Italian quartet bring it all this time around
Novembre were never a band that really did anything that would make me give them the time of day until their previous effort, 2006’s Materia. It may have been a more melodic departure for the group, who are now vocalist/guitarist Carmelo Orlando, guitarist Massimiliano Pagliuso, new bassist Luca Giovagnoli and drummer Giuseppe Orlando, but it is still one of the best albums released in 2006 in my mind. It was with much anticipation then that I received their latest album, Aenemia, for review and this time around, whilst the melodic elements are still there, they seemed to have rediscovered “the heavy”, which when it is all rolled together, makes for one hell of an impressive release indeed.
The slow, almost off camber fade in of Aenemia dictates the song’s rhythm as we are instantly greeted by the one thing that their previous album lacked – growling death vocals. Of course though, the track, like most of the album, sees Orlando’s clean vocals deliver some outstanding melodies but it is good to see that the quartet have brought back some vocal aggro to both the fore and backgrounds of their sonic landscape. It’s a quick stop start transition from the first to second tracks even though Triesteitaliana quite easily flows in a similar vein to Aenemia, although this is broken up by a sudden blast of death metal just past the halfway point which may take some by surprise. Novembre’s somewhat unique blend of death, doom and goth metal is as progressive and melodic as it is sombre and haunting, and Cobalt Of March is the perfect example of this combination. But the “best on ground” award clearly goes to Bluecracy which stands as quite possibly the best song the band have ever written and definitely one of the best I’ve heard this year.
The slow Architheme relies on the less is more philosophy when it comes to vocals and it works well, before Nascence builds to a crescendo that sees the introduction of some very haunting female vocals whilst at times the music takes on a very Opeth-like style. The album flows effortlessly from the dark duo of Iridescence and Sound Odyssey and the twisting Cantus Christi to the engaging Zenith, the excellent and melodic Argentic and the moody finale, Deorbit, as the band display a mature balance of doom and goth metal that ebbs and flows between deathly heaviness and gothic melody.
My biggest criticism of Materia was the lack of vocal aggression even though I still rated it as an album overall. Now, with The Blue, Novembre have truly shown what they are capable of. Without doubt The Blue is Novembre’s finest work to date.
(Peaceville Records/Stomp Distribution)
