The Most Depressing Albums That I Know
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2023
- Giles Corey
• Giles Corey - Giles Co...
Mount Eerie
• Mount Eerie - A Crow L...
Earl Sweatshirt
• Earl Sweatshirt - I Do...
Con-Dom
• Con-Dom - How Welcome...
Leviathan
• Leviathan - The Tenth ...
Warning
• Warning - Watching Fro...
Nine Inch Nails
• Hurt
Dystopia
• Dystopia - Human = Gar...
Johnny Cash
• Ain't No Grave
Die Verbannten Kinder Evas
• Die Verbannten Kinder ...
You’re such an intelligent music nerd. I could listen to you describe albums all day. Big respect
Xasthur albums prior to the "Portal of sorrow" are journeys to the land of dread and immeasurable psychological pain for me. While listening, I always get that feeling like I'm wandering in an endless maze of mind torture. It is really impressive how Scott creates those dark landscapes with his works. Like, I'm not a depressive type of person at all, but Xasthur's art left some scars somewhere deep inside my soul.
Telepathic With the Deceased has a particularly strong effect on me, but all of Scott's work in the period is completely shrouding, I agree
Thats because Conner is a schizophrenic, if you didnt noticed before through the music themes and feels you might now
His new folk song euphoric bad trip is great if you like his new shit. I honestly really enjoy it.
@@rova2304 He seems definitiely schizophrenic, possibly due to some traumatic events. That and on the autism spectrum
@@cummywummy2896 schizophrenia and autism seem similar on how the share some characteristics, such as obsessions, lack of interest in relationships, isolation and others, in his interview with that horrid documentary of black metal musician Conner seemed like he just wanted to end the video already, extremely feed up with the interaction and twitchy, jumpy, his house looked just like the house of a man consumed by paranoia, closed windows even during daylighy, minimalistic furnite and belongings, nothing more than the barely esssential, that and his instruments, a damn shame that his musics roots from such torment though.
That Leviathan album has been with me in my darkest years
Yep and I'm also happy to say it helped me escape my darkest years. Definitely an important album for me and a lot of other people I'm sure
It was among the first 10 or so black metal albums I ever heard, safe to say it stood out from the bunch
I saw the documentary about Xasthur, Striborg and Leviathan. Wrest just looked like a broken person, and you can hear him using it to make his music.
Same here. 10th sublevel is definetly one of my all time favorite in all of BM and holds a special place in my heart. The whole album was bleak/cold but its a masterpiece imo. The bitter emblem of dissolve , the idiot sun and submersed(even though it's an ambient track) are the 3 tracks that stuck with me to this day. Jef was releasing some demons in that album
Likewise, and somehow he nailed an even more harrowing sound on Scar Sighted
My additions to the list:
- The Body - I Have Fought Against, But I Can't Any Longer
- Current 93 - I Have a Special Plan For This World
- Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
When I was going through tough times those albums felt so heart wrenching it was cathartic
bonus song: Today Is The Day - Never Answer The Phone
Great picks. That might be my favorite album from the Body. Really interesting that they took samples of their past work and mangled them into that heart wrenching album.
That Bell Witch album is fantastic. I like all your suggestions but Mirror Reaper is something else.
didn't find mirror reaper that depressing, still great album, also special plan is a good pick
A Crow Looked at Me is the only Mount Eerie album I've ever listened to, back when it came out in 2017, and I've only ever returned to it once. The lyrics of Real Death have stuck with me since and probably will for a very long time.
A lot of albums from Phil could fill the spot
@@ps1hagrid689 What would be the best albums to check out from him? I've been meaning to listen to some of his projects but I've had no clue where to start.
@@willardvthe glow pt. 2 is your starting place no question, then go to It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water, then Mount Eerie (by the microphones)
‚Close‘ by Sadness is one of the rawest, most devastating records I’ve heard when it comes to Depressive Black Metal.
finally someone mentions sadness! his early works are definitely some of the most gut wrenching stuff i’ve ever listened to
Just checked this out. Chilling. Sent me somewhere that I'm not sure I want to go again very soon. Devastating.
ive never been into black metal but i think this album just put me on. thanks so much for this comment
That’s my favourite dsbm album 🖤
i commend you for mentioning this one. its my absolute favorite project by sadness. every track is such a gem
Trist has some of the most depressing music you will ever hear. Sneni is absolutely terrifying and beautiful
Sneni is seriously one of my favorite songs ever
@@shitcasket finally I find somebody who knows the song it has been my favorite song for the last six years
@@erebos2717it is definitely worth being a favorite song
trist is my all-time favorite black metal band!! every single release from Jan pierces my soul and makes me feel heard
I also consider "The Age Of Naples" by Coil a very depressing record due to its main theme: the death of one of the members. Especially the final track which gets me every time. A soul crushing experience. It sounds great and feels incredibly chill.
Ape*
if you haven't heard "...And the Ambulance Died in his Arms" it is as equally as depressing and beautiful
@@diediedie999 their best live album in my opinion
Leviathan and Xasthur seem to be the only guys in DSBM that aren’t overly whiny nor overly poetic in lyrics
I dunno man they're both a bit corny in ways too but for me that all comes hand in hand with the genre. I see what you mean though. They are the shining examples of that genre. What's your favourite LPs by these guys respectively? I love leviathans massive conspiracy against all life and of course I love telepathic with the deceased.
only gays in DSBM
On Lurker of Chalice, while the entire album has a gloomy despondency, the track "This Blood Falls as Mortal, Part III" is one of the most depressing songs I can think of out of what I listen to and stands out to me as the most depressing moment on the album. Also, the Sylvia Plath sample at the start is a great touch that sets the tone perfectly.
Also, Mozart's Lacrimosa because it automatically reminds me of Come and See
World coming down by Type O negative. Not only did it not have joke tracks other than the first one, Peter Steele's pain is genuine as many family members were dying at this time so the pain is genuine.
Was literally about to say the exact same things. Peter and Type O were something special. 🖤💚
@cherrytonshawty9120 yes its my favorite Type O negative album
Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity is a hilariously depressing track.
At the same time, there's genuine gallows humour on that album. Kind of like how Fallout 1 has jokes, but they're intentionally too dark to be funny.
@@KvltKrist That track goes hard, for real. I love Peter's aggression on that one. Lmao.
Broo on point with dsbm. Many bands in sub-genre make some kind of "aesthetic" around depression etc. Only a few like xasthur and leviathan express this authentic misery you can feel in your bones man
what do you think about psychonaut 4 tho?^^
@@masamusic07 I dunno not my type ig
Ofdrykkja and Fäulnis are two bands I'd also add.
@@masamusic07theyre a great band but theyre not very depressing imo
Abandon - The Dead End, 106 minute sludge / funeral doom album, is so hopeless and miserable that its downright horrific. that ones always hard to make it through.
So glad to see that mentioned, damn. A forgotten funeral doom classic. Not many people know if it, sadly. The very last track, in particular, always gets me.
that earl record is one of my all time faves and you summed it up perfectly, a good extension of that would be his EP solace which i find to be an even more desolate continuation of the themes on IDLSIDGO (as well as it coming out a month after the album and wasn't promoted at all as its only on youtube). Some other picks id chuck in there for yall to check out would be Triple One - The Libertine and Huskii - Brainumb, both are Aussie rap projects, Libertine being more sonically depressing with running themes of suicide, existentialism and depression, and Brainumb being more lyrically depressing with themes of guilt and self-scrutiny
Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning Danny Brown's Atrocity Exhibition. I'm just an old ass metalhead from Finland, but this album is so good. Definitely one of the best finds in a while. Video was awesome too, as always :) .
I discovered it because of this! So awesome
Completely agree with you on "The Tenth Sublevel," it truly has a bleakness that no other black metal album does.
Some I'd add:
Lingua Ignota - Let The Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him (All of her discography is hard to listen to, but something about this album legitimately froze me to my seat)
Xasthur - Telepathic With the Deceased
Lurker of Chalice - Lurker of Chalice
Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale
Mizmor - Cairn (Yodh is also devastating)
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time
Okay so something I've always thought about is some of the
darker crust and d-beat can have in terms of realistic detections of things like torture, war, hate, and general depressing subjects I think it's often looked over as just fast and in your face with the 180 bpm and riffs being blazingly fast but looking at the lyrics and themes I think it does hold a light to some more depressing genres nowhere near the most depressing albums but I think it should definitely be a footnote in this topic anyways amazing video!!
Xasthur's "Telepathic With The Deceased", and "Murdered Echoes of the Mind" on that album specifically, are some of the darkest and most depressing soundscapes I have ever heard in my life, and it has definitely been there for me, the beginning synth melody of "Murdered Echoes of the Mind" is extremely intense and it can only fill me with despair and sorrow when I listen to it
That's both so entry level lol. not even that depressing compared to most other (and more underground) DSBM
@@fatefatefate fuckin nerd
Not many people are talking about An Autumn for Crippled Children, especially their debut album Lost, which is a perfect mix of claustrophobic depressive black metal with some shoegaze influences.
Worth checking out
yeah i agree with you, but for me even though it is so depressing, their music is like really comforting to me for some reason
@@garfield5667 i think that after Try not to destroy everything you love they went a bit more beginner friendly and less depressive and melancholic in comparison to their first 3 albums.
I mean, Portugal is a dreampop/synth/blackgaze
One of my favorite bands ever. Their music just hits always. It's beautiful, poetic, haunting, and emotional.
Really good takes, especially Giles Corey. Probably one of my favorite albums ever. I'd also recommend the works of Jason Molina. He has many albums under the name Songs:Ohia, but probably his most devastating work is "Let me go let me go let me go" released under his own name. Another one is Lil ugly Mane, his newest album (Volcanic Bird Enemy and the vouced Concern) was one of the most depressing musical experiences I've ever had because I recognized myself way too much in this album. Also, in my opinion a depressing albums list is missing something without Xiu Xiu. A Promise is absolutely depressing, Angel Guts or Knife Play are also recommendable in this context.
Great choices. Some others I would add are:
Numenorean- Home
Lichtblick- Phrenesis
Bell Witch- Mirror Reaper
mirror reaper completely tears you apart before slowly building you up again until you feel anew
@@theyescapedtheweightofdarkness Yeah. I don't really feel anew by the end of it, more at peace in a melancholic sense, but I get what you mean by that.
Loss - Despond
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day
Coldworld - Melancholie
Glad to see warning on your list, amazing album. Highly recommend these two albums if you want to ruin your mood.
melancholie² is a genuine black metal masterpiece
Most of Katatonia's early stuff will ruin your mood especially Discouraged Ones.
Nice pick for Katatonia, and I love ColdWorld, i'd argue the EP "The Stars are Dead Now" is even more depressing, specifically the song Cancer
'Icon' by Paradise Lost is not only one of my favourite albums but also the first time I felt depressed while listening to music. I could not listen to it in one sitting when it was released because it was so overwhelming and almost exhaustive.
'The Silent Enigma' by Anathema is another album I associate with deep sadness, depression and emotional emptiness.
Icon may be very bleak and it's probably my favourite PL album, but Host and Believe in Nothing are truly, truly miserable. Whatever Nick was going through at the time really reflected in those lyrics. And it never seemed to come across as edgy or tryhard. When you listen to the lyrics on songs like Something Real, Illumination, Harbour, Ordinary Days, It's Too Late and the title track Host, it reflects ideas of depression in a way that's very real and relatable.
@@fullmetalguy8357 i’m a huge fan of the album Host, but sometime i’m wonder how it would soun in another Paradise Lost era.
Ethel Cain’s ‘Preacher’s daughter’. It tells the story of a young woman who runs away from her complicated family and religion to be with an abusive man. He ends up murdering her and she is too powerless to avoid her demise. The song ‘Ptolemaea’ is absolutely soul crushing. This energy of ‘I’d rather die than be used again’ is something I’ve felt as a woman before and it’s so painful to hear it out loud.
Giles Corey is such a heartbreaking project. As well as Have a Nice Life, it's hard to think that the guy who worked on those projects came from an emo hardcore band from the 2000's.
Or that he's living a happy dad life now lol
@@brimerwelpippy4972 Hey, releasing all of your feelings and thoughts into your music for almost twenty three years will make you happier most likely.
Just look at metal musicians or their fans as an example.
Yeah HaNL is one of those bands I love but basically anything that could possibly be compared to it I would hate.
im glad dan is feeling better.
@@hyjaph Always good to see a guy make it through his issues.
Jef Whitehead's side project Lurker of Chalice is one i'd rank in my personal list. Sonically, it's very much like when you can't struggle anymore and give in to the depression you're trying to fight. Good call on the Con Dom record too, im not sure i ever want to hear it again.
My Dying Bride come to mind straight away. "Come to Grief" by Grief was depressing in a heavy as f**k crushing fashion as well.
Tenth Sub Level is one of my favorites. You can hear pain in his voice In the vocals
*The 3 most depressing albums ever* (according to me / my opinion)
3. Der Golem - _Zmet_
2. Escape the Day - _Ghostless_
1. I'm in a Coffin - _One Final Action_
Actually based picks. 👍 Not some shit everyone knows OR is just mildly saddening at best
Weighing souls with sand the last album of The Angelic Process is so depressing to me, it’s drone metal and the fact that the two members passed away very young and in very depressing situation (rest in peace to both) makes this album sounds extremely sad especially on the tracks with background screaming voices such as Million Year Summer
Wait BOTH passed away!? I thought it was just the band guitarist since he passed away from suicide
@@AtrocityEquine01 sadly yes , Monica Dragynfly passed away this year at 46
I was going to say the same thing
The album that got me through my most depressive sad stage was Woods of Ypres and their final release “Woods V: Grey Skies and Electric Light”.
It’s just so beautifully sad and depressing in parts but musically it’s incredible. It mixes both black and doom metal really really well and definitely worth a listen if you’re feeling worthless and alone 🤘🏻 songs like “Lightning and Snow”, “Traveling Alone”, “Silver”, “Finality” and the album epic “Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)” are just incredible melancholic but so goddamn beautiful
ive always found that album fascinating and depressing, great choice my guy!!
@@kadewoodtechfolder honestly the whole discography is fascinating and depressing haha 🤘🏻
Absolutely love Woods of Ypres.
That is a band I love more and more, just ordered a bunch of albums from them just had that one but yeah. Songs like Silver really put me in a certain head space.
@@patrickbertlein4626 oh awesome! Yeah when I first heard them I binged their entire catalogue. Album 5 is amazing and so is 4. Even their debut EP is hauntingly beautiful
Good to see that NIN made the list. If you haven't heard their album, Still, you should absolutely give it a listen. It's such a miserably beautiful album, easily one of my picks for some of the most depressing albums I know.
My Arms, Your Hearse reminds me of my late grandparents
Cant wait to see this. Your stuff is always awesome.
Just listened to Mount Eerie. Seaweed is such a beautiful song. Very sad but pure. Thanks for that man
Really liking these videos, it would be cool if you do a Heaviest Albums That I Know too
I love it when a new Wyattxhim video is posted.
Update: This is soul crushing.
Nice one Wyatt.
Just to name a few albums that I find depressing :
- Planning for Burial - "Below the House", just plain fucking sad stuff
- Hangman's Chair - "A Loner", Doom/Stoner band from Paris' suburbs, heavy and bleak af
- Battle of Mice - "A Day of Nights", this one just has that very depressing vibe overall, imo
- Heinali & Matt Finney - "Ain't no Night", "Conjoined", and pretty much every other album that I know of on which they worked together
- Lingua Ignota - "All Bitches Die" and "Caligula", both crushing in their own right, and the context in which both were written makes it worse imo
- Wormfood - "Posthume", not much about this one available online (it was pulled from Spotify, shame), and might not appeal or induce the same effect for non french speakers.
Thumbs up for Battle of Mice, "At The Base of the Giant's Throat" is just so.... crushing
Some of my favorite depressive albums include:
Burial - Burial
The Residents - Not Available
The World of Skin - Ten Songs for Another World
Coil - The Ape of Naples
Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
I knew I’d see some Swans and World of Skin on this list.
White Light From the Mouth of Infinity deserves a mention too. It may not be the most purely depressing Swans album, but fuck me if that's not one of the most consistently, hopelessly melancholic albums ever delivered in all music.
Not Available is very melancholy. Actually so much of The Residents is draped in melancholy, something that I don't think people appreciate enough about their work.
The Residents is not only weird but really dark.
Great picks, these are the first few albums that come to my mind:
Discouraged ones, Tonight’s decision and last fair deal gone down by Katatonia
Songs about leaving by Carissa’s wierd
Soft black stars by Current 93
thank god someone else said Discouraged Ones, Gone and Quiet World are like some of the saddest songs ever made, i think the Brave Murder Day album could be listed as one of the most depressing as well
That trilogy by Katatonia is legitimately some of the saddest music ever. Especially Discouraged Ones. I've never heard hopelessness and depression displayed as accurately as that album.
Glad you're showing Earl Sweatshirt some love SRS I my favourite album of all time. I have Solace tattooed on my arm, beautiful short EP.
Excellent choices dude. I’m about to post three of my most depressive selections this weekend. That Warning and Giles Corey are both brilliant albums
Looking forward to it
Great video!!!! A concept that so many people have so many different answers to. Thank you
The Winding Sheet by Mark Lanegan for me. It’s his voice and lyrics, and to an extent, some of the vocal melodies that make me sad. Plus there’s a cameo appearance by Kurt Cobain, which is a bonus.
Hey man, I never thank you for discovering me ærekær! It sounds like a small detail, but they became HUGE for me. By the way, Metallum included them in the enciclopedia!
Absolute respect for putting that final Con-Dom record on here. That record is an incredibly rough sit and deeply, uncomfortably personal in a way that relatively little of Mike Dando's work is.
I would say that "The Silent Enigma" by Anathema is a very emotionally heavy album, but at the same time the songwriting on it is amazing and very moving.
i actuallly think the Pentecost III EP is even sadder, i think Eternity and Alternative 4 would be pretty depressing to the average music fan as well but idk if they are sadder than Pentecost III and The Silent Enigma
@@garfield5667 "Kingdom" is an amazing track, at least until they ruin it with that pedestrian chug towards the end
Found some pretty sweet bands from this video. Thanks man. Im new here so I don’t know if you know them but, I’m into Nøne right now. Damp Chill Of Life is a banger. Hopefully you or someone will enjoy it. The newest album Inevitable is the same tier.
"Somewhere Along the Highway" by Cult of Luna definitely gets to me, it's one of the albums I rarely listen to unless I'm *very* depressed or worse. I think it's the lyrics of men being broken as well just setting it down in a rural setting (reminding me of my young kid days being in Mexico) really hitting close to home.
That being said, I do agree that Giles Corey is far more haunting than Deathconsciousness. It feels more rougher and "spookier" than Deathconsciousness's despairing theme.
I absolutely love Somewhere Along the Highway but I don't find it depressing personally.
@@rupe82 I dunno, I just always found it that way. It's a great album no doubt, but I think it just hits close to home for me personally.
I know this record has been overly talked about and discussed on this platform but for me is gonna have to be “Everywhere at the end of time” by The Caretaker. It hits a bit deep with me because a few years ago I lost my aunt who I was close to due to dementia. Towards the end if I listen to it, I have to shut it off or I feel a dark rain cloud following me all day.
One night when I listened to that album, around 2 or 3am, I straight up disassociated and shed tears. It does something to the psyche that I can’t explain.
😂😂😂 bro this has to be a shit post
Love these style of vids Wyatt!
"Porcelain" by Orphan. Its extremely heavy and vitriolic music sonically, but the lyrical subject matter is extremely depressing and downright heartbreaking, dealing with loss, self hatred, self harm, suicide, rape, child abuse, and many other topics from a first person perspective. One person I saw described it as a "Bleak masterpiece of sheer emotion", and I can't agree more.
Thank you for bringing this album into my life 🤟
Hugely recommend Purple Mountains self titled. Its a singer/songwriter country album from one of the best indie rockers of the 90s, David Berman of Silver Jews and it pretty much reads like a suicide note, considering he tragically commited about a month after its release. Its uniquely sad in its acceptance of defeat, the kind of acceptance of failure in your life that makes you end it. Its one of my favourite albums ever and a prime example of a piece of art transcending its original meaning with the context of the artists death
Spot on. One of my favourites.
Love this channel and superb taste in music I own damn near everything on this list good times or depressing times IDK anymore
Jesu’s “Ascension” and “Every Day I get closer to the light from which I came” are both very depressing and dark albums. Personal favorites.
That leviathan album I love it so much, I imagine myself trapped in a well in the dark and cold screaming ( like the ring haha). Some depressing/sad albums there is :
1. Advent sorrow - as light leaves her
2. None albums , they just released a new one
3. Funeral mourning - drown in solitude
4. Blut aud Nord - disharmonium undreamable abysses ( feels like there is no hope only a dark void and misery)
5.Mutiilation - vampires.. and remains of a ruined... ( Always give that depression angry feeling)
And you know the dsbm stuff like thy light and psychonaut 4
Needed this. Thanks, Wyatt.
I met a friend on a boat, he got me into AHAB, two years later he passed away. Brings me joy and sadness anytime I listen to any Ahab.
Dude, Ahab is great. Sorry about your friend.
He didn't drown did he?
I love the disclaimer at the start. Depressing music can't be interpreted in so many ways. I know people who dismiss anything that's not dsbm as "not actually depressing" and it bugs me to tears. Great vid 🤘😢
don’t know if you mentioned it as i haven’t finished the video yet but earl sweatshirt has a project called solace, it’s only on youtube. the most depressing rap song i’ve ever heard, yet incredibly beautiful. talks about the grief of his grandmothers passing, his struggle with an eating disorder and substance abuse, and his responsibility that he feels he can’t fulfill to others
First video I've ever seen from you, nice recommend by UA-cam. Lots of artists I haven't heard here, but man the Giles Corey album is so good! Only a few others I'm familiar with from before this vid.
I'm curious, have you ever heard the band Abandon, and more specifically their final album The Dead End? Released posthumously of the vocalist and artist of the album artwork. It's an extremely long and dense album with some interesting pump organs as one of the main instruments accompanying the normal drums/guitar/bass. I'm not sure what I feel about it, haven't listened through it from start to finish in a long time (but this video prompted me to do it now!). Would be interesting to hear your quick thoughts if you've listened to it in the past.
Love your review. Though I think you should have included Lifelover-Pulver!
Good video, I will check some of these out. 2 records I find depressing:
- Curve "Doppelgänger" wall of sound shoegaze, consumed with sadness, self-loathing and despair
- Philippa Nihill "A Little Easy" singer-songwriter ballads with a trip-hop tinge, love gone bad and losing time to depression
Watching From a Distance would be my choice. First time I listened to it was after my long time relationship had become long distance and I could not get all the way through. The relentless fuzz of the guitars, the echoing, thunderous drums and high pitched wailing vocals put me in a place I hadn't been in a long, long time
Great list. Very happy to see Dystopia and Mount Eerie still getting love after listening to them for the last 20 years. For me, a really good, depressing album is Elliott Smith's "Roman Candle." I know he's notorious for his depressing songs regarding themes like addiction and heartbreak, but IMO this, his earliest work, is the most depressing. Every song on this album deals with Smith's abuse at the hands of his stepfather and the subsequent fallout after telling his mother about it, who did not believe him and sent him to live across the country with his biological father. All these songs were written by Smith when he was a teen and they have a very childlike and naive quality that isn't present in his subsequent work and which I find devastating to listen to at times- it's essentially like reading the diary of an abandoned child, a victim in the purest sense of the word. The simultaneous and contradictory feelings of anger, longing, and betrayal towards his mother are palpable.
While NIN and Cash were included in here, PF's "The Wall" had to be listed here somewhere. Its self-absorbed, claustrophobic, and dreary pieces (Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces, One of My Turns, etc.) were some of the most depressing sounds I've encountered in my early forays into rock & metal.
Ah yes,
The Downward Spiral.
Nine inch nails was one of the first bands I discovered on my own back in 2017.
Not trying to flex here (no seriously, its all just an accident) but it was 1994 for me. It was actually further down the spiral though, than I got that one shortly after.
2012 for me, on a Facebook game of guessing the title of songs based on short samples from them. It contained seconds of the "help meee" verses in "Closer" and it snowballed to a point where I currently hold The Downward Spiral as one of my 5 favorite albums of all time.
This is one of the things I love about music- timeless works of art continuing to be discovered and appreciated throughout the years
@@guilhermefioresi7538 Those "help me"s are like candy for my ears, just perfect songwriting
I'm manic obsessive with TDS. Started at 15, now 33 and going. The one-two punch of I Do Not Want This / Eraser is soul-crushing. The Becoming is haunting with his humanity degrading to the sounds of a broken machine. The Downward Spiral and A Warm Place are these gorgeous melancholic soundscapes. And Hurt is Hurt, obviously. Such a vivid depiction of (implied) suicide at the end. I will never get enough of TDS even after dissecting the multitracks for the nth time.
Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony is really one of the first pieces of music that come to my mind when I think about depressing compositions. It was played live few days before the author's death, and it really sounds like a requiem for him. The fourth and last movement of the symphony is so lyrically painful...
Other pieces of music that are capable of this intensity are, for me, Desertshore by Nico and Hole in the heart by Ramleh.
You should listen to Solace by Earl Sweatshirt. It's even darker than IDLSIDGO in every way. So much so that Solace is the only album I would call perfect in terms of how it achieves the emotions and philosophy that it sets out to convey. Even down to the fact that he's mumbling through the lyrics, which are far from impressive on a technical level, sometimes even rapping off beat, and while these features might be offputting, they do a great job at communicating the straight depression. Same with the subdued and spacious instrumentals.
xasthur's "subliminal genocide" is my #1 album for this genre of music. mostly bc of the personal emotions and events attached with it but the overall sound definitely fits aswell. i've seen xasthur already mentioned a couple times in the comments aswell but i don't think i saw this specific album.
Feel like 遺·白 by Dismal, especially with tracks such as 命 and Azafen (especially the end) fit the raw sadness pretty well
I don’t know how you wound up on my suggested but seeing the video title and that she wants revenge record is an instant sub for me. I fucking love diverse darkbois
As sad as the Johnny Cash American series is, he has easily changed the entire world of music by those releases. I've listened to Johnny Cash longer than I have listened to metal, it's gotten me out of some dark places. Strongly recommend checking out his stuff!
Great video!
Two suggestions from me:
More mainstream: Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Less mainstream: Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium
Man, Watching from a distance is such a beast. I'd also shout out Daylight dies, Doom:vs, Novembers Doom, Rapture and Swallow the sun for gems in this category
Woods 5 grey skies and electric light by woods of ypres is both absolutely heart wrenching yet inspiring
Grief - Come to Grief
Eyehategod - In the Name of Suffering
Saint Vitus - Born Too Late
Hangman's Chair - (A Lament for...) The Addicts
Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine - Rampton
Mournful Congregation - The June Frost
Funeral - Tragedies
Evoken - Embrace the Emptiness
Forgotten Tomb - Songs to Leave
Life of Agony - River Runs Red
Low - I Could Live in Hope
My favorite Evoken album that's pure hatred and I love it
I Could Live in Hope is a great album. I was listening to it earlier today.
I Could Live in Hope is a great album. I was listening to it earlier today.
Swans - Soundtracks for the blind would have been my first choice for your upcoming video
Thank you for making this video. Metal is a very expressive and flexible art form. To me there is something beautiful about depressing music. I would add the Swidish black metal band's 2007 album V: Halmstad. Classical instruments are very welcomed in Metal music and this album has a wonderful rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata accompanied by a crying female. A song that was written way back in 1802.
Strongly recommend Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth by Woods of Ypres as well as their earlier Against the Seasons EP. I didn't care much for the band's direction after that, but those first 2 records have some really strong, authentic songs born from depression and introspection.
thank you for including warning. I'm now a fan after listening to that record!
Maybe not as crushingly depressing as A Crow Looked at Me and Giles Corey, but the first three Red House Painters albums straddle the line between beautiful soundscapes and bed-ridden depression so well.
Slowcore is one of my favorite non-punk/metal genres. Other classics releases include :
Low - I Could Live In Hope
Carissa's Wierd - Songs About Leaving
Bedhead- WhatFunLifeWas
American Music Club - Mercury
But probably the most depressing and crushing album in slowcore is Frigid Stars by Codeine. Holy fuck that album is ridiculously despondent to an insane degree.
By the time I get to phoneix by injury reserve isn't filling depressing but has depressing elements and lryics but it has a dystopian sound that's overwhelming that leaves u in a spot where you don't know how to feel
I don't know if "depressing" is the accurate word, but Hospice by The Antlers is the most devastated I've ever been with an album. I've been through the same story that the narrator portrays with its metaphors, so the first time I heard the CD, it decimated me like very few things in my life.
I think you should check out Mouth of the Architect - Time & Withering if you haven't already. Excellent heavy emotion-filled progressive post-rock with very poetic lyricism. Their sophomore album is also decent, but T&W is one of the most underrated albums of all time.
I would easily add every album from Endless Dismal Moan when its only member was alive. Also, TotalSelfHatred’s self-titled debut and Whitechapel’s last two albums are unequivocally emotional and heavy at the same time.
agreed!!! also what makes edm more depressive is that the guy behind it commited suicide
Dimrevenant is a band i came across recently that i think is depressing in a completely hopeless and pretty frightening way, really sounds like your losing your mind and theres no way out
40 Watt Sun, a Project by Patrick Walker, who is the frontman of Warning, is also beautifully depressing. Same goes for Panopticon, both the black metal stuff and his acoustic songs. Both these artists just manage to drag me into this otherworldy place, where you feel like it's just the music and you and nothing else.
Slowcore is already a very depressing inherently but "Songs About Leaving" by Carissa's Wierd (yes it is actually spelled like that, not a typo, lol.) is a genuinely grim and hopeless album but with a lot of dark beauty in it. A song i would like to mention in this album is 'So You Wanna Be A Superhero' which is possibly one of the most heart-wrenching songs i've listened to.
Another honorable mentions (also slowcore as well):
Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill (especially Medicine Bottle).
Songs: Ohia - Ghost Tropic
Errata by Convulsing was so depressing. That album, ESPECIALLY the song Dis, were there for me in my worst moments, and Dis is still probably the best song of all time to me.
hard agree with that sweatshirt pick, you should listen to his Solace EP, it's a ten minute track and i think it's him at his most absolutely depressing point, never fails to choke me up everytime i listen to it
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway. The last track is some of the most emotionally devastating music I've ever heard.
Great choices! Also some nice discoveries.
Lists may change from time to time, but right now my top 10 should be something like this (alphabetical order because it is not ranked):
Antimatter "Leaving Eden"
Bell Witch "Mirror Reaper"
The Cure "Pornography"
David Galas "The Cataclysm" (insanely underrated artist!)
Escape the Day "Ghostless"
Haus Arafna "Asche"
IRM "Oedipus Dethroned"
Khanate "Khanate"
Paysage D'Hiver "Das Tor"
Steve Von Till "If i should fall to the field"
Blackstar by David Bowie is pretty soul crushing as well. Also, anything that Wrest put out under Lurker of Chalice (especially the full length)
ik this not new or unique but THE GHOST~POP TAPE is 100% my favorite “depressing” album of all time and has some of my favorite songs of all time. i relate to it a lot and it perfectly encapsulates a haunted and claustrophobic atmosphere in which u can really tell how much pain peggy was going through at the time.
Since you mentioned Dystopia, both Gault who are part of the same scene and had members of Weakling and Amber Asylum, and Eyes of Fire who had roots in Dystopia via Mindrot, are incredibly underrated bands.
You should do a video on the most depressing albums of each metal subgenre. That would be really interesting
I love that Dystopia album. If you like this album, i'd recommend Unrest by Disrupt
"Tides of Despair" by Nocturnal Depression is amazing. It helped me go through some really hard times and i will mever forget it
I personally would include John Frusciante’s “smile for the streets you hold” John being the guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers
The album was written while he was going through an extreme heroin addiction, and the music reflects that. Just guitar, the vocals, the mix, everything. It was reportedly made for the purpose to get more drug money. Even though musically it’s awful I absolutely love this album.