Review by SzejkElRopa on October 15, 2026.

Whether or not you are American, you might have heard about the scale of a certain problem. This problem is called fentanyl overdose. Thousands of people are seen suffering on the streets every day in many big cities in the United States. One of these cities is Portland, Oregon. After seeing these photos of people's tragedies, it is hard for one not to fall into depression. I guess that a mysterious duo from this location surely has felt that way. They are called None, and have hailed from there since 2015 for nine years, when they put their project to rest in 2024. They were creating unsurprisingly depressive and hopeless black metal. They paint a bleak landscape, where no light can be found, and one is left only with their own emotions.

Even though in the introduction I mentioned something that can be described as urban decay, I would like to look at the artwork that slightly contrasts with my first guess. It is straightforward: a shot of a foggy forest, most likely taken in the winter. While the picture isn't extraordinary, it captures certain emotions, such as loneliness and decay. And that's precisely what None conveys with their music. Simplistic melodies are deep and depressing. Let's take a look, for example, at the quasi-opener: 'A World, Dead And Gray'. Mid-tempo drums are accompanied by quite a dynamic guitar riff, which creates a melody that repeats itself throughout the song. It doesn't fall into the trap of over-repetition because the very emotional vocals carry the emotional depth of the song. They sound as if the person behind them were resigned to their life. Another very interesting song in the context of the atmosphere crafted by None is 'Corroded'. The melody, mostly made by synths, sounds as if it were made by someone who is schizophrenic. The most eerie part of this is the vocal effects, which include the person speaking, crying, breathing heavily, and much more. That's by far the most unsettling part of the album. Coming back to my fentanyl-connected guess from the introduction, it might be a person who is experiencing a mental breakdown and hallucinations because of how this hell of a drug damaged them. To sum up, the album is full of emotions, despite its being quite simple musically.

The quasi-ender, 'Life Is Long Enough', is one of the better songs on the album and has my favorite move here. It builds tension until the end, featuring a melodic, fast (for this album) guitar lead. When it comes to the riffs and melodies, as mentioned before, they are simple yet quite memorable. As said, there is usually one melody driving the whole song. In 'Bed The Cold Earth', the opening piano plays the same melody as the guitar, which kicks in after some time. Moreover, this album has many strange and unsettling vocal effects. Not only in the aforementioned 'Corroded', but also between 'Desiderate' and 'Life Is Long Enough', some whispering and maniacal, eerie laughter can be heard. When it comes to more standard vocals, the vocalist operates with shrieks and desperate howls, which add to the atmosphere. Lastly, the drumming isn't by any means extraordinary; however, this album isn't a place to show off drum skills. At the end of the day, this type of music isn't about complexity, and usually everything needed to be satisfied is well-crafted melodies done by guitars and synths.

At the first few listens, I wasn't able to focus enough on many parts, and I was easily distracted. However, today, at my second attempt to write the review for this album, everything suddenly works far better. Though I wouldn't call this album perfection, nor would I say it is close to it, because not every element threw me off my feet, and still, at times, I lost focus. Nevertheless, I am more than eager to give this album a 9. It is recommended to anyone who is a fan of emotional, atmospheric, depressive black metal.

Rating: 9 out of 10