Review by Lawrence Stillman on January 1, 2024.

Can't help but think of that meme when I see the band name, never change, Jerma.

Jokes aside, this album is not your regular depressive/ambient black metal that is influenced by Burzum (fuck varg btw), this is something really bleak, hopeless, something that makes you want to take a toaster bath. This release really gives me a specific kind of depression fuel where unlike Hatred For Mankind, it gives me a feeling of "I suck, I have to kill myself, it is the only useful thing I could do" and not the "Humanity sucks, extinction of humanity is the only way out" of depression from Hatred From Mankind.

Being a DSBM record, everything has to be minimalistic, simple but effectively depressing riffs, droning drums are the staples of the genres, but what is different here are the pained shrieks that occasionally turns into screaming, and the lyrics here that were not sung (or Carlsson did sing those with shrieks but honestly no one can tell). The shrieks here reminds me of Nattrammn from Silencer, it really gives the vibe that this is recorded in a mental asylum (the liner notes do say that the lyrics were written in one), helped by the fact that the first track's title has mental asylum in it.

The first track immediately hits you with a really oppressive and overwhelmingly depressing riff, before being joined by Carlsson and his shrieks, this immediately sets the tone for the demo and it will remain this way until the end, barring the title track which only has the drums removed while the other instruments does similar things as the other two tracks.

This demo has an oddly dreamlike soundscape, where you can just plug this on repeat and go to sleep on a really bad day to cry all your problems away, its impressive that the duo of Trist and Carlsson can convey this much emotion with nothing more than repetitive, if not effective, riffs and droning drums. The production here might be the reason why the dreamlike soundscape was even possible, it is raw in a specific way where everything blend together barring the vocals to create something akin to white noise, but not really white noise.

Can't really recommend this despite all its greats, you really have to be in a sad or depressing mood to even sit down and actually listen to a DSBM record and liking it. But if you are indeed one of those sad people, I'm sure this record can be an effective form of therapy.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by TheOneNeverSeen on January 1, 2024.

I’ve learned about this band thanks to checking the page of Kim Carlsson, former vocalist of one of the best DSBM bands ever (Lifelover). Obviously, I’ve instantly decided to give "Bloody Melancholy" a shot. And, while I don’t consider it a masterpiece, it’s certainly worth listening to if you like the bands Life Is Pain's members are commonly associated with (Lifelover and Hypothermia for Kim and Trist for Jan, respectively).

First of all, the demo’s atmosphere is pretty dark, as one would expect. The opening track with a quite bleak name "Oppressive Nights in Mental Asylum" straightaway welcomes you by pouring down Jan’s raw guitars and traditionally for DSBM basic drums followed by hopeless screaming of Carlsson on your head. Roughly after 3 minutes another, even more depressive (and the most rememberable one of the song) riff takes over, before also getting replaced in a minute or so. The song conveys the feeling of loneliness and despair well and has a rather interesting development.

"Bloody Melancholy" is somewhat more primitive, but has a grimmer atmosphere (probably due to the lack of repetitive drumming), which reminds me of "Enshrouded by Solitude" from "Sorh" by Woods of Desolation, one of the best DSBM albums of all time in my opinion. So, if you’re a fan of WoD, you will probably enjoy this one. My personal favorite on the demo.

Finally, "Negativity" (yeah, not a very original title), which is the longest track of the demo, has a higher-tuned guitar and an overall "lighter" sound and atmosphere. The main riff is solid and the song development, similar to the one of "Oppressive Nights in Mental Asylum" is also fine. Quite depressive and remarkable (the atmosphere is somewhat similar to late Lifelover).

Carlsson’s vocals are as desperate as always, so nothing particularly bad can be said about them. At times they seem a little bit out of tune, but that’s one of the genre's traits the band wanted to incorporate with their sound, I guess.

Lyrics are pretty conventional for the genre and, in fact, a bit primitive. I know most DSBM fans don’t care that much about lyrics anyway, but in my opinion the lyrics of "Bloody Melancholy" are way weaker than the ones of "Pain Dealer", "Du er alene" or "Myspys". I’m not familiar with Jan’s music, so I don’t know if it’s his normal style of writing lyrics or not. Anyway, the lyrics are not terrible, but could’ve been better.

In conclusion, despite not doing anything particularly new for the genre, "Bloody Melancholy" is successful at accompanying a sad, hopeless mood of the listener, has strong vocals and good song structure. There is virtually nothing else one would expect from a demo by a band that hasn’t even released any more music.

Rating: 7 out of 10