Review Summary: Even though I've only discovered November's Doom recently, I have to say they are really a great band.
To be honest, I didn’t expect anything extravagant when I found this kicking around the Music Store, but when I heard
Rain, I thought that this might have some potential. I
was expecting something a lot like
Opeth, but there are some major differences, one of them being the atmosphere in these songs. In these songs, the atmosphere is gloomy, but at the same time, it’s also quite haunting. Another indispensable difference is that there is a hell of a lot less acoustic, with the exception of a few songs, like the title track, and
Twilight Innocence.
What I really found appealing is the great, sophisticated musicianship throughout the album. They have blended death metal (without the gory themed lyrics) with progressive rock, and a damn fine job they did. They backed it up with an atmosphere that differs themselves from
Opeth, and I mean vastly differed themselves.
One of the things I didn’t like is how they have such amazing introductions in the songs and most of the time the songs immensely changed after 45 seconds or so. Not that it’s bad, but it doesn’t sound like it’s the same song, unless they reused some key elements from the start of the song, and when they do, it’s only for a few seconds, and they did this frequently.
I also wasn’t very fond of some of the lyrics either. For example…
Becoming one with madness, a chaos to embrace
struggling for my sanity, clear skies turning grey
Even though some songs has it’s high points lyrics wise, there are some that are just plain weird.
The intro to the album is such a heavy start to the album. Oh, this song is a good example of a drastically changed song. The chorus (if you can consider it a chorus) is quite unusual, because it sounds a demonic whisper
”Raaaaaiiiinnnn….
The second song, which is quite possibly the best song on the album, is
The Novella Reservoir. It starts off with some easy-to-listen acoustic, followed by heavy guitars with some violins (I’m pretty sure they’re violins) to make the atmosphere of the song top notch, and again with the change (sorry if I keep overusing that).
The third song didn’t do a whole lot to stand out. It’s good, but for the most part, it’s another brick in the wall, so feel free to skip this one over to the fourth song. Another one of my favorites, known as
Twilight Innocence. It is strictly a soft song, so if you feel like you’re in need of some soothing music, you’ll know what to have playing out of your headphones.
I don’t know if there’s anything else that needs to be discussed. Although there is the album closer. It’s like the fourth song, only with heavy guitars at the chorus and the verses are somewhat spoken word, so it’ll be unusual to some. It’s the longest song on the album, lasting 7 minutes long.
While this band shares qualities with
Opeth, these guys have a few qualities of their own. A must buy if you ask me.
