Most depressing song you know?

[Chanakya]

^

I get what you're saying about using the term 'depressing'. Sometimes I find that dark feel kinda uplifting.

Eg. The Khlysti Evangelist - Therion
It isn't really uplifting per se, but it has the typical Therion dark feel to it and I felt this is the better thread to post it in. While listening to this song I find myself imagining pre-bolshevik Russia and something mystical. Obviously it's about the Khlysti order and Rasputin, but the vocals and orchestration are beautifuly dark.
Mats Leven is easily one of my favourite vocalists and Christofer Johnsson is worship worthy.






@ HaTikva - I guess songs about themes we all connect to, touch us more than the vocalist's personal grief right? Seeing the cities so mangled was a bit disturbing.

 

[HaTikva]

I guess you refer to the Ha'Ayara Bo'Eret video? In my opinion it's the best cover ever. The music and the video both worked out very well but it's the concept that makes it so unique. In the end lot of bands made anti-war covers, but this one video sends shivers down the spine because it confrontates people with something REAL, not just words but really uncovering all the horrors that happened during the war. In my opinion this song is an excellent anti-war statement, a statement that we should never allow any form of ethnic cleansing again. The fact that the band recorded it with this message behind it (their grandparents survived the concentration camps, they did not make this cover out of sensation or so) is a proof to that. It was intended as an anti-war statement, and IMO it is an excellent one, a much better one than most other bands that protest against war.



Here is some lyrics of Sophia's "(Death Comes) So Slow" which may sound depressing but, in a day when I feel sad, this sorta lifts me up. The melancholy in the song gives me the feeling "you're not alone with your problems". So yeah, I would not call this song depressing at all, even when the lyrics may look depressing.

I turn off the lights but leave the television talking, no tonight I don't wanna be alone
I try to close my eyes but I'm afraid of the dark
I see you everywhere, I see you everywhere
But death comes so slow when you're waiting, when you're waiting to be taken
Death comes so slow when it's all you want, and it takes the ones that don't

It was written shortly after a lifelong friend of the vocalist (and band member of his previous band God Machine) died from a brain tumor.

 

[basil_awami]

u want most depressing songs ?! here u go

1- Uaral - Laments ( u can hear him crying in the middle)

2- Ataraxie -L'Ataraxie ( u can hear his screams at the end epic sound)

3- Candlemass - stars and smoke ( the chorus what is sticks in u )

4- Mourning belveoth - sickness ( the guitar riff and gorwling despair)

5- Ahab - last album all songs...

6- Amorphis - Tunola

And the list goes on...

 

[mark b]

Depressing is such a harsh term. It also differs from person to person as we all absorb music in our own ways. Is Joy Division depressing? I wouldn't say so. Sad and depressing are such different things. I mean, very often the mood a song stirs up depend on our personal memories attached to it.

I rather avoid to call songs depressing because very often the sad songs make me somehow feel better and less alone when I feel sad. So let's list some songs which I would label as sad songs (but without negative undertone)


The God Machine - It's all over
Sophia - (Death comes) so slow
Evanescence - My immortal
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean rain (my favourite song all-time, but a sad one lyrically)
Manic Street Preachers - William's last words



On a totally different level, check out Salem's (another Israeli metal band) song "Ha´Ayara Bo'Eret", a doom metal version of an old 1938 poem by Mordechai Gebirtig which was a warning for the holocaust (initially written in Yiddish language and named "S'brennt"). Salem's metal cover in Hebrew is very haunting, and the video (using real footage from the war - so not for sensitive eyes) is simply horrifying. It is a fantastic anti-war statement and a message to never forget what happened...

at the same time you can consider it a very sad song because, looking at current ongoings in Europe, people haven't learnt from their past and stigmatisation based on ethnicity and religion are ongoing. That to me may be sadder than any song that deals with themes such as suicide or personal grief.

WARNING: those with sensible eyes better not watch the video. It was intended as anti-war statement, not to shock, nonetheless it can come across as shocking to some. If you are easily moved by such images, better just check the audio of that song.

Very true, I find the so called depressing songs uplifting, makes me feel good about myself. Bands like Candlemass, Devil Doll and Opeth fit the mould though.

 

[HaTikva]

I know it ain't metal but check out Sophia, all their songs are about sadness, loss, heartbroken feelings, sometimes death. The vocalist, Robin Proper Sheppard, previously sung for a noise rock (very heavy, athough not purely metal) band called The God Machine where a lot of lyrics had an undertone of despair and frustration.

Also, while very sad, IMO this song is one of the few songs that deserves the title "epic", especially if you know the story behind the song...

 

[basil_awami]

one of my best bands out there Tool << best dark philosophical mind ! they r my inspiration in life maynard is a genius

 

[SonofRuss]

This here is really depressing:



Of course, I would have named One Last Goodbye, but someone already did, but I guess, this one is also very heavy and painful and all. Anathema is absolutely great in bringing you down ;-)

Definitely one of the most underestimated bands of all times. I love their music.

 

[HaTikva]

some more sombre (but extremely interesting) songs:

WOLFSHEIM - The sparrows and the nightingales
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Song of Joy
SILKE BISCHOFF - The church bells and the razorblades (the term "depressing is applicable here for real)
EELS - Elizabeth on the bathroom floor
THE SMITHS - Asleep


From Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor:
"It's hard to wake up when all you want is to die"

From Asleep:
"There is a better world... well, there must be ?"



Sometimes however a single sentence does the trick. Check THE GOD MACHINE's "Painless":
"And you said life could be painless... well I'm sorry but that's not what I've found"



Also, LAM's whole Psycho Magnet album is very dark (especially "Where Good Girls Go To Die" and "Shatter") but those two songs are of such a poetic beauty that I can only say their depressive undertone fades in the light of their beauty.


And I agree, Maynard James Keenan is a pure genius. I also like his personality a lot. He seems to be far away of the rock n roll lifestyle, instead being more into intellectual and political stuff. Rather taking care of his sun instead of the drugs, sex and rock lifestyle. Very interesting person, as is Danny Carey. There is an air of mystery around Tool but that contribute to their attraction. This band is a perfectionist one as well, in a way they are to metal what Pink Floyd was in their own style: groundbreaking and renewing, and in depth beyond compare.
Still, I would still say A Perfect Circle > Tool

 

[Postmodernist]

Hm, guys, thanks for your contribution, but could you please post something like YouTube links, perhaps? It takes time to hunt each song down :|

Meanwhile, a piece of folk-rock from Ukraine, smthng about spring coming:

 

[Postmodernist]

Schindler's List soundtrack by John Petrucci (Dream Theater)

 

[Kenneth R.]

John Lennon - Imagine...

because we still have to imagine

 

[Burke&HareInc.]

"A Soul that's been abused" by Ronnie Earl. I'd post a clip but I can't find any footage. This song is a bit personal for me. It was fitting for the state of mind I was in, back when I heard it for the first time. It was also my introduction to the blues.

To make it up, another song;


Pantera's "This Love" from the "Vulgar Display of Power" album.

 

[Oskoreii]

Agalloch's "a desolation song" makes me numb, but the most depressive song must be Forest of Shadows' "Eternal Autumn"

 

[Postmodernist]

Hej kompis, much stuff like Agalloch here:
http://antonsaysdotcom.livejournal.com/9176.html

 

[DeaconDesperado]

Hey guys! New to this forum - I started listening to OL around March after seeing them in NYC

Anyway, most depressing song for me is hands down Funeral - The Architecture of Loss

 

[Boxcardummie]

I have a few but some arn't metal but they're all rock or metal of some form.

Downface - Alone
Queensryche - I dont believe in love
Sturm Und Drang- Heaven (is not here)
Lilitu - I cannot be saved <------ Especially this one! Fucking awesome though.
Pearl Jam - Black
Oomph! - Auf Kurs
Sinamore - Better Alone
Lost in Tears- Assurance
Entwine - Frozen by the sun
Alice In Chains - Nutshell
Sentenced - Brief is the light, Excuse me while I kill Myself, No one there, almost anything by sentenced ha.