Novembers Doom
The Pale Haunt Departure

THE REVIEW

The desolation of an abandoned field inhabited only by scarecrows, the anger of being defeated, the sadness when every form of love and comfort is missing in life. Ghosts that often return in the themes of Novembers Doom, an American band active for 12 years and famous as one of the most authoritative realities in the Doom/Death Metal field.

After starting as indirect heirs to the sound of My Dying Bride, they have reached their final artistic maturity and independence with "The Knowing" (2000), establishing themselves with "To Welcome The Fade" (2002), in which, however, influences typical of a certain avant-garde metal from bands like Opeth and Katatonia were often felt.

Building on the success achieved with its predecessor, Novembers Doom exceeded expectations, bringing to light an authentic, powerful, and touching masterpiece in 2005, by releasing "The Pale Haunt Departure". The coordinates of Novembers Doom's sound are well defined: powerful and paced riffs, slow rhythms, and a balanced dose of anger and melancholy. "The Pale Haunt Departure" is a haunting and twilight album like its cover, where death rhythms and dreamy acoustic tracks blend perfectly. Above all, the voice of the colossal Paul Kuhr, one of the most expressive and intense singers in the scene, devastating in growl and gentle in clean, and author of all the lyrics, very concrete and less transfigured into metaphors (an atypical thing in a genre like this) but not inferior for this reason.

The title track that opens "The Pale Haunt Departure" is a feral sonic blow of indescribable proportions, fairly sustained in its unsettling progress, and dominated by a chorus, if it can be called that, almost anthemic. It is certainly one of the key points of the album and one of the most beautiful Doom songs I have ever heard, it is also worth mentioning its lyrics. In addition to the title track, there are certainly other moments where the progress becomes feral and the sound of the American band becomes closer to that of the early Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride, see the colossal "Swallowed By The Moon" supported by martial rhythms fading into an acoustic and dreamy refrain or the long track "In The Absence Of Grace".

Besides the opening track, at least three other masterpieces are contained in "The Pale Haunt Departure". First of all, "Autumn Reflection" in which growl disappears, one of the most touching tracks in the entire Doom scene, where the atmosphere becomes truly dramatic especially in the chorus and moving in both the lyrics and the touching melodic passage that closes the piece. Also notable is the perhaps most driving song of the album, characterized by an absolutely unmissable text, that is "Dark World Burden" built on an engaging chorus that immediately prints itself in memory thanks to its slightly rock feeling. The whole is seasoned with straightforward and heavy verses like boulders where the aggressiveness of Kuhr and his band can be felt. Worth mentioning is the concluding and devastating "Collapse Of The Falling Throe" opened by a pure Doom Metal riff to then leave space for a complex yet accessible death structure. Chilling is the central passage where Kuhr reaches surprising expressive peaks with the growl.

In essence, we are talking about a masterpiece of rare beauty for fans of the genre. A melancholic, sad album permeated with anger but absolutely far from any rhetorical and clichéd pessimism. Without a doubt, Novembers Doom represents one of the bands that have best learned from the masterpieces produced by this genre in the early '90s without falling into imitation but creating personal and heartfelt works, so I recommend listening.

You will not be disappointed.