and mastered by Dimitris.
It’s recommended for fans of not only Amesoeurs and Lifelover, but also of early Katatonia, Forgotten Tomb, and Nocturnal Depression.
Check the links below for more info and to order the album, and also be sure to check out the stream of the first single from the album that we’ve also included, “Life’s Ephemeral Tale“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://endmyliferecords.bandcamp.com/album/despair-is-where-my-thoughts-swim
NOBODY:
https://nobodyofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/NobodyDSBM/
https://www.instagram.com/nobodydsbm/