Published: June 21, 2023

Intentionally depressive music is a tough thing to approach in the sense that folks tend to apply functionality to its existence in terms of both artist and consumer perspectives. We ask what it does for the listener and what it does for the artist just as often and this isn’t a common expectation within the milieu of extreme metal sub-genre specificity. Artists might be looking for catharsis in process, some even admit to attention-seeking behavior, others simply want to generate a sentimental or hopeless feeling to combat the numbness of repetitive existence, and many have simply inherited a fatalistic approach to depression which they wear as a key nodule of personage. I guess this not-so deep observation arises for the sake of having felt something for Portland, Oregon-based depressive atmospheric black metal duo None‘s second LP ‘Damp Chill of Life‘ back in 2019 and now parsing why I feel absolutely nothing for their follow-up. Not only has their presentation changed a bit, taking its time within longer pieces which meander with far less of a glowing peak to each song, but I’ve changed in the interim and feel hardened to the peaceful glow of ‘Inevitable‘. The combined ~16 minutes of “My Gift” and “Locked, Empty Room” are essentially ambient beyond the end of the latter wherein a women appears to say “I miss you” before convulsing, choking or similar noises of death end the moment. For my own taste this is a completely silly waste of a good fourth of the album’s hourlong run and ultimately what’d kept me from taking it in any further.