VARDAN, the busiest man in black metal, continues his dominance of the underground with 'Despicable Broken Hope'. Chronologically the 20th album in the one-man band's vast discography, VARDAN's latest 'Despicable Broken Hope' sees the selfsame main man take his melancholic black metal art down more melodic roads. Mind you, the 'melody' across 'Despicable Broken Hope' is of a most miserable hue, each wracked note ringing out in the night like the sound of dying soul. Set at a mostly mid-tempo gait, here VARDAN twists out the bittersweet beauty in each paean to pain, with those 'spaces between the notes' haunting the memory long after record's end. Face 'Despicable Broken Hope' and feel alive - and DEAD!