I guess every album in existence has an opportune moment, in which it should be played. I can’t find the moment for “Between Elation and Despair”…

Maybe I’m simply not depressed enough, or maybe my stress level is too high, I don’t know. I know that this album is unique in it’s utter slowness, it’s complete lack of energy and the enormous patience of the drummer. Its not that I don’t like fatalistic or glum music. I just don’t get this band and their maddingly protracted music. It’s droning as hell. It feels like riding a snail into the Mariana Trench.

Within a constant draft of eerie wind-like sounds – presumably the lamentation of lost souls, or whatever – we find a rock band, replete with guitars, drums, bass and vocals. The latter is the commonly used mix of pure voice and growl, with a fairly well-programmed all-baritone choir added for extra gloom. They play heavy rock in a extremely low tempo, that often draws out the melodies to an extent where the listener looses touch, and is left in a desert of strange grey noise – perhaps these strayed listeners are the source of the eerie wind-like sounds mentioned above?

I have little else to add. “Between Elation and Despair” is – by my standards – quite a dull experience that perhaps only, truly, functions if the receiver is exceedingly down; a state of mind I cannot induce in myself on demand, I’m afraid. For you fanatical devotees of despair, mental flagellation and very slow music, this record will stand out as a guiding light in that infinite bleak night you must be living in.

The one positive thing: Superb production! Most of the rating stems from the outstanding work of the sound guys.