Selbst - Despondency Chord Progressions (2024)

Having been fans of this one-man project since their early days on Sun & Moon records, Selbst has greatly matured over time and with “Despondency Chord Progression” the band reaches new heights in terms of demoralizing and punishing music. Featuring seven tracks and nearly 44 minutes of music, N takes a different approach with this release focusing more on creating layered atmospheres that are both crushing and yet elegant and refined.

The release opens with the Spanish titled “La encarnación de todos los miedos”, a very typical Selbst track with fierce vocals and incisive guitar riffs. This track continues with the brutality and harshness of “Relatos de angustia”, making the perfect opener to set the vibe. The masterfully titled “When True Loneliness is Experienced”, mixes in some more melodic and highly melancholic passages, creating a very depressing and chilling vibe that is only exacerbated by the eerie clean vocals thrown into the mix.

With “Third World Wretchedness”, “Chant of Self Confrontation”, and “The One Who Blackens Everything” we have a very engaging exploratory trio of songs that perfectly balance mystery, melancholy, and uncompromising harshness. These songs showcase how the band is further expanding its sound while continuing to deliver misery-inducing atmospheres and a good dose of savage rawness. An interesting piece has to be the emotional “Between Seclusion and Obsession”, a song that is quite different and yet keeps up with the band’s aural aesthetics.

Closing with the punishing “The Stench of a Dead Spirit”, Selbst reminds the listener that they excel in creating visceral Black Metal and that just because there is some expansion of their sound in this release, they can still whip out devastating harshness on command. Overall, “Despondency Chord Progressions” is a very interesting and expansive release that showcases a band’s evolution into more diverse and equally effective territories. If you like to feel pain and desolation, this is the release for you.

Label: Debemur Morti Productions

Release: April 19th, 2024

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Chile