The Blue

Italian death/doomers Novembre return only a year and a half after their last album to bring us The Blue. 2006's Materia was a great accomplishment for the band, gaining the band a realm of new fans across the globe and scoring mountains of press and acclaim. Of course, there were fans that were upset by the turn the band were taking - but you can't please everybody. Really though, you've got to wonder why a band would be so eager to head back into the studio and release another album when they've barely supported their last release.

Simply put, I believe Novembre went back into the studio to record the album they were meant to write. They had this album in them all along and consciously waited until they got Materia out of their system before allowing the world to experience The Blue. Materia is an absolutely fantastic album, but it lacks a consistent feeling through out the album. It's got catchy/poppy songs, its got depressing songs, it's got quiet songs - its general feeling is very indifferent. The Blue has a feeling to it that can only be described as the color the album is titled after; a beautiful and moving journey through it’s different shades. Depressing and cold blues (Cobalt of March, Sound Odyssey, Nascence) perfectly contrast uplifting and mesmerizing blues (Bluecracy, Anaemia, Zenith) with blues of romance and passion (Triesteitaliana, Argentic) - the warm consistency takes hold of your soul and encompasses your mind and body with the sound and feel of The Blue.

I'd rather not spoil such an album for anyone by going through the track list and providing you with fancy word play describing every song. Rather, I'll tell you that this is an album worthy of your time and money (if you decide to buy it). The album truly is a journey that will take hold of you and keep you transfixed until the very end with every listen. Songs like Triesteitaliana will take you on roller coaster of soaring highs and devastating lows, complimented with a blistering guitar solo that comes out of left field and smacks you across the face before you even realize what happened.

The only things stopping me from giving this record a full score of 100% is the opening to "Cantus Christi" and the irritating final second of "Iridescence" that ends the fading song with the needle scratch of a record player. Otherwise, the album (in my opinion) is perfect. It couldn't have come at a better time either; I highly recommend this album for cold winter nights and lonelier times during the holiday season.