Reviewed - 04/05/05

The Pale Haunt Departure
[The End Records]

It's nice to find an American band (Novembers Doom are native to the Chicago area) that can play such strongly European-sounding metal without sounding contrived or derivative. With half a dozen albums under their belts, Novembers Doom are fairly established in the realm of doom metal and slow death metal (take your pick). "The Pale Haunt Departure," this quintet's latest release, is a tightly woven tapestry of aggression, passion, shadow, and almost anything else a lover of heavy metal could ask for.

Never having heard Novembers Doom before, I find that this album has a very distinct sound, greatly reminiscent of Opeth and Katatonia. Opeth especially seems to be one of this band's greatest influences (though I can't deny the possibility that influence moves in the opposite direction or is completely coincidental; the two bands are surprisingly analogous, with both Opeth's "Orchid" and November Doom's "Amid its Hallowed Mirth" released in 1995). But if you like Opeth, odds are you will find Novembers Doom to be to your liking; vocalist Paul Kuhr is about as close in sound to Mikael Åkerfeldt as I've heard, and structurally much of "The Pale Haunt Departure" is comparable to mid-era Opeth. Novembers Doom is not quite as complex as Opeth, however. They are generally darker and doomier, less likely to drop into five minutes of instrumental passages, and less organic than early Opeth. "The Pale Haunt Departure" lacks the 70's progressive rock congruencies of Opeth's music. But nonetheless, the similarity is there.

As should be obvious seconds into this album, "The Pale Haunt Departure" is extreme metal far closer to doomy death metal than anything else. Harsh vocals are low and guttural… and remarkably clear and easy to understand. Kuhr seems able to enunciate far better than most death metal vocalists. His clean singing is very Opethesque, dark and harmonized, though generally of a lower register than Åkerfeldt's. As far as the rest of the music is concerned, Novembers Doom is usually thick and crunchy, with heavily distorted guitar and lots of double bass. They rarely get too fast, though; this is, after all, either doom metal or some variant incorporating doom. When not playing slow death, Novembers Doom whip out acoustic guitars and even keyboards at times, occasionally sliding from one sound to the next with a slippery ease, and other times pleasantly surprising the listener with a sudden dynamic shift.

"The Pale Haunt Departure" is nicely long-playing, with the shortest song just exceeding the five-and-a-half minute mark. It never stretches uncomfortably, and never feels needlessly long; these are songs that take their time to unfold, pure and simple. No one in Novembers Doom is notably brutal, or technical, or fast… but they are all good. Every riff is powerful, every song distinct. Passion is the name of the game: I can imagine the music of "The Pale Haunt Departure" to be driven by pure emotion, with the band members writing riffs according to what they want listeners to feel. "The Pale Haunt Departure" begins with the title track, which itself opens up with moody ambiance, nigh-tribal percussion, and finally thick guitar riffs and harsh vocals. "Swallowed by the Moon" could be a leftover track from "My Arms Your Hearse." "Through a Child's Eyes" is especially Katatonia in sound: lots of clean and acoustic guitars, thickly layered vocals of a despondent sort, and an almost dreamy quality. Et cetera.

For a person who has never been a huge fan of doom, Novembers Doom have greatly impressed me, and inspired me to a greater interest in this genre. With a dichotomy of light and heavy that almost rivals Opeth and a sound uniquely their own, it should be no surprise that Novembers Doom have become one of the most well-known purveyors of dark and doomy metal. I'm sorry I am only now discovering this band; if you are a fan of slow, moody death metal or doom in general, you should not make the same mistake, and pick up "The Pale Haunt Departure."