The Blue

by

Novembre

Edit

I was very surprised when I first heard of another Novembre album coming out. It had been a mere 18 months since the last album, and Novembre usually took on the longer end in between albums (4 years in between the release of Dreams D'Azur and Materia). Being one of my favorite bands of all time, of course I was excited about a new album so suddenly, but I simply didn't have that time to anticipate it like I usually would with any release from my favorite bands. Honestly, I was still digesting the overwhelming "Materia." I'm not saying I would have rather it came out 3 or 4 years later, but I wonder if the suddenness contributes to the slight pitfalls I've noticed below.

I don't know if it's the seemingly premature release of the album or not, but it seems to lack that special spark, that unique kick that most other Novembre albums deliver with some left over. The songs are mostly of good quality, both in production and construction, basically what you can expect from Novembre: winding, melodic, progressive metal monstrosities, wailing clean vocals, powerful death growls, sweet guitar riffs and solos, and a few soft acoustic parts, but individually they don't stick in your mind as much. It is good music when you listen to it, but hard to distinctly remember certain parts and therefore difficult to crave a listen. After I got this album, I listened maybe twice and then whenever I was in the mood for Novembre, I ended up playing Materia because I kept "craving" specific songs that I just HAD to hear. However, the album has grown on me since I got it and is continuing to grow on me.

The song that stood out to me the most on the first listen was "Nascence," utilizing some gorgeous female vocals to provide a wonderful harmonization, for something a bit different. Although the melodies sound great, the song overall seems a bit thrown together and disoriented and doesn't really have a definitive direction and progression to it.

"Zenith" is a monstrous almost-instrumental, (a-la "Valentine") with only about 30 second of vocals in a 7 minute song. Something we don't get from Novembre often. It opens with a peaceful acoustic tune amid some ambient keyboards, gradually releasing the gorgeous metal tunes within. A few minutes in, a fast Comedia-like riff portion emerges, quickly receding into a delightful, lengthy keyboard bit almost sounding like a movie or video game soundtrack. This slowly builds up with more substance, eventually introducing the few vocals. Might sound odd for Novembre, but it works very well; this is definitely one of the album's standouts.

"Triesteitaliana" is another great head-sticker; probably my second favorite song on the album although, again, parts of this song seem a bit jumbled together. The opening gets stuck in my head the most out of any song on this album, and also the soft ballad-style ending will also linger in your brain.

The heartfelt, acoustic-driven ending of "Cantus Christi" is another outstanding and memorable moment on this album.

It hurts to criticize my beloved Novembre, but "Cobalt of March" is perhaps one of the most unimpressive of their songs to date, with no punch, no progression, and clean vocals that are actually annoying and repetitive to me.

Other things I have noticed on this album include, unfortunately, a great void of Italian vocals. In fact, there are absolutely none, other than a few mentions of the song title in some songs. I really like when they use Italian lyrics, it adds a certain ethnic identity to the band, so naturally it feels like there's something missing. In fact, there have been at least a few lines of Italian vocals on every album, which is even more disheartening to discover that they have suddenly been abandoned. Also, there are much more death growls than there were on "Materia." It almost seems as though the band is going retro and exploring their youthful sound again, which is cool, just kind of confusing because there's nothing wrong with the direction they were going in.

This album might not have a wholeness to it quite as much as past albums, but maybe I have bashed this album more than it deserved. Honestly the only reason is because Novembre has made so much amazing music over the years, and when there is a very slight disappointment, it is much more noticeable. If you are a longtime fan you'll most likely get what you need out of this album, you may even like it more than "Materia" or whatnot. However, if you are just discovering this great band, I really suggest you start with "Materia" or "Novembrine Waltz" first. Novembre remains one of my very favorite bands and are among today's finest metal musicians.