So obviously, there is depressive black metal, but I wasn’t sure if “depressive death metal” was really a thing. Yes, I googled that s@#t. I didn’t really see anything substantial, so ol’ Flight is fully taking credit for this one. Accolades aside, if I were to classify Symbolical’s sound, I can’t really think of a more fitting term. It’s death metal, sure, but it’s just so dark and dreary.
Now I know what some of you are thinking: death doom? No. While the compositions are on the slower side; it’s not in that sludgy, dragging sense. The drums still kick up the double bass quite a bit on tracks like “Heritage of the Executioner,” but somehow the pace still remains very deliberate. As I write, this description reminds me a bit of Amon Amarth, but they don’t actually sound like them. Amon Amarth tend to be boisterous and triumphant in their Viking ways, but Symbolical is quite the opposite. All of the melodies, growls, and rhythm textures are far more dismal in their delivery.
The result is something that shares qualities with all other subsects of death metal, yet the end result doesn’t fit cleanly into any of them…at least from my point of view. It has the brutal vocals and chug of the old school, but lacks the loudness and violence. It has some of the musicianship hallmarks of tech death, but seems almost indifferent to their level of skill. Melodeath? There are some hooks, but this is not nearly melodious or energetic enough to qualify. There are also some chord structures and tremolos harkening to blackened death, but never so much as to quite cross the threshold. If I HAD to pick one, the latter is probably the closest. But the point remains that Collapse in Agony is neither Behemoth nor Vader.
I do a lot of stream-of-thought writing here, which is probably obvious to some. Right now I am becoming aware I have spent a mess of this review talking a lot about what this album is not. So what is it? In a word, interesting. A passing listen may not yield much, but taking some time to delve into the tracks really does point out some interesting ideas. Furthermore, it’s just well played and consistent. The drumming is stellar, the vocals have presence without overpowering the mix, the guitars pull off some potent and ominous riffing, and the thick bass tone further adds to the portentous atmosphere.
To sum up, Collapse in Agony is not really a bang-your-head, throw-up-the-horns kind of record. Rather, it is a more introspective-sounding piece of work that manages to not lose its heaviness in the process. It’s a dark descent of the mind that fits in more on a playlist with Ulver, Shaidar Logoth, and perhaps even Burzum on an emotive level than any death metal group I could name. Perhaps Dalkhu? In any case, I think you should check out Symbolical for yourself and just enjoy what comes. You can purchase the album through their website link above.