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Rating: This time we're not on normal levels. No, it's not possible. "Verne" is not normal. It seems they have torn their most intense feelings from their chests with their bare hands, with bloody nails.
There is a white sky covering everything, a long, endless, and magical horizon that vanishes, lost in the void, like our mind, our heart, immersed in an ocean as deep as the most recondite corner of our soul. This time they are destabilizing.
This time there's no judgment, no, it's the tears flowing like rivers that speak for us. This time these are pearls of not rare, but UNIQUE beauty. Because they are unique, Novembre are UNIQUE.
Yes, we agree, they had already accustomed us to these hard blows, to such violent emotions. But if we had to wait a good 5 years, there must be a reason, you can't release just any album after 5 years, it's not possible, especially from a band capable of creating superb masterpieces in much less time.
This time, my dear sirs, we're talking about a masterful work, not a pearl, but a black and shining diamond. Listening to the arpeggios of "Geppetto" is an experience I recommend everyone try, just as it's surreal to get lost in the rock-flavored contortions of "Nothijngrad"…
This time Carmelo has chosen to express himself most of the time in his native language, an Italian that even seems exotic to us Italians, an Italian that makes us dream with open eyes without even realizing it… The story of "Geppetto" seems like that of The Old Man and the Sea, tender and enveloping… while "Verne"… well, "Verne" you need to listen to it to understand, words cannot explain the shivers it can cause, it's a timeless dream, without subconscious and without awakening, just a tunnel of pure feeling…
And how can we not mention "Comedia?" A nearly death metal instrumental attack but rich in atmospheric epicness soon gives way to one of the sweetest and rock tracks on the album, full of subtle and almost Pink Floydian hints, another tear that falls leaving you petrified. Yes, because "Materia" is not made up of 11 songs but 11 tears, which flow without asking anyone's permission as soon as the very first seconds of the album invade the stereo speakers.
There is complexity, ethereal arpeggios, chiaroscuro riffs, and a voice that almost never hands over to the growl; here Carmelo indulges in the clean, giving everything to melody, recalling the melancholic style of "Arte Novecento". But there's also that dreamy atmosphere typical of "Novembrine Waltz", as well as that Mediterranean flavor of "Wish I Could Dream It Again…".
The desperate dramatism of "Classica" is the only thing missing here, but it's perfect this way, because "Materia" is fundamentally a delicate album, aiming to gently caress the soul, not to wound it with guitar slashes or violent growls without hope. All this is sublime, it's an emotional massacre, a slaughter of hearts, a sweet and convincing drama that very few other bands would be capable of replicating today.
Novembre are a pride of Italy. Hold them close… as you enter Nothijngrad…
"Dreams are children of the heart, Created as pain, Stripped of reason, For this sent to die…"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Verne (05:44)
Sarah, we once feltered
As you froze that
Morning omen
And you told them
And you warned them
That the sky turned red
Above them
Sarah it's said, same rain
Doesn't fall down twice.
Days, gone by,
Come back as the morning light
A colourless demise rises
And the only shelter I used to know
Is gone lost out of sight
[repeat refrain]
Sarah of the wonders
Of the wonders
Made of wonders
Venivi dall'atrio del cuore
Portando le chiavi del sole
Domani faremo l'amore
E niente potrà mai cambiare
Di questo rimase il rumore
D'un sogno che come nel mare
Si infrange su nere scogliere
D'un nero che può cancellare
Si dice che il sogno dell'uomo
È far si che il proprio domani
Sia senza calar del Sole
Ma dimmi com'è senz'amare?
Ma I sogni son figli del cuore
Creati in quanto dolore
Spogliati dalla lor ragione
Per questo mandati a morire
04 Aquamarine (05:13)
[C. Orlando, Pagliuso, G. Orlando]
Uncomfort within the improper feelings of this song
I'd rather grey instead of marbled pearly skies
Its imprint is alive like a post-war Stalingrad
A sense of broken Atlantis capes alive
Underside, underwater miles
There's a treasure for you just to find
Light sand stars, precious minerals
A treasure to find
You are my treasure to find
A caress of water, caress of life,
A caress of aquamarine water
Someone is wrong
A lifelessness alive
I won't be long
The time to ask the night
How could it go so abominably wrong
Someone is wrong
A caress of water, a caress of aquamarine dark
A caress of lifelessness alive
A lifelessness alive
06 Geppetto (06:59)
[C. Orlando, Pagliuso, G. Orlando]
Quel giorno il vecchio s'alzò
Sull'onda di un brutto sogno
Capì che era giunto il momento d'andare
"Oh cara vecchia Maria
È molto che non voliamo"
E così prese due stracci e salpò per il mare
Quel giorno il mare era un quadro
Di colori scuri, disse
"Guarda un po chi c'è! Mi sei mancato compare!"
Non saprei dirvi il perchè
Di questa storia che ha messo
Amore e dolore
In una sacca sgualcita
Capisci, il tempo del gioco
È oggi l'era del vuoto
E poi son solo preghiere da porgersi al mare
Sound the chime
Sound the chime
Like a sign from high, up high
Yeah, it seems like rain
But no, it won't hurt us again
And the whole landscape is mine
Oh friend of mine, of mine
All alone in this peak of a time
You can only hear this one voice
Tell him what you desire
And it's going to happen...
07 Comedia (06:55)
[C. Orlando, Pagliuso, G. Orlando]
More and more
The rain lingers on
War only was
To bond us all
Hell no, no war can paint this more sore
The path is packed with bags of coal
And bags of coal from some monstrous soul
And no, no rain can clean this at all
You say, "there's no way-out at all" is something false
But way-out, if it is not far is still getting narrow
The prayers for light result in failure and dismay
But almost yawn, it's a deja-vu sounding horror
Someday I'll take you by the hand
And leave this place without a face
I won't let our world to crumble down and come undone
But it's not now, just let me gather strength,
We weren't meant to be perfect
Some things ain't easy even if they seem to work just fine
Somewhere over that bridge it's done
Hey, the rain it splits as we walk
But war lingers on and some pain lingers on
As we rode the darkness all night long
And there's no rain in this final climb
Where Dante and I have seen such a sight
And Beatrice, my bride
To sleep now it's time
08 The Promise (05:33)
[Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor]
Testo The Promise (Arcadia)
Whose tears on a gaping voice
Who's stretching arms match
The hunger of mine
There lips will they never join
But always draw me closer
And further entwined
With a promise dealer understand
All freedoms fade away
To a point of view
Where many different pathways meet
And we're standing on this precipice
With nothing much to gain save
But the deep blue screams
Of falling dreams
With our next move
Heaven hide your eyes
Heaven's eyes will never dry
The shades of a thousand steel
Come flashing by my face
In the fury of war
In desolation and abandoned fields
The hungry make their stand
When they'll stand for no more
Hear the passion in their voices
See the heaven in their eyes
Their hopes and schemes are waiting
Dreams of less than paradise
And sometimes we make promises
We never mean to keep
For blackmail is the only deal
A promise dealer sees
Heaven hide your eyes
Heaven's eyes will never dry
10 Croma (06:25)
[C. Orlando, Pagliuso, G. Orlando]
Andiam sopra ad aspettar
Senti il circo arrivare?
Tutti sopra per giocar
Per la mano, e poi volare
Between the flowers
Amongst the grain
I seek you now
And far away it comes a train
Don't ever want to miss a moment
As we've just begun something
I just wanna be someone
That makes you believe you are not breaking away
And I wonder what on Earth are we awaiting
For the train to tomorrow is here and it is longing
To take us away
And tomorrow there'll be landscapes you just dreamed about
And the sound of the bells
Will sound much realer in this brand-new dawn
Yes tomorrow there'll be still shades of yesterday
But they'll get vaguer and vaguer
As the winter's caress approaches close
I run to you
And I see the sky crying
Crying tears of widow, tears soon wiped dry
And thousand windows look at us dance
This sweet'n'sour theme, a romance
Dance, dance, dance...
Engulf me in your soul
And let those feathered arms fly
11 Nothijngrad (06:08)
[C. Orlando, Pagliuso, G. Orlando]
Sometimes the night
Brings memories, sometimes the night
Brings feelings you thought they are died
In some dusty, forgotten lost hall of your mind yes, sometimes
The night
This time a sea of ox-eyes
Painting the irises of white
Flooding mi senses with light
Filling my forgotten halls with bright
Because the lanes of the night
Always lead to railways blind
Always lead to the most pointless rhymes
Rhymes of life that sometimes we must write
Take the hand that is given to you
Let yourself to this Sunday morning
We're riding this shore to some-place beyond
So don't ever believe we'd stop by
A thousand years we've got ahead of your eyes [x2]
The further sight, always the farthest of sights
The farthest sight
Pride and might
We believe it's Nothijngrad
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Other reviews
By BlackLight
‘Verne’ is probably one of the best tracks composed by Novembre, a melody that gets inside from the first listen.
Just as, whether you’re a fan of Novembre or not, I recommend listening to this album in its entirety.
By jecko666
Novembre have invented a new Metal genre.
The voice truly seems to suffer and make us suffer when, with a delirious voice, it moans out phrases that are at times incomprehensible.
