The band was started back in 1989. My former bands Gods of Grind and Mortuus weren’t very active at that time, so I wrote a couple of songs on my own. I wanted to play in a band that combined the brutal power and heaviness of Death Metal with the incredible speed and kick-ass structures of Grindcore. But in my area there were no musicians who wanted to join such an uncompromising project, so I wrote a couple of songs for my own and DEPRESSION was born as a one-man “band”. I released these songs on the first demo “Tal der Tränen” (1990). This was more Noisecore than Grind, but I was on the right path. It was the first recording I ever made, so it was really bad and only a few friends got a copy!
In the year of 1992 it was time for my second demo “Vergessene Welten”. It was a lot better than “Tal der Tränen”, especially the sound and the layout. The music style shifted more to Grindcore with some Death Metal influences. I sold some tapes in Germany, but without much promotion and only for a short time.
In 1993 there were enough songs finished for another demo and this time I tried to find a vocalist for DEPRESSION, because I didn’t like my growling. I found the perfect shouter in Marc Miekeley. He really liked my music and so he joined DEPRESSION. Since 1993 DEPRESSION was a two-piece-band! Marc has written most of the lyrics on the third demo “…in Verzweiflung”. It was Death Metal with Grindcore influences. This demo was spread all over the world and we got nice responses from the fans and the critics (certainly not from all, but most of them). Due to various reasons (we both joined Dismal) it got very quiet around the DEPRESSION camp after this demo.
Well, in 1995, after a long break of two years, DEPRESSION were back! A lot of fans asked us about those old demo tapes, but we don’t sell them anymore. Marc and I both still like the old stuff and so we had the idea to release the three demos again (new recorded and with new layout) on our fourth demo “Erinnerungen”. This tape was really a big success, as the two different editions we made (400 copies altogether) are sold out and we got a lot of cool new underground contacts.
In Autumn of 1996 we released our debut 7″ EP, “Ein Hauch von Moder” on Gulli Records. We were really satisfied with this EP. We got absolutely fantastic reactions and responses from the underground world-wide, and needless to say it was a huge step forward for DEPRESSION! This EP was limited to 800 copies and it was pressed on purple vinyl and we pay tribute to one of our main inspirations, Blood, with the song “Dogmatize”. But instead of resting on this success we carried on with DEPRESSION to keep on corrupting the world with “groovy Death/Grind”.
And so, in late summer of 1997, “Böses Blut” (a split-CD with the gods Agathocles) came out of the dark! This was certainly the pinnacle in the history of DEPRESSION at the time, a dream come true, you could say! I’m still very satisfied with the whole CD. The songs, the sound and the layout are very nearly perfect to me. This time we covered “Thy Beauty” from Grindcore legends Fear Of God. With this release, we reached so many freaks on the globe who hadn’t heard something from us before. The very positive letters showed us that there was still an active and enthusiastic underground scene for such brutal music!
At the end of 1997, we released a new split 7″ EP, “Die Zeiten ändern sich” with German grinders Maggot Shoes. It was strictly limited to 500 hand-numbered pieces of orange-coloured vinyl and it is well within the DEPRESSION style and attitude. Some people said that this was the best recording from DEPRESSION so far and I still like it, too (and not only because of our crazy version of “Heart Of Illinois” from Impetigo!).
To have a good start in 1998, Hierba Records unleashed a DEPRESSION split-tape with the Spanish Noise-Grindcore band Hierba. Our part contains really old rehearsals and party-live recordings. There are really funny versions of Impetigo’s “Boneyard” and Blood’s “Dogmatize”…don’t take it seriously, it’s pure fucking Noise and a cool remembrance to the ancient times…Enjoy or die!
There were still a few songs left from the “Ein Hauch von Moder” studio-session ’96, so in April of 1998 we finally released these songs on the “Ein Hauch von Moder Part II” split 7″ EP with German gore-deathers Rejectamenta. In the vein of our debut EP in 1996, this split-EP is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies and was a return to our roots. It’s a typical DEPRESSION release the way we like it. Similar to our debut EP, it was pressed on purple vinyl and the cover is also a negative of an ancient ruin.
Time goes on and at the first day of 1999, we split the 10″ LP “Und keiner weint uns nach” with the Brazilian Grindcore-legends Rot, released on Deadly Art Production. To me, this release was quite important for DEPRESSION. And it seems that the fans liked this piece of music, too, because the first edition of 666 hand-numbered green-coloured vinyl sold out very quickly and so did the second pressing on blue vinyl as well. We dismembered “Suicide Fuck” from Abscess on this record because Chris Reifert and Autopsy are one of my all-time-faves. This DEPRESSION stuff is more Death Metal-influenced than the previous stuff and I suppose it was the heaviest release DEPRESSION had ever made…at least for the time being!
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! In Autumn 1999, DEPRESSION celebrated their ten-year anniversary! So we released on the 1st day of January in the year 2000 (again on Deadly Art) our first full-length album “Chronische Depression” on CD and in spring as a limited two-coloured LP. It was a present to ourselves (and maybe to a few of you as well). It contains a bunch of new songs, the obligatory cover version (this time, “Bloodcraving” from the godly Mortician), the outstanding song “Depressionen” and as a bonus, one song from each DEPRESSION release in the last ten years! We thought it was time for a little break…and so it took more than a year to fuck the mainstream with the next sign of life!
But since X-mas-day 2001 the Split-CD “Zur Stille finden” with the lunatics from Haemorrhage is available (on Cudgel Agency) containing ten new tunes of devastating groovy Death/Grind from DEPRESSION. This time “Enough” from Agathocles is the cover-song and I suppose this recording is the most groovy one for us so far. By the way, it is the first output featuring Ron Sanders on guttural grunts!! He is a friend of us for a long time (former Dismal shouter) and his vocal-style fits perfectly to Marc´s eruptions!
It’s time for a new release in 2002! So we did the split-EP “Schatten” with German goremongers Gonorrhoeaction (again on Cudgel Agency). The 8 DEPRESSION songs (including “Radio Hit” from Anal Cunt) are totally back to the roots!! The tracks are fast, more brutal and raw as fuck! The vocal-battles between Marc and Ron are brilliant, and we are all very satisfied and happy with this release!
As long as the flame of the underground-spirit and the life-philosophy of true metal-music burns in my heart and soul we will always carry on like this!
DEPRESSION are dedicated to the world-wide metal underground. Keep the spirit alive, and the underground will never die!!
O.K., thanks for your interest and support and stay fast, heavy and brutal!!!
So long,
Kai & DEPRESSION
We don’t care if you think that DEPRESSION isn’t very original or new, because we play the music we want to play!! Nothing else!!!
History:
1990 – “Tal der Tränen” Demo
1992 – “Vergessene Welten” Demo
1993 – “…in Verzweiflung.” Demo
1995 – “Erinnerungen” Demo
1996 – “Ein Hauch von Moder” 7″EP
1997 – “Böses Blut” Split-CD with Agathocles
1997 – “Die Zeiten ändern sich” Split-7″EP with Maggot Shoes
1998 – “Enjoy or die!?” Split-Tape with Hierba
1998 – “Ein Hauch von Moder” Part II Split-7″EP with Rejectamenta
1999 – “Und keiner weint uns nach” Split-10″LP with Rot
2000 – “Chronische Depression” CD/LP
2001 – “Zur Stille finden” Split-CD with Haemorrhage
2002 – “Schatten” Split-7″EP with Gonorrhoeaction
to be continued…
official Website: http://www.depression-grind.de
