It's not enough a collection of guests artists in a debut album, a well-polished dark atmosphere and some of the legendaries Greek bands' beloved elements from the 90s'. I'm sick of the fact, every time a newcomer steps in the Greek music scene, trying to grab from some already known artist's shoulder and make his way according to someone else's fatigue and contacts, of course. So, the atmospheric dark/ death metallers DAYLIGHT MISERY could not be an exception, although their sound is quite interesting, especially if you consider yourselves familiar to bands like MY DYING BRIDE, DRACONIAN and SATURNUS. Also, I have to confide in you that the Greek bands that I respect and I admire their works are counted in the fingers on my right hand - ROTTING CHRIST are not included, at least, from "A Dead Poem" and over; so, it would be tough for DAYLIGHT MISERY to break this establishment at once.

"Depressive Icons" consists of nine tracks, deep into the abyss' despair and well-played too, but copying a lot DAYLIGHT MISERY's guiding fathers' music settings, like NIGHTFALL and ROTTING CHRIST that used to have in their first steps. For this final result, responsible maybe George Bokos of ROTTING CHRIST who made the production of the album, without being an alibi though. Noticeable is also the participation of Seraph (DARK FORTRESS), playing drums in the whole album. But lets get more into it: the self-titled track carries a lot of MY DYING BRIDE's past glory (note the intro that could belong to "The Angel And The Dark River"), while "Miserablia" has a lot of AMORPHIS elements, especially in the keyboards' parts. Highlight of the album could be considered "Infinity" and its characteristic ROTTING CHRIST catchy riffage (you can blame also Sakis Tolis guest vocalist appearance) and "Soul Embraced" as well, because of its genuine tune that tries to emerge the real DAYLIGHT MISERY composition skills and their personal sonic id; personally speaking, this one is my favourite track from the album.

I can not but to comment on the guitars' final sonic result though; they seem to have a lot of dynamics in there, but the mediocre production presents them a little bit harsh, sharpened and droughty, depriving their massiveness and the whole depth of DAYLIGHT MISERY's composition lines - unless it's something that didn't happen by accident. In addition to this, Vassilis Mazaris vocals have a lot of potential and abilities that help him to be transformed from a growling monster to some melancholic psychopath and vice versa and that's one of the positive things you can discover in the DAYLIGHT MISERY's collective.

A band can say that's successful only if manage to improve itself and learn by its own mistakes; and there's a lot of free space for improvement. DAYLIGHT MISERY are still in the beginning of their career (since they count only two years of life) and the positive thing is that they can improve and unique their music style. I'd glad to hear that they'll achieve to sign a contract with some great label in the near future.

PS: Any influences of PARADISE LOST's "Icon" in the album's title/cover?