Novembers Doom : 'Major Arcana"

 

After a six-year wait, the 12th album from Nivembers Doom is here. The first song highlights who they are well, before stepping on the gas to deliver a more heavily chugged death doom assault for "Ravenous: which is lyrically and sonically more aggressive. They ebb back down into a more melodic metal power ballad of sorts, bringing them closer to Katatonia's style with "Mercy". Now on album number 12, it is apparent that Paul Kur has fully perfected the dynamic of his vocal style, nailing clean vocals with the same fluid ease he belted out the more powerful growls. 

I enjoy it when they balance the heavier guitar attack with the clean vocals on "The Dance".  While not a founding member, guitarist Roberts Lawrence now writes in a way that makes the most of Khur's voice, as a testament to their enduring partnership. "The Fool" took as a second listen, as it adopts a few more of the tropes we expect from this sort of thing, with the growls as the dominant narrative. I think the fact that the chorus was not as hooky as what went down in the previous songs was a bit of a sticking point for me, butn ot a deal breaker. 

The third act of the album took a few listens, "Bleed Static" being the darkest song of the album. The sung vocal on what, for all intents and purposes, is the chorus, works well enough to win me over. I like the lower vocal colors he uses on this one as well. This song features a wide range of dynamics that build into the more epic side of conventional metal."Chatter' is another song that finds the guitar melody leaning in the more conventional metal direction. I guess Judas Priest would be the band I hear the most influence from; the chug is pretty massive here. Though the vocal performance owes more to Metallica. It's almsot like a heavier version of what the "Black Album" could have been.

'Dusking Day" has some interesting vocal harmonies in place, but overall does not click as solidly with me as some of the other songs. The last song has a more majestic stomp to it that feels like more recent Enslaved to me. Heavier tension on the verses, to a bigger melodic chorus, is a fairly common chorus, but it works here. I will give this album a 9.5, so not perfect, but among their best work, and better than what most bands are doing these days. Fans of the band will find this to be a triumphant return. 

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