Novembers Doom "The Pale Haunt Departure" CD
[The End]
Several years ago Novembers Doom absolutely floored me with "The Knowing", and I've remained a huge fan ever since.  Since that time they've continued to refine their own unique brand of metal that, while certainly moody, isn't exactly what the band name might intimate, and on this record they're definitely stepping further into their own sound.  Sure, there are plenty of somber clean passages and thick rhythms with a variety of growled/snarled vocals, and the generally moderate tempos and thickly dissonant atypical chord phrasings that they've always used are still the backbone of the songwriting here (quite masterfully, I might add, I absolutely love that stuff), but there's a little more direct melody involved as well, and some of the chunkier and "faster" (but not literally "fast") rhythms such as those in the opening title track are significantly more energetic and rocked out than anything you might have encountered with their past work.  Also notable is the rather straightforward and direct "Autumn Reflection", which shifts between soft clean guitars and intense yet simple power chord structures with subdued singing (using just the right amount of vocal harmonies) and piano accents - almost making for a "catchy" tune, granted it is six minutes long, and the band's token bleakness is absolutely in tow.  "Dark World Burden" flirts with a few thrashier picking patterns (though nothing too fast) and definitely has a more varied sense of rhythm playing throughout, the latter characteristic of which is something that tends to rear its head often on this record.  The eight-minute "In the Absence of Grace" can feel a little less linear in its shifts between different dynamics and a general penchant for fitting more riffs into the composition, but there's nothing weak on the record by any means.  In fact, some of these songs, while less memorable, contain some of the most excellent riffs herein, and the equally lengthy "The Dead Leaf Echo" is among the moodier selections in its persistent drone of chunky rhythms and some of the more tangible doom trappings, effectively shifting over into acoustic segues and such without a hitch.  The consistently softer "Through a Child's Eyes" is the only other area that starts to lose some steam with its rich layers of reverberated clean guitars and more pronounced singing, but at the same time, it certainly serves its purpose in allowing closer "Collapse of the Fallen Throe" to kick in at full force with some classically executed doom: Slow, sparse power chords, slow melodic lead harmonies, spoken vocals mixed deep in against the instrumentation, etc.  Very nice... and the manner in which the song builds to an intense crescendo that layers acoustic and electric guitars is really fabulous.  The recording is quite good, as has come to be expected.  I think the percussion could use a little more of a natural warmth to it, but beyond that I basically have nothing but compliments.  The mix (handled by Dan Swanö) is very cohesive and clear and retains a lot of detail within all of the layering, which is a big one when some keyboard accents or more involved guitar passages seep in.  I'm also a big fan of the guitar tone, which is nice and dense and has a good sense of character throughout the album - be it the subtly gritty rhythms, the fluid leads, or even the beautiful acoustic passages.  I'm not making out much in regards to the basslines, so that's another area of the rhythm section that could use minor attention, but by and large the record sounds superb.  The layout also looks quite nice and uses a lot of illustrative digital illustrations and such with tons of manipulated photography, etc.  At times the art is a little too unnaturally collaged, but for the most part I love the overall color scheme and texture to the visuals.  And, as expected, the lyrics are explorations into tales of misery and solitude: "My arcane cell is covered in resent, I never asked for any of this, Follow the path which leads me to nothing, Searching for my smile I lost long ago..."  This is a very good record, for sure.  The overall songwriting doesn't grip me as much as some of the band's prior efforts, as far as immediate emotional impact or whatnot, but I do think the new breadth of influences being drawn from and all of the added little intricacies makes this somewhat of a transitional record, sort of like they're smack in the middle of maturing to their next level of progression.  Make no mistake, as always this album is immediately recognizable as Novembers Doom, but as their most individualized record to date it would be my guess that their next offering will be the one that really solidifies the manner in which they've been coming into their own.  I'll anxiously await that time as well, as this is certainly a group that has yet to receive their due after releasing a series of great records (specifically over the last five years).  Well done. (8/10)
Running time - 51:43, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: The Pale Haunt Departure, Autumn Reflection, The Dead Leaf Echo, Collapse of the Fallen Throe]
The End Records - http://www.theendrecords.com

This review has been displayed 3419 times.