November is Doom : Fatima : "Eerie"

This French band immediately impressed me with the first song. The urgent vocals and ominous ambiance, all worked perfectly. The guitar carries the needed metallic punch to drive the point home as the bass anchors this down, with a unique songwriting approach. It's pretty haunting and sets high expectations for the rest of the album. Some 90s elements are lurking under the surface here, and perhaps this is the icing on the cake for me. They bring plenty of power to the overdriven wall of fuzz that leads into the second song.

At this point in the album, I begin to hear how they are following the path created by countrymen Hangman's Chair. This is finds since those guys are one of my favorite bands. There is a little more of a Soundgarden feel going into the trippier "Miracle of the Sun" which finds a warmer sense of melody creeping into things. There is a lighter vocal employed on this as well. The bass keeps "Portuguese Man O War" moving as the vocals are locked in a more hypnotic chant. The lumber of the riffs retains the established heaviness. "Cyclops Cave" has a sludged-out grunge drive as the pace picks up into a palm-muted chug. More in common with the Melvins than Nirvana. 

Speaking of influences I appreciate the Cure-like feel of "Hypericum". The bass brings the slinky groove, while they bring more melancholic tones to the chorus. This album likes taking you through exotic Middle Eastern chord progressions, while "Three Eyed Enoch" flirts with this, it commits to the gloomy more doom-ridden stomp. It shifts into a more grunge jangle at times, but the thread of doom remains tied to the song as a whole. The album ends with a moodier post-grunge power ballad. I'll round this up to a 10 this falls along similar lines as Hangman's Chair or O Zorn ! as it's dark heavy and downtrodden and might not be an actual doom album, but moody enough to appeal to both fans of doom and grunge.

pst591