 
Novembers Doom This morning I woke up in fine form. Outside my window, the preening blue jays gaily serenaded one another. In the distance the sun rose, slowly ascending through the San Francisco fog to reveal a brilliant alpen glow. From inside my flat, the biting aroma of freshly brewed Folgers Instant hung thickly in the air. The stars are aligned. Horoscope looks good. I'm calm and relaxed. It's gonna be a glorious day! Then I popped in The Pale Haunt Departure by Novembers Doom. Immediately my smile turned to a grimace of strain. Elation turned to horror. I became overwhelmed with a sense of impending doom. Shit, I've got to be at work in 20 minutes. Oh yes, even Wal-Mart customers need a friendly greeting. I'm 34 and I live in my parents' basement. And to top it off, I've never had a sexual relation I didn't pay for! (ok there was that one time on the Craigslist "Casual Encounters" section -- well at least I now know what "BBW" stands for...I digress..) Screw 12 steps, where's my jug of Moonshine? In case you haven't yet figured it out, Novembers Doom are about as uplifting as a Van Gogh memoir. This is music for the sullen breed. It's for the curled-in-a-dark corner-wearing-all-black-feeling-sorry-for-yourself lot. Vocalist Paul Kuhr does his best to make your bleak existence even more miserable. By varying between soft, subdued melodies and full-on death metal roar, Kuhr's earnest delivery ensures the fate of a culling song. The cheese/ cliche factor is present, with lyrics like "..I live in a dark world, where no light shines.." Oh, come on! Dark world? Try Hellen Keller, now that's a dark world! The performance and production of The Pale Haunt Departure is certainly
impressive. Everyone plays tastefully within their limits, complementing
rather than limelighting. Like the world champion New England Patriots, Novembers
Doom epitomize cohesion; where the sum of the parts greatly outweighs
the individual effort. Producer extraordinaire Dan Swano (Dissection,
Bloodbath, Marduk) eloquently shapes a sound conducive to the music.
Think more delicately beveled mahogany, less crudely band-sawed plywood.
Soft around the edges. Dense, but without a splintery sharpness.
|
