FEEL.MELT.RELEASE.ESCAPE.

In theory I should really like this record. Hammond organ, mellotron, a vintage seventies feel to their music. The cover art is pretty amazing by Travis Smith. I was thinking that maybe these guys from Norway would be like another WOBBLER. Well...the things I like are the mellotron, and the drumming is incredible. I don't like the vocals, that often seem strained.The lyrics are pretty brutal at times.There is enough here though to give it 3 stars, but nothing more in my opinion.

"End of Days" opens with those fantastic drum rolls as mellotron comes in.The hammond to follow is great, and the guitar solo sounds really good, were rocking now ! Vocals come in, and heavy riffs follow. Great opener,but the vocals kind of ruin it for me."Coward" opens in a similar fashion with some great drumming followed by some weak vocals. The prolonged instrumental section is a highlight on this record. "Voyage of the No Brain Discovery" has some brutal lyrics, like "Your face a laxative pill, got to do number two, Goofey's a shining intellectual; that's compared with you". The instrumental work is good though.

"Path of Sorrow" is one of my favourites on this record. I especially like the female vocal melody later in the song followed by a WOBBLER-like soundscape. "Penny is a Slut Machine" has again the kind of lyrics that are immature, but the drums are amazing as well as the organ play. "Feel.Melt.Release.Escape" has some great sounding drums with mellotron, creating an awesome sound ! Unfortunately it only lasts a minute and the rest is mediocre. "O" has some majestic mellotron after 4 minutes."The Anti-Depressive Delivery" is another really good song. It's hard and heavy. Organ and vocals come and go. Some excellent bass work and the mellotron is back ! "Bones & Money" doesn't feel like it belongs at all. It's great though, a 15 minute epic beginning with 2 minutes of piano melodies. Next comes a seventies KANSAS-like soundscape.This is a killer track that is so unlike the rest of the album.Vocals don't do the song any justice though.

3 stars.

Penny is a slut machine!

Good, now that I have your attention let's begin. Anti-Depressive Delivery is a Norwegian band oozing with oldschool progressive sounds and techniques. Though they may have been slapped with the Extreme metal label and have songs with titles like the previously mentioned Penny Is A Slut Machine, there's still a lot of music here that should appeal to just about any prog head. They're a bit on the heavy side still, although they don't have the growl or scream vocals normally associated with the subgenre. Actually, they're more defined by a heavy use of mellotron and organs than anything else. If forced to choose a band to compare them too the easiest way would be to say, ''kind of like a heavy, jazzy Riverside but with a lighter tone''.

This debut from the band shows a lot of promise. Unfortunately they'd be dropped during the recording of their second album which would eventually be available for free download, and it would never be completely finished. What's strange about this is that the second album is actually a lot stronger than the first, and while Chain For Foods was an excellent step forwards for the band their life would be cut unfortunately short right then and there. Of course, getting back to this album, we have a mix of some very good prog material and some good rock material. Some of the tracks which will appeal more to the progheads are the ones that have the synths, hammonds and mellotrons right up front. Good examples of this are found mostly in the second half of the album starting with the unforgettably quirky opening of the title track, Feel. Melt. Release. Escape., which also features some of the album's best vocals in the haunting chorus. 0 is another excellent track, as well as is the self titled track The Anti-Depressive Delivery, which is actually more of a rocker with the proggy instruments pureed into the mix.

Of course, that's not to say that the first half of the album is forgettable. The opener of the album also provides a good mix as the band does so well, and actually seems to show where the band would be going on their next album. End Of Days is a strong track with a killer bassline and those ever present synths and melltrons that wash over the progger. Add in some metal guitars and surprisingly strong vocals and you have quite the first impression. Voyage Of No Brain Discovery is where the metal side of the band really starts to shine through with the driving drum beat, while Penny Is A Slut Machine provides some great instrumentation to back up it's odd title.

Of course, and as would be expected, the standout of the album has to be the 15-minute closing track Bones & Money. Opening with some gorgeous piano work for about two minutes the synths and vocals kick in for some very nice emotional work here. Hardly an extreme track, this shows the band at their best (although I would argue that Blood Is Blood from their next album would be their absolute pinnacle). This one keeps midpaced but does manage to grow darker and heavier over the course of the track. Some impressive keyboarding at the end as well.

All in all this makes for a very good record. I certainly wouldn't recommend it over their second album (which may never see the light of day), but it makes for a pleasant and rewarding listen. Recommended! 3 bones out of 5, good, but don't worry if you can't find it.

This debut album by Anti-Depressive Delivery was the perceptual victim of my first hearing their sophomore release, Chain of Foods; an album which ranks as one of favorites of the 21st century. The differences between the 2 were such that Feel. Melt. Release. Escape. (henceforth referred to as FMRE) fell by the wayside. I have recently revisited this album with a fresh perspective, no bias toward its successor and find FMRE to be a proverbial hidden gem in my own collection.

FMRE is a decidedly heavier album than the remaining 2 Anti-Depressive Delivery albums. Not so heavy that I would refer to it as a "metal" album, though the distorted crunch exists in spots. The use of heavy guitars comes with a great amount of contrasting undistorted, lightly overdriven, and acoustic sound. Even a banjo gets air time on Path of Sorrow. Additionally, the writing does not lend itself to any metal conventions that would typically accompany heavy distorted guitars. Combine that with the rather liberal use of B3, common time changes and soaring vocal harmonies, FMRE takes on the feel of a complixified and edgy classic rock album, though not nearly as classic rocky as ADD's remaining albums. The keys are not just limited to B3 either. Mellotron makes a healthy proggy appearance as well.

Overall FMRE does not hit that sweet spot of perfection that Chain of Foods did. White it is an outstanding and enjoyable listen, some of the transitions do not feel/sound as natural as they did on Chain of Food. But The album has nonetheless earned itself a little promotion in my collection to a little more frequent listen after this little re- acquaintance. And I believe it to be an excellent addition to any prog collection. 4 stars.