November is Doom- Exhuming the Tunes with Trouble's Self titled Album

 

This 1990 classic is where everything fell into place. Drummer Barry Stern stepped behind the kit, and Rick Rubin produced it. It opens with perhaps the best song, "At the End of My Daze". There is more space in the mix. Wagner's voice comes forward in the mix, and a great deal of the reverb is stripped away. Sure, it's more Sabbath, but his voice creates its own identity here along with the song's subtle swagger. "The Wolf" finds the tempo picking and a darker tone creeping in. Many of the religious references heard in the earlier songs are gone. There is a more desperate starkness in the lyrics of this album. 

Of all the Rick Rubin-era albums, this one found the band at the most manageable level in terms of substance abuse, which did not escalate until after this album; despite songs like "Psychotic Reaction," there was a more rock vibe creeping in. 'A Sinners Fame" is a good song, but it has a high bar to live up to considering the three bangers this album opens with.  "Misery Shows" is ahead of its time; it's an almost grungy power ballad of sorts. One of Wagner's best vocal performances, due to the fact that it's not as bombastic and shows restraint. When you hear this album, it's clear that drugs are the reason they were not bigger than they were as a band, as this would fit in pretty well with the grunge era to come.

'R.I.P" offers the first taste of  striaght up doom song on this album, that has been some pretty moving rockers.  It also evolves into more of a powerful chug with some metal window dressing to please their established fan base. If you told me this was left over from the previous album, I would believe you.  "Black Shapes of Doom" is another one that steps back toward the album NWOBHM sound from the previous albums.  "Heaven on My Mind" is another uptempo rocker with more memorable vocals that comes closer to living up to the promise that the front end of the album made. I like the darker turn the song takes at the end and the way Wagner's vocals shift. 

"END" is back to a more metallic attack, though his vocals have grown more capable of transitioning back and forth from a more rock vibe. The doomy chorus is strong. 'All is Forgiven' is more of a doomy trudge that shows a hint of the more Judas Priest undercurrent of the old stuff. There is what might be the album's most memorable guitar solo on this album. 

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