www.hardrockhouse.com 03/07

Joint Depression have undergone quite a journey since their formation in the early 1990s. Since then, they have released at least 8 demos and EPs of varying length, before finally putting out this, their debut full-length CD. In that time they have totally changed their overall sound by replacing female singer Maria Liikanen with male singer/guitarist, Antti Karhu. Throughout all of these changes, the music itself has remained a heavy, melancholic outpouring with definite influences of the likes of Tool.

Reading the press blurb which accompanies this release, you are left with no doubt as to what to expect when it states, “This is heavy, long, depressive package” – so no sing-a-long choruses then ?!

Given the above, I wasn’t therefore expecting too much, but if you can get past the at times comical, pigeon-English lyrics, it’s not actually anywhere near as bad as I feared. To try to give you a comparison, aside from the obvious Tool influence, I would best categorise it as a slightly lighter version of Candlemass with more nu-metal type vocals and some great underlying melodies. It’s nowhere near as depressing as they would have you believe, either. Heavy – yes, intricate – often, but depressing ? Not for me.

I think if they could get someone in to help polish up the lyrics, then I would be quite surprised if Joint Depression couldn’t attract enough attention to warrant some sort of record deal, which they are currently lacking apparently. There’s certainly enough musical ability here and the song structures themselves are really quite good at times, especially on tracks such as “The Night”, “One Of Yours” and “Frigidi”. Karhu also possesses a voice that is well suited to this material, equally at home with the quieter, more melodic passages as with the screaming power moments.

Given that they have no deal at present, this whole CD was financed and produced by the band themselves, but it doesn’t suffer as a result and they deserve credit for effort and perseverance, if nothing else.

Overall, certainly not my cup of tea in terms of style, but this was at least on a par with, if not ahead of, plenty of other albums I’ve heard in the past in this genre. Fans of the doom-laden, heavy depressive side of the rock world would do well to check this out.

5/10

Review Paul Williams