November Doom - the River : "Vessels Into White Tides"

One of the points to doing November doom was to explore other sounds that  being tapped into in the genre. This sometimes means we are going to be at the edge of what is considered doom since that is where growth happens and I would much rather question what the fuck I am listening to than endure a band trying to be Electric Wizard. I  really appreciate this band's sound. Sure much like King Woman the flirt with the line of what doom can be. There is a melancholy to what they do that solidifies them as doom in my mind. The vocals are a timidly sung  by a woman whose voice falls some where between a higher alto and lower soprano. Her approach is very smooth. I can hear shoe gaze influence in what they do as well as slow core bands like Low.

 They go about this  tastefully and keep my interest even on a song like the fifteen minute "Into  White" where the vocals do not come in until the four minute mark. This is a very different kind of doom album, it even goes into some folk moments with the song "Open". It sometimes reminds me of the Gathering. "Passing " starts with almost more of an indie rock feel , when the distortion crunches to life , it has a more Catherine Wheel of Hum type feel. The vocals retain the more mournful feel.  'Tides" has a much more soaring shoe gaze feel, not unlike what many of the post rock bands were doing say 10 years ago. Jenny is playing the string parts that hover under the mix, so an instrumental is not surprising to fine here. They are not solely a doom band but bring a great deal of other influences to the table , when they shift into a heavier dynamic I would say doom is the direction they are leaning.

I will give this album a 9. It is one of those that I can leave on and let play. Granted the most doom
song is the opener and the other songs hint at this , really the only time it is totally abandoned is on the folk song.  I think fans of artists like King Woman and Chelsea Wolfe will find enough common ground here to make it worth their time. Those who are not metal flexible might have a hard time with this one.  This album is being released December 11th on  Nine Records.