Some songs are fun, some are about love, even more about love lost, there are some about being mean or breaking the law,but with Agents of Mercy’s new album The Black Forest, the songs seem more depressing than anything else. When I opened the CD case I noticed that it included a booklet that has the lyrics written down in it for all 8 songs, so of course I read along as the songs play. This is where I see that the songs are read like a bleak poem about life and how it’s not all sugar and spice. Listening to the songs give me the same feeling of melancholy and being blue.

There are people out in the world that actually like having songs that have a depressing edge to them, me I’m not one of them. I don’t like listening to a song that will bring me down, I want to hear something that will brighten my mood or make me recall fond memories. This is not going to happen when I’m listening to any of the songs on The Black Forest. It wasn’t easy to listento the vocals of Roine Stolt as he sings most of the songs. His voice sounds like he is forcing himself to not change his pitch any while singing or fear of going off key.

Not being impressed any with the vocals and the lyrics the songs where only good with the instruments being played. There’s a mixture of all sorts of sounds being played in these 8 songs. One moment there’s a sound being played like it’s an opera with the piano, the dramatic tempo, then the next song would features sounds being used in rock songs and even some alternative style beats. This change up of sound, beats, tempos, and rhythms being used in the songs are the only parts that impressed me. I really liked the way the instrumental portion of all the songs sounded. Each one had different sounds being played giving such a wide range of sounds and beats that I didn’t know what to expect. However, as good as the instruments sound, as much as I liked them, it’s not enough to cover for the poor vocals and the depressing sound of the lyrics for me to like the whole effect of the songs.