Materia

by

Novembre

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This is my favorite album of 2006. I like it Better than this year's Agalloch, Isis, Tool, Katatonia, Summoning, Green Carnation, etc. But even while it beats out all those, I still don't think it surpasses my longtime favorite from Novembre themselves, "Novembrine Waltz."

But enough playing favorites, time to explain the music. There was no doubt in my mind that Novembre would create another stunning masterpiece, adding to the previous three, even while being fairly different from their previous releases.

The most distinct change is perhaps there are very little growling vocals here. I have always liked Carmello Orlando's growling vocals, but Novembre has always seemed like a band that would eventually stray away from that. Maybe they will return a little more with the next album, I don't know. But I do know that even though the growling vocals were good, I can always go listen to the old albums. His clean vocals are so good that they really need to be used more, and they can be very diverse in themselves. There are many self-harmonizations with overdub, and everything from soft, heartfelt lulling, like in the middle portion of "Memoria Stoica" and in "Geppetto," to incredibly powerful, emotional singing, such as the chorus in "Comedia," the beginning of "Aquamarine," and in "The Promise." Also, there are many more lyrics in Italian than ever before. I really love when the lyrics are in Italian, bands should sing in their native tongue more often, it seems more authentic.

Not only have growling vocals somewhat vanished, but the album as a whole isn't quite as heavy as previous releases. There are many acoustic-driven parts, especially many intros to songs such as "Reason," "Jules," "Geppetto," and many melodies reminiscent of vast Italian countrysides.

The amazing melodies of the band still live on, of course, like the mini-solo in "Aquamarine," the sudden, intimidating riff in "Geppetto," the melodic, unforgettable solo in "Comedia" and also the heart-pounding intro to it, the acoustic-atop-electric Melodies in "Reason," among countless others.

The album's cover song is "The Promise," originally by Duran Duran. Unfortunately I have never heard the original. All I know is, unlike Novembrine Waltz's cover song "Cloudbusting," which many people couldn't stand, this song fits perfectly with the flow of the rest of the album, despite having an electronic-like melody hidden in the background. Most likely, if you didn't know the original song like me, you would have never guessed it's a cover song. This may even be my favorite song on the album, of course, I say that about almost every song here when it's playing.

The songwriting might not be quite as "Progressive" as say Novembrine Waltz, the songs don't quite explore a thousand different ideas. I'm not quite sure if that's why I still like NW better. Maybe they've improved their songwriting so it's not so all-over-the-place, but, I never really thought NW was like that. The songs still go from heavy to soft parts sometimes very suddenly, but they seem to flow much better and keep the same overall theme more often.

Again, Novembre has impressed me more than I would have ever thought, and this album has spawned several more countless classics for the band. They're making quite a name for themselves as some of today's finest musicians.

Being the huge Opeth fan I am, I purchased this album after seeing it on the rack at the local music store. The reviews here all give it four or five stars, so I figured it would be pretty good.

First off, this album sounds more in the vein of Katatonia, with its melodic vocals. That's not a bad thing at all, given the fact that I am also a fan of Katatonia, but Novembre's melodies aren't as good, and their music is not as diverse.

Materia is certainly listenable. It has its highlights (Jules, Comedia, and the title track to name a few), but overall, it's not groundbreaking. It's not incredibly interesting. The album doesn't beg to be an integral part of my music collection. In a word, it is derivative. This album will certainly stay in my rotation for at least a short period of time, but it has not left me with the urge to go out and buy their back catalogue.