Swedish band Ofdrykkja (it seems to be old Norse for binge drinking) was formed in 2012, but due to individual issues (mental hospital, rehab and jail, you see), it took quite some time before Drabbad, The Associate, Pessimisten and Bödeln were able to finish their first album. And it’s an album that, to my opinion, was created rather as a therapeutic expression for the members’ vision on / of life than as outlet for creativity. With the support of mighty Avantgarde Music however, A Life Worth Losing finally gets released on CD to please the sick-minded (and to annoy the ignorant grey masses). Earlier this year it was released on tape (via Sweden’s Temple Of Death Productions), yet in a very limited edition (of fifty copies only, I think), and with less tracks.
A Life Worth Losing indeed deals with being antisocial, with suicide, with hatred for mankind and self-hatred, and more happiness. It opens with the title track, which is mainly instrumental (no lyrics, yet some distant screams), based on melodious dual guitar riffs, breathing a desolate atmosphere. Then comes Livets Dystra Gång, a very atmospheric and slow-paced piece, including spoken words. Of course it’s built upon depressive leads, sometimes pretty prominently leading, supported by simplistic and repetitive drum patterns – pay attention, because such percussional support isn’t but grandiose for this kind of unhappiness, so it’s meant the positive way by undersigned. And that’s the way the better part of this album continues: spoken words about sadness, grief and desperation, highly melodic guitar leads (by the way, it is truly remarkable how fantastic those black-gazed guitar lines sound, by focusing on atmosphere rather than self-glorification) and repetitive rhythms, creating bleak, desperate atmospheres. Some passages are remarkably heavier. To give you an example: the opening sequence of Under My Influence, which takes of much faster, and which includes angry screams, mourning chants and the characterising spoken words. But the harsher approach (as well as the use of screams) is limited to a couple of songs / excerpts only.
For fans of: (later) Shining, Vanhelga, Lifelover, Woods Of Infinity or Apati (vocalist Pessimisten used to be member of this band, by the way). But keep this in mind: I do not want to label this band as a Suicidal Black Metal combo, yet rather as a Depressive Rock band with Blackgaze / DSBM-elements.