THE NAMELESS DISEASE

"The Nameless Disease" is the debut full-length studio album by French doom/goth/death metal act The Old Dead Tree. After recording their demo "The Blossom" in 1999 the band got a recording contract with the French independent record label Season of Mist. "The Nameless Disease" was released in March 2003 through that label.

The music alternates between softer acoustic parts and heavy parts with double bass drums. The music is generally very melodic. The vocals are both clean and growling. While I´m not too thrilled about the clean vocals I find the death metal growls great. They actually remind me of the vocal style of Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity. Vocalist Manuel Munoz is the kind of growler that sounds like he means business. His clean vocals are a bit shaky and strongly accented though and while they are not bad they certainly don´t impress either. The lyrics on the album are centered around the suicide of the band´s first drummer Frédéric Guillemot (who commited suicide in August 1999).

The musicianship is strong. Tight interplay and some really powerful riffs. The tracks are generally well written and are able to hold my attention throughout the album. The sound production is professional and especially when the distorted parts kick in the music sounds really powerful. "The Nameless Disease" is overall a good debut album by The Old Dead Tree and I´m looking forward to listening to more from the band. I think this album shows great promise although there is room for improvement. A deserved 3.5 star (70%) rating.

Even though this album has not yet the intensity and consistence of the amazing milestone "The Perpetual Motion", this first album was already a big hint and showed us what would await us two years later. "The Nameless Disease" has a very intellectual, personal and dark approach as it is a conceptual album about the suicide of the former drummer of "The Old Dead Tree". It was surely difficult for the musicians and their friends to deal with the death of their band mate and friend and this album has almost something of an authentic therapy. The danger concerning that kind of difficult topic is that it might not honour the dead drummer and fail its high expectations by putting too many clichés in it. But everything about this album is authentic and drowns you into the mind of a suicidal and the thoughts, hopes and fears of his surroundings. With the very first album, the band has already created something intense and personal that I have never seen or heard before and it is probably one of the best debut albums of all times. Every song has something special and intense and I would just like to describe the first three masterpieces to not write a whole book about it. The only reason why I didn't give amongst the highest ratings is that the second album of the band would be even more diversified and dark. In addition to that I might admit that the strongest tracks of this record are all in the beginning and that's why the second part of the album seems maybe slightly inferior but is still at a high level.

The amazing opener "We Cry As One" already drowns the listener into a very dark and mystical atmosphere. This is really a masterpiece as there are not many tracks that introduce in such a direct and yet smooth way into the general mood of the album after only a few seconds. When the singer begins to whisper his words of sweet sorrow, I have immediately goose bumps. The first track is much diversified, brilliantly sung and technically perfect. The bass guitar is especially audible in the bridge, the double bass speed attacks and yet diversified drum loops are pounding like a wounded heart, the melancholic guitar riffs are in perfect harmony with the emotional vocals. Dark gothic metal meets progressive influences in this opener that is already better than anything Opeth and other bands of that kind have ever done in their entire career. And remember that this was only the first song.

The band immediately continues on a high level with "It Can't Be" and blows away all my doubts and fears instantly. The very unusual and intense opening that is once again brilliantly sung by the heavily underrated Manuel Munoz is surprising. The verses and lyrics are catchy and present an authentic song about despair and how to deal with death.

"How Could You?" is as emotional and continues on a very melancholic note, especially the middle part with its melancholic guitar lines is haunting and unforgettable. Strange sound effects meet pounding tribal drums and create a hypnotizing and haunting mood of the grandest kind. This song takes an intense look at a broken soul. The lyrics are very philosophical just as the whole album is. I don't care that the vocabulary of this French band may not be that diversified and that the singer has a very strong accent as this gives a certain charm and uniqueness to the band. The lyrics are quite direct and touch you even more by being quite simple.

Every song has something special and I could endlessly continue to write and describe those songs but the thing is that everyone has to discover them on their own. Everything about this album is professional and still emotional. The vocal skills of Manuel Munoz are truly amazing, the delicate and diversified bass lines by Vincent Danhier are well hidden but present throughout the whole album, the guitar play by Nicolas Chevrollier is transcending and the drum skills by Franck Métayer perfectly fit to the album. The production of the songs is just perfect and has many edges and transmits directly the emotions of each song. The bass introductions in "Won't Follow Him", the soft acoustic ballad passages in the intense hidden gem "Somewhere Else", the haunting and dominating vocals in "Joy And Happiness", the weird and very progressive sound effects of the floating instrumental track "Transition", the almost jazzy introduction and the haunting choral overdubs of "Quietly Kissing Death", the haunting telephone sounds of "All" and finally the brilliant acoustic introduction and spoken word passages of the final experimental masterpiece "The Bathroom Monologue" are all worth listening the whole album over and over again.

There is no single filler on the record, but let me underline the epic and extremely progressive "It's The Same For Everyone" that takes you on a melancholic voyage over seven emotional minutes. Alongside the first two tracks and maybe the final "The Bathroom Monologue", this is probably the masterpiece of the album if we have to point out a few songs.

To keep it short, this is a highly underrated album and maybe one of the best debut albums ever made. No other band sounds like "The Old Dead Tree" and with this masterpiece their legacy will live eternally. Now get this album and live an amazing experience...

Originally published on www.metal-archives.com on February 9th of the year 2011.