Novembre - The Blue
Peaceville Records
Doom Metal
12 songs (67:27)
Release year: 2007
Novembre, Peaceville Records
Reviewed by Joe
Album of the month

Novembre's previous album, Materia, was something of a masterpiece in my eyes (or ears). This was something completely original and so very unique in its delivery, that I was completely spellbound when I first heard it and instantly fell in love with this Italian band. Vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Carmelo Orlando's mixture of death and clean vocals was the main thing that attracted me to the band, along with their beautiful and sorrowful music, which comes straight from the heart. So imagine my state-of-mind when I received their latest album The Blue. Imagine my questions: How would it stack up? Would it be better or worse than Materia? Have they changed their sound that I fell in love with on Materia?
Answers: Very well. Better. No.

With a very melodic and slow sound and still the mixture of duel vocal styles and plenty of duel guitar harmonies, The Blue carries on exactly where Materia left off, with twelve unique and very diverse songs, this shows that Materia was no fluke. The Blue feels perhaps more sad and remorseful than its predecessor. The songs speak of love and lost, of life itself and of the hardships we endure. They evoke such imagery and a vast array of feelings that there could be so many angles in which to view the songs themselves.

The mark of a true masterpiece, my favourite song changes all the time and different elements are found in each song every listen. It would seem foolish and pointless for me to try to describe each song, as they are quite simply indescribable. "Too slow", "not enough death vocals", “too much clean vocals”, "not heavy enough" may be the cries of some listeners, which is fair enough as I don't expect every single person on Earth to like this album. If like me, you feel sometimes that music is becoming too formulaic and boring with the same kind of bands releasing the same kind of music all the time, then I urge you to listen to The Blue and hopefully you wont be disappointed with this modern day classic.

Killing Songs :
Every song is fantastic
Joe quoted 98 / 100
Other albums by Novembre that we have reviewed:
Novembre - Classica reviewed by Milan and quoted 88 / 100
Novembre - Materia reviewed by Alex and quoted 85 / 100
Novembre - Novembrine Waltz reviewed by Chris and quoted 87 / 100
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