November is Doom -Madder Mortem : "Old Eyes New Heart"

 I think 2016 was the album I checked out by this band. The play is a gloomy doomy take on power metal-leaning prog that is not unlike The Gathering. It is like Katatonia where it is dark enough to cross over into doom, and the drums trudge a little behind the guitars to support this. "On Guard" is a shift from this it reminds me more of Concrete Blonde. "Master Tongue" has a more progressive aggressive to its take on getting things heavier. It kind of sound like it was warmed up from the late 90s, her voice the most original angle to what unfolds. It doesn't suck, but it's too familiar. It also is not heavy if you are comparing it to heavy music.

 I find it's more effective when they are punching within their weight class on a song like "Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown". It is a song that has heavier dynamics rather than trying to write a heavy song. "Cold Hard Rain" is a power ballad of sorts that works pretty well. Things don't begin to feel like filler until we get to "Unity" which just sounds like radio rock. "Towers" benefits from a vocal melody that is thoughtful enough to keep them out of that place for a second helping. "Here and Now" finds an almost folk tone creeping into the verses. It does add to the overall dynamic range of the album. 

"Things I'll Never Do' sounds like if Celine Dion made a metal song.'Long Road" closes the album. It starts off more as a ballad. There is a country soulfulness to it.  It never bulds like you are epxting to provide a final punch, that is ok. I will give this album an 8.5, it was a fun listen, they are great songwriter though not un touch with what sound as heavy as they could be which at time gives it more of a 90s flare, you might be into that but her singing elevates it over most bands in this hard rock middle ground.,

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Madder Mortem : "Red in Tooth and Claw"

This Norwegian  hard rock band is slathered in 90's Alternative. I can hear plenty of Guano Apes and Skunk Anansie in the way the vocal melodies weave around the guitar riffs. The more Nightwish power ballad comes a little too soon in the album and kills the momentum of the first song. They go a more middle of the road route with "Fallow Season", which is a slight disappointment after the impression they made on the opening track. This fits more with the modern rock rock formula that has evolved a little since the days of nu-metal. While it's not as heavy I think "Pitfalls" is well written and comes across like a cross between Joni Mitchell and the Gathering.

In the broadest sense of the term, you could try to argue "All the Giants are Dead", but it certainly doesn't fit what we consider doom here. This song does think out of the box and has some jazz like qualities to the drumming. I can also draw comparisons to Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum on this song if we are talking about some of the stuff Carla sang on. There is a darker almost Siouxsie like turn on "Returning to the End of the World". Though this does ramp up into the more typical rock sound. "Parasites" tries to use blast beats to convince you that they are indeed a metal band. I can't imagine anyone who owns a Darkthrone album would say "Oh, yeah that is totally black metal" .

There is a more elegant cadence to "the Whole Where you Heart Belongs". The last two songs both stick closer to the standard rock format with the last song 'Underdogs" being the better of the two.I'll give this album a 7.5, there are some songs I really liked, but it's inconsistent and they need to shake themselves free of their fetish for radio rock. The window for them belonging on rock radio passed over a decade ago alongside Lacuna Coil.