Time Signature Time...

Genre: avant-garde depressive black metal

Hailing from Germany, Total Negation is one out of many one-man depressive black metal projects. So, yes, it does admittedly sound like there's nothing new under the sun here.

But that would be an incorrect assumption. While Total Negation's sound does evolve around the typical traits of depressive black metal, such as vocals in the form of tortured screams and introvert attitudes as well as a fuzzy, reverb-laden production, the band's sole member Wiedergänger show that there is more to his music than just the run-off-the-mill stuff. In addition to the typical black metal instrumentation, he makes use of a range of instruments that are totally alien to the genre, and the listener encounters what sounds like a French accordion, a glockenspiel, and a melodica - among other things - on the album.

Needless to say, this is not an album that will click immediately with most listener - unless you are a hardcore depressive black metal fan - but, at least in my case, something happens in the fifth track 'Geist' which captures my attention completely. The preceding four tracks are artistically interesting, but they do not really rock my world. But, 'Geist' features a unique riff, and it is as if the last four tracks on the album are much more riff-driven and doom-laden than the first four ones.

In any case, Total Negation's latest effort is definitely an innovative and interesting take on an otherwise dull black metal subgenre, and Wiedergänger can definitely be proud of his contribution to the black metal corpus of releases.