Novembre
Ursa
2016
Ever since the bigger British and Scandi melodic doom bands sort of abandoned their “throne”, the vacancy is being contested by a lot of “heirs” including among others, the Italians Novembre. In all honesty they’ve been going on for quite some time, back from their “Catacomb” days in the early 90s to debuting in 1994, to actually their last album prior to this being almost a decade ago, after which the band didn’t release anything for quite a long time…
Coming back after all this time, they have suffered a few changes, although their style isn’t all that much changed from 2007’s “The Blue”, which in itself was a bit of a departure from more metallic stylisms. There’s still the occasional harsh moment here or there, but it mostly contrasts with an overflowing tranquil melancholy that the mostly ambient soundscapes create. Although, when they do have guitar driven songs that formula is largely reversed.
This feels like a more “mature” and well planned album overall, but then again there was such a long time off that if it were any other way it would have been a total letdown. The title is quite intriguing and meant to be controversial as the acronym stands for “Union des Republiques Socialistes Animales”, the title initially chosen for the French translation of George Orwell's masterpiece novel “Animal Farm”. There are quite a few great tracks on here, from the ambivalent opener “Austalis” to the melodic yet heavy hearted “The Rose”, to the guitar centered eponymous title track, or the single “Annoluce”, which features a guest appearance from Anders Nystrom of the Swedish Doom masters Katatonia… there’s something in every corner of this album. Swano on the production side of things manages to keep things “raw” but tidy enough so as to not filter down the performances, but also not to sound chaotic and once again he does a great job.
Overall, if you’re a fan of Novembre you’ll be happy to have them back. If not, this is hardly the album that will make you a fan, I guess.
Coming back after all this time, they have suffered a few changes, although their style isn’t all that much changed from 2007’s “The Blue”, which in itself was a bit of a departure from more metallic stylisms. There’s still the occasional harsh moment here or there, but it mostly contrasts with an overflowing tranquil melancholy that the mostly ambient soundscapes create. Although, when they do have guitar driven songs that formula is largely reversed.
This feels like a more “mature” and well planned album overall, but then again there was such a long time off that if it were any other way it would have been a total letdown. The title is quite intriguing and meant to be controversial as the acronym stands for “Union des Republiques Socialistes Animales”, the title initially chosen for the French translation of George Orwell's masterpiece novel “Animal Farm”. There are quite a few great tracks on here, from the ambivalent opener “Austalis” to the melodic yet heavy hearted “The Rose”, to the guitar centered eponymous title track, or the single “Annoluce”, which features a guest appearance from Anders Nystrom of the Swedish Doom masters Katatonia… there’s something in every corner of this album. Swano on the production side of things manages to keep things “raw” but tidy enough so as to not filter down the performances, but also not to sound chaotic and once again he does a great job.
Overall, if you’re a fan of Novembre you’ll be happy to have them back. If not, this is hardly the album that will make you a fan, I guess.