NOVEMBERS DOOM

The Pale Haunt Departure

The End
rating icon 8.5 / 10

Track listing:

01. The Pale Haunt Departure
02. Swallowed By the Moon
03. Autumn Reflection
04. Dark World Burden
05. In the Absence of Grace
06. The Dead Leaf Echo
07. Through a Child's Eyes
08. Collapse of the Fallen Throe


Being the best American doom metal band is sorta like being the best Italian chef in Des Moines. You may kick ass, but a lot of purists are gonna hold your address against you before they've sampled a bit of what you have to offer. NOVEMBERS DOOM has been dealing with this stigma since their inception — as if only fog-bound Limeys squelching along dark moors in ratty capes can properly convey the mournful throb of melancholy that is doom. True, many originators of the sound, the ones NOVEMBERS DOOM look to for inspiration — MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA and PARADISE LOST — come from the U.K. But hell, the best cowboy songs were written by nerdy Jews in Brooklyn, as ARLO GUTHRIE once said (and if he didn't, he should've). No one chunk of earth has the market cornered on graceful, sodden misery, and to ignore NOVEMBERS DOOM for ethnocentric reasons is to deny some of the best, bleakest dark metal in existence.

The sound on "The Pale Haunt Departure" is massive, great walls of dark, opaque guitars crashing down, chugging along at a tempo that conveys an urgency and brooding sense of menace. Musically, at least, there's a passing resemblance to OPETH in places (something the band would undoubtedly dispute, but listen to "In the Absence of Grace" — its swing, its tempo and chords — and tell me it's not true). There's something almost regal about NOVEMBERS DOOM; their sound maintains that sedate, classy Continental vibe but holds onto a tension and aggression, even in the slowest songs, that none of the "old guard" of doom really captured in this form, then or now.

The star of "The Pale Haunt Departure" is undoubtedly vocalist (and sole original member) Paul Kuhr. His death vocals are deep and authoritative, while his clean vocals, always good, have never sounded better. His ability to carry a melodic chorus ("Dark World Burden"),pull off the multi-tracked Gregorian midsection of "In the Absence of Grace" (a truly spine-tingling moment),or bellow the emotionally charged lyrics of "Swallowed by the Moon" beside the gothic, soul-baring love paean "Autumn Reflection is stunning. The sense of loss and failure he brings to the depressive lyrics of "The Dead Leaf Echo" and "Swallowed By the Moon" is just heart-wrenching, a triptych to the edge of shameful despair, uncomfortably painful and personal (one hopes, for his sake, that he's writing in character).

NOVEMBERS DOOM are still evolving, shedding some influences (the oh-so-1999 female vocals are gone) and absorbing others, even as they become metric tons heavier and more powerful with each release. "The Pale Haunt Departure" is the kind of record you almost wanna call a work of art, an obsidian hulk of crushing guitars and primal sorrow, heartbreak and the futility of life captured in sonic form. An epic statement and a watershed in doom metal, location be damned.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).