UMUR "First Depression" is the debut full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Depressive Age. The album was released through GUN Records in March 1992. The band formed in East-Berlin in 1984 under the Blackout monicker but changed their name to Depressive Age in 1988. Seeking freedom the band fled to West-Berlin, but lead vocalist Jan Lubitzki was caught during his escape and was sentenced to spend a year in jail for the failed escape attempt. So Depressive Age are an act with rough real-life experiences and the scars to prove it.

Maybe that´s the reason why the band´s early albums are such dark and intriguing releases, and the reason why Lubitzki has a convincing desperate tone to his singing that you can feel isn´t theatrics. There´s definitely some real pain and despair on display here and it burns through. The best example is the heartbreaking "Innocent In Detention", where Lubitzki sings about his incarceration at an East German prison. Descriptions of forced labor in freezing cold, and physical and mental torture. The vocal lines: "And when the columns marching, To the place where we work so hard, Out in the cold, I am so tired, This, wintertime has no end, The sound of the boots is always there, It keeps waking me up", create strong images of JLubitzki´s struggles and tribulations in my mind. His vocal style is otherwise a bit hard to describe as he is a very versatile singer, able to sing both in lower registers and very high registers too (listen to his almost hysterical high pitched singing on "Never Be Blind"). He masters both raw and more melodic singing.

The music style on "First Depression" is also a bit hard to describe. I guess thrash metal is correct to a degree, as the music features both thrashy riffs and rhythms, but the album features many other elements too, and there is definitely a progressive/adventurous edge to the procedings that you don´t hear on many other thrash metal releases. It´s fairly technical music, but it´s not tech thrash and the predominantly vers/chorus structured tracks don´t exactly scream progressive metal either, so it´s more a matter of displaying a progressive attitude and having a unique sound.

"First Depression" features a sound production which is decent, but overall feels a little disjointed. The instruments don´t really geel and the impression is that the guitars sound a little thin and the drums are a little too dominant in the mix and feature a slightly unpleasant tone. So it´s definitely one of the features of the album which could have been better. "First Depression" is however still a quality debut release by Depressive Age, featuring an unusual take on thrash metal and a very unique sounding vocalist in Lubitzki, who also treats the listener to some very interesting lyrical subjects. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.