Imagine a study project come to life.
Kaamosmasennus was created in France in 2018 by Julien J. Neuville (Salaman Isku) during his Master 2 studies on Finnish Funeral Doom Metal, which you can find here. Following this thesis, he undertook a long winter trip to Finland, followed by a seasonal depression, which gives the project its name, and signed with Bitume Prods for the release of Le jour ne se leve plus, his debut album.
The journey into melancholy begins with the soothing melody revealing L’Esprit de l’Hiver, then saturation and majestic keyboards join the heady riff. The ghostly cries painfully emerge from the haze of sound, which at times adopts quieter enchanting tones before returning accompanied by a throbbing heaviness and icy leads that provide the dissonant touch that will eventually be absorbed by the intense final, before the atmosphere runs out of steam again to let First Snow offer us its quietude. The slow hypnotic rhythm joins the melody, followed by an airy keyboard and then two distinct melodies that fill the air before the return of the impressive saturation that accompanies us until the track’s final moments, just before Kaamosmasennus darkens the atmosphere with its soaring tunes. A few Black Metal influences join the apathetic mix, which sees the vocals return after a few steps in the icy landscape, progressing painfully under the moody riffs before the final also reveals more piercing leads, which in turn fade away to let La symphonie des éléments bewitch us in its turn. Whereas the previous tracks were totally imbued with sadness, there’s a sort of new-found cheerfulness to this composition, whether through the brighter sounds of the keyboards or the greater contrast with the leads, which once again let the vocals thicken the rhythmic basis, which adopts a more upbeat pattern before keyboards accompany us into oblivion.
Thanks to his research experience, Kaamosmasennus knows and masters the codes of Finnish Funeral Doom, and the musician applies them to the letter, whether through his icy instrumental, his impressive keyboards or his misty screams. Le jour ne se leve plus is a good start.
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